“Hold the lamp,” he ordered, which she did. She was so tired, she had to stamp her feet to stay awake while he pulled the horses and vehicle to the side of the cottage and then quickly unharnessed the team.
The horses were spent. She knew Baynton had planned on changing them along the way but when the time had come, he had not been pleased with the quality of the stables they had passed. His grays were prime stock and he was wise to be cautious with them.
The barn was more than suitable for their needs. There was a good stock of hay in a hayrick that took up half the barn. It wasn’t musty smelling, which was a relief. The horses needed something.
The other half of the barn had stalls with dirt floors. There had not been an animal in them for some time which led to Sarah to wonder if the cottage was abandoned and the barn was being used by the neighbors to store fodder.
They spread some of the hay in the stalls and turned the horses into them. During this time, she and the duke did not speak. They both understood what needed to be done.
Sarah then saw to her own needs. Returning to the barn, she found the duke had already climbed onto the hayrick and had made a nest for himself, using his coat as a blanket, which was exactly what she’d been intending to do. He’d even hung his hat and the lamp on the poles of the hayrick.
“Do you need help up?” he asked her.
“I believe I can manage,” she answered, but when he offered his hand, she didn’t refuse it. “Thank you.”
He nodded.
Squirming around, she found her own soft space in the hay. It was not uncomfortable. She nestled into her cloak.
He blew out the lamp, plunging them into the darkness one can only experience in the country. She let herself relax.
“I’d forgotten how comfortable this is,” she murmured, not realizing she’d spoken aloud until he answered.
“You have done this often?”
“When I was younger I traveled with an acting troupe. I’ve done this many times in fact. I would place a wager you haven’t.”
Her comment met with a moment of tense silence, and then he said, “I am not as pampered as you may think.”
Of course, he took it as an insult. He was that touchy. “Oh, I’m certain you are,” she answered. “But I have become that way as well. It takes having nothing to finally realize how much one truly has.”
“Is that another veiled insult or are you philosophizing?”
“Philosophizing.”
“What set you into that mood?”
“This trip. I’m starting to realize how my ambitions for Char might have encouraged her decisions.” The comment had flowed out of her. The darkness invited confidences she would never have thought of sharing with him an hour ago.
And why not be open? What did she have left to hide?
“Such as?” He had a good voice, a deep, masculine one with the right touch of culture to it.
“My worry over money. The house on Mulberry Street was a bit too dear for my income, which is always precarious at best.”
He didn’t answer immediately and she began to believe he’d fallen asleep until he said, “Didn’t Dearne have a brother who took the title? And the responsibilities?”
“An angry brother with an empty title, Your Grace. He had agreed to pay a portion of Charlene’s expenses but he has conveniently forgotten his obligation over the past six months or so.”
“What of the courts?”
“Courts cost money for representation. Besides, I didn’t want the world to think her penniless. I wanted her to have the life that was rightfully hers.”
“Is that what she wants?”
“There is the question. Obviously not. I wanted her to be safe and secure, and money is power. A woman is mere chattel without it.”
“The law sees them as chattel to protect them, Mrs.Pettijohn.”
