Before she could offer an opinion, Matt handed her his hat. “I’ve done this before.” He leaped for the tree’s lowest branch, which was higher than anyone else could reach. Like an acrobat, he heaved himself up, carefully staying close to the trunk.
“Watch it,” Willa warned. The limbs might not be able to support Matt’s full weight. She didn’t want to think what could happen.
His answer was a grin.
He moved up, testing the limbs as he did.
A woman who was actually a few inches shorter than Willa had come to her side. “Does he realize he is endangering his life for cat?” She held a hand up to shade her eyes against the sun so she could watch Matt climb.
“I believe he does,” Willa said.
“Well, he is a better soul than I am. You children had best pray nothing happens to that gentleman.”
“Yes, Mother,” one of them said. The others were too intent on Matt’s daring kitten rescue to answer.
He climbed out on a limb. The branches shook with his movements. Willa wasn’t the only one holding her breath. He reached out. The kitten’s hold on the gutter pipe had grown more tenuous until it seemed as if the poor creature was barely hanging on by a claw.
Matt stretched his arm. Boots cried loudly as if afraid of rescue, and then Matt’s hand went around his scrawny middle. Paws flailed in the air as the kitten felt itself freed from the pipe.
A glad cheer went up. Willa was startled to see that beyond the children, they had gathered a crowd of onlookers. One man was even taking wagers on whether Matt would make it to the ground with the kitten successfully.
Anyone betting against her husband would have lost, she could have told him.
Matt swung down from the lowest branch, landing heavily. The kitten was not in his hand. The little girl looked expectantly at him and then burst into the happiest smile in the world when he reached inside his jacket and offered her Boots.
The children were well mannered. They shouted out thank-yous, looking at Matt as if he was a hero.
And he had been heroic.
How many gentlemen of his stature would have put themselves out for a kitten? Or noticed a crying child? London was full of them, and yet, he’d heard that extra note of distress.
The woman standing next to Willa said, “Thank you, kind sir. I could not have rescued our Boots. As you can see, I’m shorter than your lady. I’d gone upstairs to see if I could reach him from a window. No luck. I was about to give up.”
“These are your children?” Matt said. Willa gave him back his hat, which he set at a rakish angle on his head.
“Most of them. Two sets of twins and two others. They are a handful. It is a pity my husband wasn’t home. He’s actually a bigger man than you. He could have saved our Boots.”
“Well, I hope Boots has a long and happy life,” Matt answered.
“And that he keeps his paws on the ground,” the woman agreed. “Thank you again, kind sir.”
Matt took Willa’s elbow and, together, they walked away.
“You seem thoughtful,” he said. “What are you thinking?”
Willa wasn’t about to confess that she was a bit thrown off by the woman and her children. If her husband was close to Matt in size, well, those who had speculated on whether Willa could bear his child were wrong. All the children had appeared healthy and well-bred and their mother had been trying to save the kitten herself, which was exactly what Willa would have done...
She found his hand. His gloved fingers laced with hers.
“You aren’t going to share what is on your mind?” he prodded.
Willa smiled up at him. He was truly handsome, but she was beginning to notice every slightest detail about him. Hewasn’tperfect, and that was good. He was as human as she, and he could admit to mistakes.
I botched it last night. I hurt you.
She still experienced some discomfort. Her muscles complained from time to time, but it was no longer a very big thing.
And, while Matt had laugh lines from the corners of his eyes, there were also shadows of worry and concern.
