For a beat Ned stared at the door as if he could burn it up with his eyes. What was the matter with that woman?
He should fall on his knees now and thank the good Lord that he hadn’t surrendered to base impulses and attempted to kiss her, because he’d been close.
Close to opening himself to her. Close to letting down his guard. Close to making a fool of himself. A barred door was the only way to deal with her.
Of course, he was now standing alone out in the road. Hippocrates had ambled home.
Swearing under his breath, Ned began the short march to his doorstep.
Gemma fell against the barred door. Her heart pounded and her head throbbed. She couldn’t tell which was more disconcerting.
That man.
If she wasn’t careful she would once again fall for a handsome face. There had been a moment, when they were alone, when he’d sat so near to her she could detect the scent of horse and fresh air about him, when she could look into his eyes and see every shade of golden brown even in the candlelight, when she was tempted to reach out to him.
And true, earlier when he’d lifted her in his arms, she had never felt more safe. Never with Paul and not even as a child with her father. He was solid, strong, protective. She’d allowed herself to relax, and to momentarily trust.
Except, he was not her friend. She had no worse enemy in the world. He had just said as much. And she would bet all her possessions that he had some sort of role in the attack on her tonight. Oh, perhaps he didn’t plan it. He sounded genuinely surprised and quite angry at Fitz’s actions.
However, wittingly or unwittingly, he’d had a hand in it, or so she wanted to convince herself... because to think differently was dangerous.
Yes, she knew there was more to Ned Thurlowe than his looks. Hewasa man of substance. The villagers spoke of him with respect. Even Mrs. Warbler, who seemed to have a low opinion about everyone.
Furthermore, Gemma had seen his handiwork. He was a good doctor. A caring one. He was the sort of man she could admire, save for one glaring fact—he was also promised to another woman. A delightful woman who was eager to befriend her and had been kindness itself.
What sort of man looked at her the way he had when he was to marry someone as special as Clarissa Taylor?
So there it was, the truth. All men reallywerealike. Paul, his brother, Mr. Thurlowe. Even her beloved father had been capable of not being honest with her. Why else would her father have not told her he’d left everything to Paul in his will? He’d let her believe she would have some control over her own future.
Gemma had learned her lessons the hard way. And she’d best keep as far from Ned Thurlowe as she could. Lashing out at him accomplished that feat.
She pushed away from the door.
Chapter Eleven
The more Ned walked, the angrier he grew.
It didn’t help that lust still coursed through his veins. He was half-mad with it. His step was strong and hard, his breathing heavy with extra exertion, his muscles still so tense they felt like tightly coiled springs.
He stormed straight to the stables, thinking he would both unsaddle Hippocrates and put his fists repeatedly into the wood walls. Then maybe he’d cool the anger and satisfy the need for—what? Wishing he’d been able to choke off Gemma’s ugly accusations? Or pound sense into Winderton and his gang of barely literate locals—?
Ned didn’t know. He was on edge, annoyed, and bitter—
He came to a full-on stop.
Hippocrates had already been unsaddled and was too busy munching grain to even nicker a pleasant good-night. Not so with the otherhorses there. Royce’s animal was standing asleep, his back hoof cocked. However, Bruno, the Earl of Marsden’s animal, put his head forward and whinnied.
Mars was here.
Ned’s anger evaporated. A resolution to his quarrel with Mrs. Estep was at hand.
He charged to the house. Royce had been waiting for him and opened the door almost before Ned came into the lamplight.
“You brought him home,” Ned said in relief.
“It was a challenge,” Royce confessed in a low voice.
“Where did you find him?” Ned was afraid of the answer.
