With a whoop, her younger sister flew out of the room with Luther skittering at her heels.
At any other time, Linette would have been elatedto see Estelle so lively and energetic again, but her deepening regret for how she must have hurt Adam drowned out all else.
Surely there must be something she could say, something she could do. At the very least she must see him again, though she had no idea how or when. If only for a few moments, so she could try to explain…
***
Adam rode Samson hard, praying that their hell-bent paceon this bright afternoon without a cloud in the sky might ease his dark mood.
He rarely allowed himself a diversion during the workday, but he’d been willing to try anything to dispel the pall of discontent hanging over him. If he’d thought that throwing himself into his new practice might grant him relief from constant thoughts of Linette, he’d been sorely mistaken.
He’d treated countless patients,Mrs. Polkinghorne’s wholehearted recommendation sending him throughout the parish and back—but still the last time he’d seen Linette haunted him.
He’d visited Arundale’s Kitchen and other local tin mines. He had organized an office at the cottage in Porthleven so he could treat patients there, and stayed up late at night poring over his medical books. Anything was better than tossing and turningin bed during another sleepless night.
Exhaustion seemed to be fueling him now, but what matter? What did anything matter when the woman of his dreams had taken refuge in her room whenever he’d gone to the Duke of Arundale’s manor house to visit Estelle? Thankfully he’d proclaimed her well the other day so he wouldn’t have to suffer that torment any longer…though in truth, she’d been as healthyas a spirited colt more than a week ago.
He’d kept it to himself, hoping against hope that Linette might find it in her heart to come out of her room and greet him. So he’d arranged several visits more than he normally would have on the chance he might see her and have a moment to talk to her.
To apologize for his insensitive behavior. To ask her forgiveness for tramping upon her cherished dream.To wish her well—yes, even that!—during her Season in London, but his extra visits had been in vain. Linette had never appeared.
That harsh reality made Adam feel more acutely than ever that he’d been a romantic fool, and this afternoon ride a dismal failure.
His mood had only grown darker while Samson’s sides heaved with exertion. Adam pulled up on the reins and slowed his lathered horse toa trot, then into a walk, and only then did he hear it. Someone behind him shouting his name…
“Dr. Whitaker, wait for us, will you?”
Adam wheeled Samson sharply around, the horse snorting and rearing. If he’d not been an expert rider he might have lost his seat, which would have been a fine sight for Miss Estelle Easton galloping like a wild hoyden toward him.
Yet what made his heart seem tostop was Linette not far behind her, atop a sleek chestnut mare much like her younger sister’s.
Her long auburn hair whipping in the wind. Her tailored riding habit accentuating the lithe curves that had tormented his dreams whenever he’d finally been able to sleep. Her lovely face flushed pink in the sunlight as she and Estelle reined in their spirited mounts and trotted toward him.
“I thoughtit was you, Dr. Whitaker!” enthused Estelle with a wide smile, glancing from him to Linette, who’d caught up with her. “Linette saw you first—”
“Miss Easton,” Adam said stiffly to Linette, the uncertain smile on her face at once faltering. She appeared nervous, her gloved hands squeezing the reins, yet she straightened her shoulders as if bolstering her courage.
“Dr. Whitaker. It’s—it’s lovelyto see you again.”
Lovely? When she’d done nothing but hide from him for the past two weeks? Steeling himself against any thought that she might truly be pleased to see him, Adam glanced at Estelle and kept his tone terse.
“Take care as you ride, Miss Easton. I advise not too fast. You don’t need another bump on your head if you might fall.”
“Oh, I’ve never fallen from the saddle. Isn’t thatright, Linette?”
Now Linette nodded, her gaze anxious as she stared at Adam. She bit her lower lip, too, as if thinking to say something, but unsure if to do so.
Of course she had nothing to say to him other than common pleasantries, he thought grimly, the mood that had set him upon his breakneck ride growing darker. Suddenly desiring nothing more than to be gone from there, he bowed his headto them.
“Ladies, a good day to you. I have patients awaiting me in Porthleven.”
He didn’t wait for a reply, but dug his heels into Samson and set off at a hard gallop across the heath. He thought he heard one of them crying out something after him, though his horse’s pounding hooves drowned out the words.
No matter. Bitterness nearly choking him, nothing at that moment would have made himturn around to ride back to them.
Nothing.
***
