Chapter Nine
That night, Harriett ensured her clothes were placed where she could lay her hands on them in the dark. When it was time to go, she managed to fasten her gown, but gave up on her stays again, hoping her spencer would hide her unfettered breasts. She refused to examine too closely, what leaving the house half-dressed may lead to.
Growing more confident, Harriett slipped from the house and crossed the gardens. The moon shone out of a clear sky. She could see her way, but unfortunately, she was exposed to anyone’s interested gaze. Running down the stone steps into the garden, she approached the rose arbor to find it empty. She sat on the wooden seat, her mind swirling with a mix of fear and anticipation, as the heady scent of roses wafted around her.
Gerard stepped out of the shadows and joined her on the seat. He smiled. “How pretty you look by moonlight.”
Did he really think her pretty? Just being here with him enveloped her in a silken cocoon of euphoria and blinded her to everything else. Especially her commonsense. Was she only pretty in the moonlight but not in the light of day?
“You’re quiet. Are you tired?”
“No.” She’d never felt so alive.
“Best we go.” He took her hand and pulled her to her feet. “We’ll take a stroll and see if anything stirs. That Kyle’s been prowling about at night, and I want to see what he’s up to.”
Harriet enjoyed his rough-skinned fingers curling around hers far too much. He was so different to the London beaus she’d met at balls. To watch him in the saddle, dressed in a leather jerkin, and form-fitting breeches, would surely make any lady swoon. She could sense his barely controlled power, how strong and masculine he was. It was nonsense to feel that he laid claim to her with that grip. The sight of him half-stripped was indelibly etched in her memory, the play of muscles on his sun-tanned torso, his eyes a vivid blue in his tanned face. His pearly white smile. It was ridiculous how he peeled away all her defenses, a little more each time they met. She was determined that they be lovers, if only for one night, but she hadn’t quite figured out how to bring it about. She knew him to be an honorable man, but men were easily overcome with lust were they not? She would have to choose her moment and pounce, or else she’d lose him to Leonora without ever possessing him.
They walked quietly over the path listening to the crickets and the call of night birds. The clear sky was purple velvet dotted with gems, the air a heady mixture of fragrant scents. It was perfect.
“This should be very romantic,” Gerard said, sounding as if he’d clamped down on his jaw.
As that had been precisely what Harriett was thinking, she bit her lip.
“We are taking a terrible risk, Harry. If we’re found out, your father will rightly insist I marry you. Would that be so terrible?”
“I’m sure we’d think of a way out of it,” she said. Butyou would not be able to marry my sister. She chastised herself afraid she was turning into a jealous shrew. Would having Gerard in the family be better than never seeing him from one year to the next? She doubted it.
“Hush.” Gerard hauled her into the shadows.
A figure approached from the far end of the driveway, the sound of his footsteps loud on the gravel.
Who is it?” Harriett whispered.
“Looks to be Uncle’s overseer, Joseph Kyle. I suspected as much. Wonder what he’s about?”
They crept from the shadows and followed him from a distance. The tall man disappeared into the stable courtyard. Harriett almost tripped on the rough cobbles, but Gerard’s arm came around her waist to steady her. Her breath quickened. She should be used to him handling her by now, but his touch brought fresh sensations every time, made even more potent by her own plans for his seduction.
“He’s heading into the stables.”
They waited. Minutes passed before Kyle reappeared. This time he carried a lantern.
They crouched down behind the stable wall. “He’ll see us if we follow,” Harriett whispered. She shivered with anticipation and the hair rose on her arms.
“We’ll make sure he doesn’t. Let’s see where he goes.”
Kyle continued through the stable yard and headed in the direction of the home farm. They followed him down the lane edged by a thick bank of fir trees. He climbed a stile into a meadow.
“Damned odd place for a man to go at night,” Gerard said. “Unless he’s off to the village, but it’s a very long walk.”
“Maybe he’s meeting someone.”
“Looks like that’s exactly what he is doing.”
A figure in a long cape crossed the small bridge over the river and ran lightly up to Kyle. A woman.
“What are they doing?” Harriett whispered.
“I don’t know; we’ll have to move a little closer.”
