She gasped and gazed into the earl’s annoyed, gray eyes. “I…didn’t know it was you. I thought…”
Lord Debnam dropped his hands. “Then who might it be?”
“I met your neighbor at the lake.” She gasped between breaths. “He carried a shotgun.” She suddenly felt foolish. “I found him rather intimidating.”
“Gaylord seems to have forgotten his manners.” Lord Debnam looked furious. He swiveled and began walking back toward the house.
“He said he was a relative of yours,” she said, trying to keep up.
“My uncle. My mother’s younger brother. Her elder brother, Simon, died some years ago.”
She struggled to catch her breath. “Why was he roaming about your land with a gun?”
The earl stopped and turned to observe her. He reached up and straightened her bonnet, which had slid down almost over one eye. “Scaring young women, by the looks of it.”
She searched his eyes, needing him to tell her more.
Lord Debnam sighed, obviously reluctant to indulge her. “Gaylord’s estate adjoins mine on the eastern boundary. He takes it upon himself to shoot some of my birds.”
“Why don’t you order him not to?”
“As it serves both of us, I permit it. But I don’t seek his company.”
“I didn’t like him.”
He stared at her, something unfathomable in his eyes. Anger, frustration? “Did he behave in an ungentlemanly manner?”
“No,” she said hastily. Although hehadtouched her. “I expect I surprised him. Finding me there alone.” She wasn’t about to tell him how cheap the man made her feel, or be the cause of trouble between them.
“Viscount Gaylord has an unfortunate manner. He does not try to get on with people. My father was often irritated with him, according to Redfern.”
Lord Debnam’s butler, Redfern, was in his sixties and would have worked here back when the earl’s father had been alive. This was the first bit of information about his family Lord Debnam had divulged. In need of more, Laura considered probing him further, but while keeping pace with his long legs, she stumbled over a rock hidden beneath a pile of leaves. “Ouch!” She hopped about as pain from her ankle spiraled up her calf.
He came back to her. “What have you done?”
He looked impatient, and aware she was a nuisance, she shrugged. “It’s nothing.” She put her weight on her foot to test it, then bit her lip at the pain.
“For God’s sake, Laura. Let me see.”
Lord Debnam crouched and lifted her skirt. “Mm. A slight strain by the look of it.” Holding her stockinged leg, he probed her ankle with gentle fingers. His touch brought him sharply into focus. She no longer thought him an uncaring rake, but a gentleman capable of concern for others.
Laura fought an impulse to touch his thick, wavy, brown hair, which grew in a whorl at the crown, and instead held his strong shoulder to keep herself upright. How extraordinary! She had never wanted to touch a man’s hair before, not even Edward’s.
She disliked being seen as a fragile woman. “It’s nothing, really, my lor—Debnam.”
With her weak ankle, she should have taken more care. Annoyed with herself, she felt foolish, hating to be dependent when she wanted to be determined and strong, in control of her own fate. A match for this man, although every aspect of their relationship seemed to favor him. And it appeared to have annoyed him to have to come to find her.
He straightened with a relieved sigh, and she realized he’d been genuinely concerned. She had been about to apologize for roaming about unescorted, even though she thought it nonsense to drag Penny everywhere. But she gave up any such notion at his obvious disapproval. Besides, the fact that he was walking too fast made her stumble. “Why go traipsing about the woods in those slippers?”
“They are not slippers. I hadn’t intended to walk this far.” This was untrue, but he was being mean. Admittedly, her shoes weren’t sturdy boots, but neither were they flimsy slippers. Further objections died in her throat when Lord Debnam hoisted her into his arms.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m taking you back to the house, unless you’d like to remain here and contemplate nature.”
“You can’t carry me all that way.”
“Can’t I?”
