“You don’t understand. He’s my horse. I owned him when he was a foal. My father sold him. I—”
“Sometimes men have to do things for certain reasons that—”
Thea held up a hand. “Spare me, please. You don’t know anything about why my father sold the horse.” That was it. She wasn’t about to try to explain anything further to Lord Clayton. He didn’t care about her past. He didn’t care about the fact that her father had sold both horses without even asking Thea or her mother. Lord Clayton certainly didn’t care that she loved the horse. She’d already tried to tell him as much.
“You’re right,” Lord Clayton allowed. “I don’t know.”
Thea refused to be mollified by him. “As far as I’m concerned, you left me no other choice. You refused to sell him to me, Lord Clayton, you even refused to let me see him. I had to do something.”
Clayton rubbed his chin and contemplated her for a moment. “May I ask you something about the horse, Lady Theodora?”
She tossed an impatient hand in the air. “Very well.”
“Are you the one who named him Alabaster?”
“I did,” she said, staring briefly unseeing at the carpet, remembering the day she’d first seen the perfect baby horse. He’d been such a fine foal.
“Why did you name him that?” Clayton asked. “The horse is dark as night.”
The side of her mouth quirked up. “Precisely why it’s the perfect name. Or does irony confuse you, my lord?” She blinked her lashes at him.
He shook his head and chuckled. “Has anyone ever told you, you have the tongue of a wasp?”
“Has anyone ever told you, you have the manners of a boar?”
“No. I suppose we’re even.” He shook his head again.
Thea lifted her chin. “I would like to go home, my lord. I have a pony tied in the tree line. If you would please have a footman fetch him, I will be on my way.”
“You cannot ride a pony home with a broken leg and even if you could, I wouldn’t allow it. It’s not safe out there at night for a female alone.”
“I’ve traveled on my own before,” she shot back. How dare this man try to tell her what to do?
“This conversation is ridiculous. You’re dressed as a lad, lying on my sofa with a broken leg, and you want me to hand over a pony so you can ride home and act as if none of this had ever happened.”
“Yes,” she replied with a nod. “That’s precisely what I want.”
“Then you’re either inebriated or mad.”
She bit the inside of her cheek. “I’m neither.”
“Let me be clear, Lady Theodora, despite the fact that you’ve been nothing but a bother to me the past few weeks, I’m not about to send you off into the night with a broken leg.”
Thea’s mind raced. What were her options? If she stayed, she’d surely have to admit who she was to Dr. Blanchard. What would the doctor say? How could she possibly explain her state? If word were to get out that she’d been found alone, dressed as a lad at Lord Clayton’s estate, her reputation would be in tatters. Worse, herbrother’sreputation would be in tatters.
However, Clayton was maddeningly correct in that it was ludicrous to expect that she would be able to ride her pony off into the night and pretend none of this had happened. Her leg was throbbing, and she couldn’t so much as take one step, let alone mount a horse.Blast. Blast. Blast. Why hadn’t she left well enough alone after seeing Alabaster twice?
In addition, Maggie would be worried about her. It was already past time that Thea should have returned home. Her friend would be pacing the bedchamber worrying that Thea had been shot.
Furthermore, Thea could hardly ask that a footman take a note to her home for Maggie. That would wake the servants in her household and the story would eventually get back to her father.
Thea reluctantly lifted her gaze to Lord Clayton. Under the circumstances, he was being surprisingly kind. “I didn’t mean to be a bother,” she grumbled, feeling not only petulant but foolish for having made such a mess of her intentions and a bit guilty for telling him he had the manners of a boar.
Lord Clayton lowered his voice, contemplating the liquid in his glass. “I should have allowed you to see the horse. I didn’t realize how much it meant to you.”
Thea sucked in her breath slightly. In a hundred years she wouldn’t have expected the detestable Lord Clayton to admit he’d been wrong. She hung her head. But the truth was she’d been wrong too. She took a deep breath. This would not be pleasant to say, “I’m sorry I sneaked into your stables like a thief.”
The hint of a smile quirked his lips and he looked downright … oh, for heaven’s sake, handsome. She quickly pushed the thought from her traitorous mind.
