Leaning against the rock, I tugged the towel from my satchel and quickly dried my face and hair. Then I squeezed out my skirts to keep them from stretching and sticking to my skin and stuffed my feet into my boots.
“Still, we should call a doctor,” Mr. Winston called. He’d put on his coat, and then removed his cravat and wrung it out with his hands. His neck was bare all the way to his collarbone.
My fingers fumbled to finish tying my bootstrings. I cleared my throat. “Absolutely not. No one else can know what happened here.” Mama would never let me out of her sight again, and rightly so. If anything happened to my reputation, my marriage to Marlow would be compromised. Everything my family had planned would be for naught.
He stuffed his cravat into his own satchel and moved closer. “Miss Newbury, you nearly drowned.”
“But you saved me.” I tried to lift my voice, to fill it with confidence and pride I no longer owned. I stood. “I cannot possibly thank you enough.”
Mr. Winston furrowed his brows and took another hesitant step closer, studying me. Then he leaned in, beads of water still clinging to his hair, and searched my eyes as though something troubled him. “Do you know what day it is?”
I tried to hold his gaze, to not stare at the cut above his brow or glance at the bare skin above his collarbone, but my voice still wavered as I said, “Tu-Tuesday.”
“And what is your name?”
“Rosalind Newbury.”
He rubbed a hand over his face, seeming to continue some silent debate in his head. “It is my duty to see you well.”
I’d only known Mr. Winston for half a day, really, but even I could hazard a guess that he did not pride himself on keeping his duty. “Then allow me to release you from any obligation you may feel.”
A slow smirk lifted his lips, and he huffed out a laugh. “If only a man’s honor was so easy to dismiss. The Ollertons would never forgive me if harm came to you because of my silence.” His forehead wrinkled with thought. “Does this”—he motioned to the pond—“have anything to do with that list of yours?”
If my face had not already reached the color of a cherry, it now did. “Well—”
“‘Number one, learn to swim.’” His voice was playful.
I swallowed down the last of my pride and faced him directly. “Please. I beg you. Do not mention this to the Ollertons.” And then it hit me. “Do the Ollertons know you’re out here—alone? WhereisLiza?”
His eyes grew wise, then he reached down for his satchel and slung it across his chest. “On second thought, I should be on my way. And so should you. Shall we pretend we never saw each other?”
“Wait a moment.”
He took a heavy breath, then crouched down and heaved what was obviously a very heavy leather sack over his shoulder and started off toward the grove. What the devil was in that bag? Flour? Stones? A human body?
My eyes widened at the thought, and I followed, my wet stockings sloshing around in my boots as I hurried after him. “Mr. Winston, what sort of trouble are you into? The Ollertons are good people, and if you are up to something, if your intentions are ill-founded, you will be hurting a family who deserves only your best.”
Slowly, he turned to face me, his back to the grove. There was a sudden pain in his eyes that vanished just as quickly. “I saved your life. Can we not safely say my intentions are honorable?”
I shook my head, actively trying to pretend we were fresh from a normal morning in the drawing room and not the pond. “What is in that bag?”
He gave me a look that saidyou won’t really care to know, and then dropped the bag to the ground and responded, “Sand.”
It could not be as simple as that. Hands on my hips, I continued my interrogation. “And what exactly does one do with a bag of sand?”
Mr. Winston smirked. “Would you like me to demonstrate?”
My eyes widened. “No, thank you.” I strained to see Ivy Manor through the trees, but there were too many of them, tall and full with summer leaves. “But perhaps your cousin would.”
His smile dropped. “She thinks I am sleeping late. As everyone always does.”
I drew in a breath of surprise and pointed my finger. “Youhavesnuck out.”
“So have you.”
“Not so. My maid knows I have gone for a walk. If she asks why I am sopping wet, I shall say I fell in the pond.”
His lips twitched. “Excellent excuse. Perhaps I should make my own should the Ollertons notice my absence.”
