He only had to get through dinner, then he’d see to setting things right with Miss Thorne. It was a matter of a few hours only. As long as bloody Stoneleigh could refrain from offering his hand to Miss Thorne during dinner, all might still be well.
* * *
His optimism lasted for approximately two minutes, which was how long it took to walk the dozen or so steps from the billiard room to the drawing room. Once there, he paused on the threshold, a hiss escaping his lips.
There, standing to one side of the fireplace with a proprietary hand on Miss Thorne’s arm stood Lord Stoneleigh, a satisfied smirk on his lips. On the other side of Miss Thorne stood his grandfather, his cane in his gnarled hand and his thick mane of white hair brushed neatly back from his face.
As for Miss Thorne herself...
He blinked, then blinked again.
The dusty, bedraggled Miss Thorne of this afternoon was gone, and in her place was another Miss Thorne, one he couldn’t recall ever having seen before, with pink cheeks, her golden-brown hair tied back into a sleek chignon fastened with a green velvet ribbon. She was dressed in a modest gown, the color of which made him think of forests and grassy knolls. It wasn’t fashionable, but it brought out the green in her eyes, and the plain style suited her.
No wonder Stoneleigh looked so bloody pleased with himself. Judging by the possessive grip he had on her arm, he considered Miss Thorne to be alreadyhis. And the way he was gazing at her, with that ridiculous mooning, besotted expression.
Jasper stifled a snort. Good Lord, hadn’t the man ever seen a pretty face before?
“There you are, Jasper my boy!” His grandfather’s hearty voice boomed across the room, and Jasper tore his gaze away from Miss Thorne to see the old man waving him over. He shuffled across the room to his doom, a stiff smile pasted on his lips. “Good evening, Grandfather. How are you, sir?”
“Eh, well enough, for an old man. Better now that I’ve found Miss Thorne.”
Yes, any gentleman would be better for having found Miss Thorne, especially in that gown. It was strange, that he should find her plain green gown so alluring when he was accustomed to dining with ladies wearing the finest silks, their ears and throats dripping with magnificent jewels, but somehow the modest garnet necklace and earrings she wore put even his rubies to shame.
“Don’t stand there gaping at the lady, Jasper.” His grandfather nudged him. “Offer Miss Thorne your greetings.”
Was he gaping? “I beg your pardon, Miss Thorne.” He bowed over her hand, and a faint hint of honeysuckle tickled his nose. “I do hope you’ve recovered from your unfortunate misadventure this morning”
She offered him a graceful curtsy. “I have indeed, Your Grace. I’m very well, thank you.”
She certainlylookedwell, with that dark green ribbon woven into the locks of her thick hair, her lips an arching bow of enticing red in the soft, creamy skin of her face. She smelled it, too, with the scent of honeysuckle wafting around her.
Honeysuckle, of all things. It was the last scent in the world he would have imagined would suit her, sharp-tongued as she was, but she wore it as easily as she did her pretty green gown, the scent clinging to her skin like an old friend.
“Allow me to express my thanks to you, Your Grace, for your solicitous attention to Miss Thorne this morning.” Stoneleigh offered him an ingratiating bow. “I didn’t see it myself, being much occupied at the church today, but I heard all about the frightful incident with Miss Thorne’s mount. Really, my dear Miss Thorne, you must attend more assiduously to your safety.”
Hisdear Miss Thorne! Who did Stoneleigh think he was, addressing her so familiarly? And to make such a point of thanking Jasper, as if Miss Thorne were Stoneleigh’s exclusive responsibility! The man was an upstart, a popinjay—
“I can’t imagine why Miss Thorne would choose to ride such an enormous beast of a horse. The creature’s a bit wild, I think.” Lord Stoneleigh gave a delicate shudder. “If I’d known she’d take it into her head to do something so foolish, I would have made certain—”
“Indeed, my lord, you’re quite mistaken about Sampson.” Miss Thorne frowned at Stoneleigh. “He’s not wild in the least. The duchess herself chose him for me, and she would never put me on a horse she didn’t think I could manage.”
“There, it’s all right, Miss Thorne. You’ve had a shock today, and I daresay you’re still not entirely recovered from it.” Stoneleigh patted her hand as if she were a small child. “Had I been here, I would have put a stop to it, I assure you, Your Grace.”
Assurehim, would he? Stoneleigh could take his assurances and stick them in his cassock. He opened his mouth to say so, but before he could get a word out, Stoneleigh was off again, apparently only having just warmed to his subject. “I don’t presume to find fault with the duchess—no, indeed, far from it, for a wiser, more gracious lady I can’t imagine—but I can’t help but just hint that I think a nice, sedate mare would have been a better choice for a lady of Miss Thorne’s skills.”
Now that was one step too bloody far, by God. A man might shake his head over Miss Thorne’s sharp tongue, but there wasn’t a single soul in England who could fault her horsemanship.
“Nonsense, man.” His grandfather turned on Stoneleigh, his eyebrows fierce. “Miss Thorne’s an excellent horsewoman. She knew what she was about. If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t be standing here now. She’d be laid out in a pine box.”
Jasper winced. Between his grandfather’s bluntness and Stoneleigh’s fussing, what had promised to be a pleasant house party was turning into a toasty sojourn in one of Dante’s circles of hell.
“One shudders to think of it, does not one, Colonel Kingston? But I daresay Miss Thorne won’t have much time for riding in the future, will you, my dear Miss Thorne?” Stoneleigh gave her a fond look, but he didn’t wait for her to answer. Instead, he turned a wide, toothsome smile on Jasper and his grandfather. “At least, so I flatter myself.”
That was too much, right there. “Now see here, Stoneleigh—”
They were interrupted by the duchess, who pronounced the dinner served, and the company began to move toward the dining room, Lord Stoneleigh squiring Miss Thorne with the assiduousness of a shepherd with a particularly wayward sheep.
Jasper was seated farther up and on the other side of the table, too far to overhear their conversation, but he observed that Lord Stoneleigh scarcely closed his mouth throughout the entire meal, while Miss Thorne scarcely opened hers.
