Page 47 of Mail-Order Viscountess

If she were going to trust a man, the deepest part of her said Thomas Balfour might just be trustworthy.

“All right.” She pushed the words out before she could press them down again.

His brows shot up. “All right?” The shock on his face showed he’d expected that answer even less than she had.

She should clarify. Maybe give him a chance to take back his offer. Perhaps it had only been a kindness. A request he never expected her to accept.

A muffled thud sounded from the main room, jerking Thomas’s attention toward the door.

Voices rose from beyond the study door, or maybe outside? One end of this room likely bordered the front of the house. Was that Enoch speaking?

Thomas was on his feet before she could make out any words. He opened the study door, and she stood to follow him.

The front door was just opening, and Enoch strode in with James just behind.

“—had to be from last night,” Enoch was saying. His measured voice hummed with tension. “The ashes were cold, but the ground underneath still held some warmth.”

Thomas moved toward his brothers, and Kate followed. “What are you talking about?”

Enoch’s gaze flicked to her, then back to Thomas. “Someone camped near the house last night. Just inside the tree line where they could watch us.”

CHAPTER 16

The tracks circled the house like a predator sizing up prey.

Thomas crouched beside the imprints in the half-frozen mud. Single horse. Single rider, as far as they could tell.

The campsite sat just inside the tree line—close enough to watch the house, far enough to avoid easy detection. Then the man had stayed just out of sight as he rode past the house, down the road that led to Walnut Springs. That’s where they lost him. The frozen path was too hard to hold any imprints. They searched for a quarter hour, but finally turned back toward the house.

“Could be a drifter.” Robert voiced what Thomas had wondered about more than once. “Reached the house too late to knock. Decided to wait out the cold rather than risk disturbing us in the middle of the night.”

“Polite drifter.” James’s tone carried skepticism. “Most would’ve knocked anyway. Risked waking us rather than freeze. Or slept in the barn at least.”

“Maybe he caught a rabbit and needed to cook it.”

Enoch’s jaw tightened. “I don’t like it.”

Thomas straightened, pushing past the burn in his ribs. Something about this felt wrong—the deliberate positioning of the camp, the careful tracks that skirted the house before heading toward town. A drifter would have approached directly, would have asked for shelter or moved on entirely.

“I’ll ride toward Walnut Springs.” Enoch’s voice carried the weight of a decision already made. “See if I can catch up with him. At least get a look at who we’re dealing with.”

“You want company?” James asked.

“No. Stay here and keep an eye on things.” Enoch’s gaze shifted to Thomas and Robert. “All of you. I should be back before dark, even if I have to go all the way to town.” Enoch turned toward the barn, and something inside Thomas scrambled to stop him.

He needed to tell them now. While they were all together.

“Wait.”

His eldest brother paused and looked back, brows raised in question.

The words stuck in Thomas’s throat. He glanced at James and Robert, both watching him with expressions that matched Enoch’s. Better to get it over with.

He swallowed down the knot and forced the news out. “Kate agreed to marry me.”

Silence weighted the air, thick enough to cut. All three of his brothers stared at him. Practically gaping. As though he’d just announced he planned to move to England instead of California.

He shifted his weight and offered them his most irreverent grin. “Try not to look so shocked. I’m not completely without charm.”