He coughed.
She opened her eyes and peered up at him. Was that relief on her face? Had she thought the opening of the parlor door might herald the return of Sir Julian? She hadn’t looked too happy to be in that gentleman’s company. He suppressed a smile. This was all turning out to be rather amusing. And amused was not something he’d been for such a long time. Too long.
“I gather you are unwell, Lady Madeley. Your daughter insisted on returning home to prepare you your usual tisane, and requested that I should take you home in my carriage. I’ve asked the young groom, I think Archie is his name, to ready the horses to be harnessed to a carriage in a short while. Miss Madeley informed me that your tisane needs time to brew.” He allowed the smile to emerge. “I’ve no idea what sort of carriages reside in the carriage house but I assume there issomething suitable to convey an invalid back to her home.”
A little frown marred Lady Madeley’s alabaster brow. “There’s no need to trouble yourself,” she said. “I feel much restored already.” She gave him her sweet smile. “I fear it was having to converse with Sir Julian that caused my headache. I’m quite capable of walking home by myself. And you need not worry about my safety as this is a part of the country with practically no crime.”
“Nonsense,” Harry said, determined to play her at her own game, which he was certain it was. Or maybe it was Melissa’s game too. “Even if you feel well now, it would be foolish to risk you falling ill again on the walk back. I couldn’t possibly allow that. If you don’t wish for the carriage, then please allow me to escort you home on foot.”
Just like her daughter, her eyes narrowed. How alike they were, especially in their inability to hide when they were plotting, and yet, how much more appealing the mother was than the daughter. “Thank you,” she said. No doubt she was busy thinking that if he escorted her home, he would be within Melissa’s orbit again.
However, for the first time in many years, Harry began to feel as though he was having fun.
He extended his hand and, after a moment of hesitation, she took it and stood up.
She was nearly a foot shorter than he was. Shorter than her daughter, but with the same fine-boned elegance. A delicate little thing. The urge to make sure she was not just escorted home but also kept safe from the predatory advances of the likes of Sir Julian hit Harry in an unexpectedly violent wave. He almost staggered under its onslaught. Why on earth was he feeling like that?
She smiled up at him. “It is most kind of you to offer your services as guard dog.”
He had the sensation that this rather bland and sweet exterior hid a very different personality beneath the veneer of respectability andpoliteness. A personality he very much wanted to encounter.
“Not at all. It will be my pleasure.” He collected his cane from where he’d leaned it beside the fireplace. With all this walking, he was going to need it.
When he held out his arm, she tucked her small hand into the crook, where, to his surprise, he found it felt as though it was meant to be.
Once outside, he moderated his stride to suit hers as they set off down the drive.
“How did you find the gardens?” she asked.
“Very beautiful even this late in the year.”
“My husband had a professional garden designer come down and lay them out just after we were married. Stan and Dick only have to maintain them, although it was my pleasure to add various plants and trees each year.”
“They do it very well.” He glanced down at her. “Although, sadly, Miss Madeley didn’t appear to know as much about the plants themselves as you thought she would.”
She met his gaze. “Perhaps she was overcome by the company.”
“I doubt that very much. She expressed a strong wish to quit my company and return to your farm and her sisters and her horses. She’s very fond of her horses.”
A frown appeared, which only served to make her prettier. “I’m afraid this is something all my girls have inherited from me. I was an only daughter, you see, and my father was most taken up with his horses so expected me to be as well. I obliged and have a lifelong love of the animals. A love I passed on to my children. You must forgive dear Melissa for communicating that love.”
He nodded, trying to picture her as a child Megs’ age riding with the faceless figure of an older man who must be her father. “A not unreasonable love. It’s good for a child to have an interest in the out of doors when they live in such a beautiful place as this. And, after all,horses are useful for travel.”
She chuckled. “How very mundane. Of course they are, but my girls’ love of them is deeper even than my own. They do not see horses as a means to an end, but as the objects of their love.” She paused. “Although of course, when they meet the gentlemen who can capture their hearts, I’m sure horses will take second place.”
How blue her eyes were. Even bluer than Melissa’s, and how long and thick her eyelashes. Unlike the insipidly colored Sir Julian, hers were dark despite the fairness of her hair. He swallowed. “And did your horses take second place for you once you were married to my cousin?”
For a moment she appeared flustered. More flustered than he was feeling. “I was lucky enough to encounter a gentleman who was willing to indulge my love for horses.”
“But did you love him better than them?” He wasn’t quite sure why he was pushing her so hard on this, but it felt important.
Color stole up her cheeks and he found his heart was doing some strange kind of acrobatics. She licked her lips. “That is not a question I feel I should ever answer.”
So no, she hadn’t loved him better than her horses. Interesting. But then, Sir Geoffrey had been so much older than she was. What sort of a relationship would they have had—a girl of eighteen and a man of forty-one? The same sort she envisaged for him and Melissa, for he might only be thirty-two, but inside he felt like an old man. Not even the fleeting enjoyment of watching the machinations of a would-be matchmaking mama and the attempts of her daughter to escape those efforts could make him feel young again. No, the war, and especially Waterloo, had stopped that for him.
“Then don’t,” he said. “But answer another for me instead.”
“Very well.” But her eyes were wary.
