Page 89 of Broken

Giles frowned. “For what?”

“For my cousin. Tell Carrington I’m sorry too, but grateful for his intervention,” Lilly murmured. “You be careful, too, Giles.”

A thrill raced through him. No one had concerned themselves over his safety in a long time. Maybe in a few hours Lilly might come to reconsider her desire to live in Wales. If that was what she truly wanted he would have no choice but to let her go. He swallowed past the lump in his throat and whispered, “I will,” before he left.

* * *

Giles worked his way through the damaged part of the house with a few staff and Carrington, removing debris and extinguishing any glowing embers that still burned. His neighbors were long gone and he planned to catch a few hours’ sleep somewhere soon.

“Thank you for your assistance tonight,” Giles said, seizing a moment when they were free of the servants’ company to speak to Carrington who’d grown uncharacteristically quiet in the last hour.

Carrington shrugged and continued shoveling.

“She means the world to me and I can never repay you for what you did to save her.”

Carrington shifted another pile of debris to a barrow for removal. “I knew that,” Carrington said, words whispered in a sad rasp of sound. “You love her and would have died for her tonight.”

“I do love her.” It surprised Giles how little those words frightened him. Lilly might have understandable misgivings about marriage to him, but he would promise his fidelity before all of society if she asked him to. “I always will.”

“Can I get you anything, milord?” Dithers stood in the doorway, not quite as prim and straight as usual.

“Dithers, what the devil are you doing still here? Hasn’t Mrs. Osprey tucked you into bed yet?”

“I managed to escape her fussing,” Dithers assured him with a smug smile.

“Why the hell did you do that? You had an opportunity there, old boy. Can’t believe you passed up the chance. Get off to bed,” Giles ordered. “Preferably hers.”

“Sir!” Dithers sounded so shocked that Giles could finally laugh.

“You have been immersed in the country for too long, Dithers. I think you’ve lost your touch. Hurry off to the stables and kiss the woman good night before I sack you both for stupidity.”

Dithers drew himself up, spun on his heel, and left without a word.

Carrington dropped his shovel and leaned against the wall for support. “You’re matchmaking the servants now?”

“They did it to me,” Giles protested and Carrington started to laugh. Giles let him, watching the tension begin to leave his friend at last. “I have every right to strike back at them, don’t I?”

* * *

The fire damage was not as bad as Lilly had feared. The room where the fire had started did not have a chamber directly above it and she could see no lasting damage to the structure of the house, except for the glimpse of blue sky through the missing roof.

The men did not appear worried that the house might collapse, so she let her anxiety fade. A thick layer of ash coated everything else, however, and Cottingstone was in need of a very good cleaning to bring Giles’ home to order again. The men poked around the fire-damaged room, pulling down parts of the wall badly scorched by flames, and churned up more dust in the process. Lilly stepped into the hall and observed from a distance.

Mrs. Osprey approached, eyes fixed on the distant room.

“What is it, Mrs. Osprey?”

“I was wondering what the master would like tackled first, Miss. But I dare not interrupt him. Do you think you could ask for me? I don’t want to be a nuisance.”

Giles was inspecting the damage to the far wall and Lilly decided to be useful for a change. “Perhaps you could start by airing and cleaning the bedchambers. Lord Daventry looks set to collapse at any moment. I don’t know if he has slept since the fire. And they will want to bathe later.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“After the bed chambers, the dining room should be next. The gentlemen will be hungry.”

Mrs. Osprey hurried off to do her bidding.

Lilly’s back ached. She would need to lie down soon, but the couch she usually rested upon had burned to ashes. That meant she would have to tackle the stairs soon and return to her room.