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“I don’t care what you think. I don’t care what the whole damned world thinks. I love her, and we will be happy together.”
“So, you will fight for her then,” Norman murmured conversationally. “But you don’t have the courage to tell her you love her.”
“You don’t know what you are talking about,” Ryan hissed, shoving him roughly backward when he abruptly released him.
“I know she has been here for over a week. I know you have been alone with her on several occasions. I know you will have taken advantage of that to make your affections known, physically at least, by kissing her. It is just a shame you don’t have the courage to tell her how much you worship her. Do it, Ryan. Do it before you lose that woman to Cedrick, to her father’s machinations, to her cousin, Sophia. You and I both know that they aren’t likely to come back with Arthur behaving the way he is.”
“But you still had to go and ruin my relationship with her. We were doing so well. She was starting to see me as a man, not a titled lord.”
“I know. But I also know that she adores you too,” Norman mused with a grin.
Ryan threw him a glare. Rather than leave, as he wanted to do, he glared at his friend. “Has she told you?”
“Not in so many words,” Norman mused. “But if she didn’t care about you, your home, your family name, your reputation, she would have stayed. Leaving protects you as much as her, Ryan. Remember that. It has to mean something, doesn’t it?”
Ryan blinked and stared after Norman, who had already nudged his horse into a canter. When he disappeared, Ryan charged after him, not least because somewhere at the end of his journey was Sian, and it was more important than ever now that he reach her.
As he rode through the countryside, Ryan contemplated the powerful dream that had plagued him of late whereby he raced through the fields after her only to lose her to another. Had it been a warning of events yet to come? He couldn’t help but look about the fields he raced through in search of familiar landscapes. He was horrified that the nightmare might become real and was enough to warn him that Norman was right to have done what he did. He had proven a very valid point. If Sian had stayed regardless of what Norman had said, her motives would be considerably more selfish than he would have liked. The fact that she retreated and was prepared to shun an offer of a carriage to walk the several miles to the coaching tavern in town was enough to tell Ryan that she was determined to do what was right. He was equally determined not to allow her to leave and so nudged his horse that little bit faster.
It took far too long to reach the ticket off. By the time he reached it, Sian had already been and gone, having purchased four tickets to leave on the next coach due to depart at seven o’clock the following morning.
“Well, she isn’t going to take that coach,” Ryan growled. He slammed his fists onto his hips and studied the bustling coaching yard while he tried to decide what to do.
“We know they haven’t already started back. Maybe they are doing a bit of shopping while they are in town? They think they have a long journey tomorrow,” Norman replied.
“Well, let’s go and have a wander around and see if we can find them. They have to be around here somewhere.”
“It isn’t hard to miss four ladies, is it?” Norman asked.
Together, the men wandered out into the street and began their search of the busy market town.
“Oh, hello.” Lucinda dipped into a curtsey when Ryan whirled around.
He immediately huffed a sigh of relief and grinned at the young girl but was rewarded with a somewhat cautious look that was far from friendly.
“Lucinda, I have told you not to leave the shop without me,” Mabel chided as she too left the haberdashery. She slammed to a stop when she realised Lucinda was not alone. “Sir.”
“Why all this formality?” Ryan chided but dutifully bowed in acknowledgement of Mabel’s curtsey.
“We are in public, sir,” Mabel warned.
“We know our station,” Lucinda added, and scowled deeply when Martha nudged her roughly in the back.
“I take it Sian told you then,” Ryan sighed.
“That we have outstayed our welcome?” This time, Lucinda side-stepped just in time to avoid Martha’s sharp elbow. She glared at her elder sister but refused to be silenced. “We are leaving first thing tomorrow.”
“It has been very kind of Lord Carson to accommodate us thus far, but I am sure he wants his house back,” Mabel announced briskly.
“No. I most definitely do not want my house back. Do you not think I get a little bored there by myself? There is just me in that eighteen-bedroom mansion. It gets a little lonely. It has been a pleasure having you stay with me because I have had someone to talk to.” Ryan smiled encouragingly at Lucinda, but the young girl looked positively miserable. “I apologise for Norman giving you the wrong idea. He was just checking something.”
“Whether we know our place?” Lucinda asked helpfully.
“Lucinda, will you hush?” Mabel hissed.
“No. Not that.” Ryan studied the women before him.
For the first time since he had met them, he sensed a divide between them that he struggled to know how to remove again. It saddened him because before the fire, only last night, they had all been so happy sharing such a loving contentment that it had been humbling to be a part of it. Now, he wasn’t, and that saddened him.
