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“All right, fine. I’ll stay here until I’ve been looked at.”
“Good.”
“You’re quite bossy when you want to be.”
Victoria smiled. Then she kissed his head, pulling back before Rafe could react and heading towards the door. Abigail was in the hallway, looking slightly uncomfortable. She blinked when she saw Victoria.
“Oh, my lady. I…forgive me for…for bothering you….”
“You’re not bothering anything. Lord Blackmore is just being very stubborn.” Victoria ignored Rafe’s snort. “What is it?”
“Lord Hayward is here. He wants to see you.”
Victoria frowned. Gregory was here? She hadn’t been aware that he had returned to the area.
“Where is he now?”
“In the morning room. I did say that we’ve had an accident today, but he was very insistent.”
That was Gregory. When it came to her, he was very insistent on everything. Victoria turned to Rafe, who was watching her with a frown.
“You stay here. I don’t want to see you wandering around the house until the doctor has seen you.”
“Who’s the one in charge here?”
“Until you’ve regained your senses, you know the answer to that.” Victoria left the room, closing the door behind her. “I’ll go to Lord Hayward. Just make sure Lord Blackmore doesn’t come out of his bedchamber.”
“I’ll make Manning aware of it.”
Victoria headed downstairs, walking into the morning room. Her cousin was pacing around the room, looking out of the window with a scowl before turning back again. He stopped short when he saw Victoria come in.
“Victoria!”
Victoria managed a smile and approached him, stopping with a gasp as Gregory put his arms around her and embraced her tightly. Victoria froze. What was going on? Gregory had never greeted her like this before.
“I’m glad that you’re all right.” Gregory pulled back, cupping her head in his hands. “I heard about the shooting. It must have been awful for you.”
“I’m fine. I wasn’t hurt.” Victoria was beginning to get uncomfortable with how her cousin was behaving. “Lieutenant Millinchip is going to live, although it’s going to be a while before he’s fully healed.”
“At least you weren’t shot.” Gregory swallowed. “God, if something had happened to you….”
“I said I wasn’t hurt. Could you let go of me, Gregory? You’re making me nervous.”
“What? Oh.” Gregory slowly let go of her. “I…forgive me, I got scared when I heard the news. I’m just glad you’re safe.”
Victoria thought about telling him about what Rafe and Mayfield were planning on doing, but something stopped her. She realised that she didn’t want to tell him anything about it. Why was she reluctant to share something with her cousin? Gregory was family, after all. He deserved to know what was going on.
But her gut said that it wouldn’t be a good idea. Especially given that Gregory still believed Rafe killed Richard. Victoria didn’t want to go through that; her cousin probably wouldn’t listen, anyway. Until they had something more than Lieutenant Millinchip’s word, she was going to keep it to herself.
“It’s not really a good time to visit, Gregory. Forgive me for being out of sorts.” Victoria shifted away from him. “Rafe has just fallen off his horse, and he’s resting right now.”
Gregory snorted.
“I hope it was serious.”
“Gregory!”
“What? He’s a killer. It’s the least he deserves.”
