AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Ah, yes. There you have it. See that there? The axle snapped clean in two,” said Laurence, pointing to the broken carriage.
“Oh, yes, yes,” Herbert replied, nodding frantically. “It…ah, it can be repaired, of course…can’t it? Sir?”
“Oh, of course, I’ve no doubt,” said Laurence calmly. Then, in an affectionate voice, he cooed, “I say, here’s a pretty girl, isn’t she?”
Alicia felt her head spin as her relief at his first words turned to outrage at his next. She turned to look at Jenny as if to confirm her ears did not deceive her, but the maid had quietly retreated to sit and fan herself beneath the shade of a nearby tree.What insolence! I cannot believe how brazen this man would speak of—
But once again she found herself rendered speechless as she saw that Laurence had directed this compliment to one of the chestnut mares tied to the carriage. He came close to the beast, speaking softly to it and scratching it behind the ear. As he did so, a calm came over the horse, and its anxious whinnies were replaced with a more contented sound. Alicia attempted to hang onto her outrage at this strange man but felt it slip through her fingers, replaced by a strange fascination at his behaviour.
“So, sir, I, ah…” Herbert stammered, coming behind Laurence with his hat in hand. “You say you can repair our carriage?”
“Oh, no, by no means,” the man said calmly.
“What!”
He gave the horse another solid pat on the neck, then slowly turned and spoke directly to Alicia. “I said itcanbe repaired. But not by me. I’m afraid I’m not much for this kind of trade. Nor is anyone else in this area, I’m afraid. You’ll have to see a professional.”
“And where might we find a professional, Mister Gillingham?” Alicia asked in a voice she hoped sounded braver than it felt.
At these words, Laurence looked into her eyes for the first time, and once again Alicia felt her breath catch in her throat. The man’s eyes were so clear and blue, like the surface of a frozen pond, and his gaze was powerful enough that it felt he was stripping her naked…yet somehow the effect was not as unsettling as that. It was disarming, yes, but intimate, even affectionate.
That said, the effect of this examination was beguiling enough that it took Alicia a moment to notice that she had not heard the man’s answer to her question.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” she asked dumbly.
He gave a queer smile at this, his patience still unbroken even as a few other field workers walked up to inspect the carriage wreck. “I said there should be a man who can fix your carriage for you in Wiltshire.”
“And…how far is that?”
“Oh, not far, not far,” said Laurence, his fellows nodding amiably around him. “Forty or fifty miles away, I reckon. Shouldn’t take your man more than a few days to get there and back.”
It took every ounce of strength she had not to faint at this pronouncement.Lord save us indeed!
