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“I know my brother may have the appearance of a lout,” said the woman, giving Laurence an affectionate pinch on the arm, “but he is indeed a most established and respectable member of our community. Despite his best efforts.”
Laurence rubbed his arm with a glum expression, provoking Mary-Anne to giggle. He spoke in a slow, deep voice that made Alicia feel there was a cannonball rolling around inside her stomach, somehow.
“I’m afraid our family home isn’t much, Miss Ramsbury, especially for a London gentlewoman like yourself. But my sister is staying with us as well, and if the lapse in humility may be excused, my family’s reputation with our neighbours is beyond reproach. We’ve a large house, if an old one, and a small staff, so you should be perfectly comfortable. And I suppose we’re as close to a pillar of the community in these parts as anyone is.”
The throng of labourers around them nodded and mumbled their assent at this proclamation, some swains slapping Laurence on the back in camaraderie.Though I suppose I cannot assume any of them are the crude field hands I have taken them for, Alicia thought with a wry grimace.For all I know they could all be secret landed knights or dauphins in exile.
Once again she found her eye roving over the solid frame of this Laurence Gillingham. Where before she eyed him with curiosity, now she sought any clue to confirm or refute what she was being told.Is he really some sort of important individual out here in the wilderness? A man of means, a man to be trusted? Because he looks like…
In truth, Laurence looked nothing like anyone she had ever seen before. His loose-low-cut shirt hugged all manner of muscles Alicia was unfamiliar with, and his legs were strong and sleek like a horse’s.
He did not seem to be that much older than she, but he so little resembled her male peers in London society—who varied somewhat in their personal qualities but tended to be thin, pale, and rheumatic—that he may as well be a different species entirely. For a moment something about him looked familiar to Alicia, but then she realized with a blush that his form resembled not a person she knew but a particular Grecian statue of a nude athlete.
“But of course, no one can make this decision for you. By all means, seek a different answer to your predicament if you would prefer,” said Mary-Anne, snapping Alicia out of her reverie. “My brother’s invitation is an honest one, and the best and safest solution I can imagine, but it is yours to refuse.”
“Mine?” Alicia yelped. She blinked, suddenly putting together the gravity of everything she had been told. “I don’t…I’m not…”
No one rushed to finish her sentence or make her decision for her. Instead, all eyes busied themselves looking over the wreck of the carriage, save the handful of men who began walking back to their work in the fields. Laurence’s striking blue eyes stayed fixed on Alicia, prompting her to look away, flustered.
They are all waiting for me to decide if we shall stay or not,she said to herself dumbly.What on earth is the right thing to do in this situation?
Alicia felt she had been caught in a whirlwind. For all her complaints to the contrary—to her teachers, to her sister Grace, to her parents before they had passed on—she was entirely unused to having to make such important decisions about her own fate. While she had never made a secret of her whims and simple desires, determining where and how she would take care of herself in this frightening situation was a terrifying prospect.
She looked askance at Jenny, then at Herbert, who seemed to be even more baffled than she was herself. “What should I do?” Alicia asked in a quiet voice, her eyes widening with unease.
Stepping close and keeping her voice deferentially quiet, Jenny said softly, “It’s for you to decide, Miss Alicia. Do what you feel is right.”
But what if I don’t have any clue what is right?
Drawing in a deep, shaky breath, Alicia looked around herself, desperately seeking some perspective or wisdom she had overlooked. Though the land here was more cultivated than she had realized, with farmland stretching off to the horizon, a gust of wind and the cry of a buzzard overhead confirmed that she was still in the wilderness. A cloud passing across the sun momentarily shrouded their bend in the road in shadows, the orange sun marching ever closer to the horizon. Alicia shivered as she imagined what Dunwood would be like in the open once night fell. Staying in place was no choice at all.
The longer she struggled with this decision, the more faint she felt herself grow, whether from the difficulty of her quandary or from the heat of the summer sun. Seeing Jenny and Herbert look to her with growing nervousness, she knew a decision must be made.
Her mind returned the same objections to Mister Gillingham’s proposal, over and over: it might be unsafe, it would be a social disaster, Grace would so furiously disapprove. The latter two Alicia pushed from her mind; she had been long enough among the ton to know there was no living one’s life in a way that avoided being talked about, and her dear sister would always find something to grouse about.
And somehow, her safety with Mister Gillingham seemed beyond question.Having a proper English society woman staying in the same house would naturally be a guarantee of our security,she mused. She carefully regarded the man himself as he helped Herbert unhitch the pair of horses from their broken harness. His biceps bulged with effort as she watched him lift the heavy wooden shaft from the ground.
Yes, Alicia thought, swallowing.I am sure I do not have anything to fear from Mister Gillingham.
“All right.”
Every eye looked back to her once again with expectation. Alicia realized that she had in fact made her decision, and had said it aloud.
Clearing her throat, she steeled herself and looked up into Laurence’s eyes. “Thank you, Mister Gillingham. Jenny and I are very grateful for your offer of lodging, and we will accept your hospitality until Mister Place can return with a repaired carriage as soon as—”
She stopped, suppressing a gasp as Laurence’s mouth broke open into the widest, toothiest smile she had ever seen. The man’s face was already glowing with health, and now with this expression of boyish enthusiasm, he seemed to shine like the sun.
Then another change came over the man. With a natural poise and grace, he directed the other nearby men, “Well, what are all of you waiting around for? Nothing more to see here, you’d best be off before you waste the whole day’s sunlight.”
As the crowd dispersed, grumbling as they returned to their labours, Laurence moved to help Herbert prepare for his departure and move Alicia’s little baggage to the back of the other horse.
“You won’t regret this, Miss Ramsbury,” said Mary-Anne, taking Alicia’s arm once more. “I have no doubt you will look on this meeting as one of the happiest accidents that could befall you.”
“I…am certain you are right,” Alicia answered with as much confidence as she could muster.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can, Miss,” said Herbert, swinging himself up onto the back of one of the chestnut mares. There was a small sack with a few simple supplies attached to the back of the saddle. “Shouldn’t be more than a day or two.”
“That’s good,” Alicia said, reaching a hand out as though to bestow protection upon her family’s stalwart driver.
The man’s grey eyes looked down to her with concern, his jaw set in resolve. “I swear, Miss. I’ll get you home safe, no matter what.”
“I know, Herbert. Thank you.”
He shot a look at Laurence that surprised Alicia with its fierceness. Then, with a curt nod, he lashed the reins and was cantering off down the road. It was only a moment before the cloud of dust he had kicked up dissipated, leaving Alicia truly alone in this strange, unfamiliar place.
Hurry back, Herbert,she thought, trying to suppress a feeling of dread from rising up in her throat.I cannot be rid of this place and back to my bed soon enough.
