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Freddie smiled softly at her, but then his attention was suddenly drawn somewhere behind her. His eyes widened, and he looked utterly stunned, and then he urgently said, “Anne, get back into the forest, hide behind a tree, please, my dear!”
She whipped around and saw that in the distance, a man was approaching them on horseback. She turned back to Freddie, nodded, and darted back into the bush. She found a sizeable tree not too far away from where they were and hid behind it. Anne slowed her breathing down as much as she could so she would not be heard by anyone, for she could not imagine the talk about the estate if they were to be caught together.
She heard the horse approaching, and then, she heard a very familiar voice calling to Freddie.
“George!” Freddie called back, and Anne was shocked that Lord George himself had come out to retrieve Freddie for something.
“We just returned from town,” Lord George explained. He sounded out of breath, as though he had cantered all the way out here himself. “There was a letter waiting for me when we arrived. Here, I’ll let you read it.”
Anne heard the paper being passed over to Freddie, and then there was silence for a few moments. Suddenly, she heard Freddie make a noise of frustration.
“She is coming here? When? How long do I have?” Freddie asked.
“I don’t know. Papa doesn’t say. But we need to move you to one of the other properties as soon as we can, likely first thing tomorrow morning. Could you be ready in that time?” Lord George asked him.
Papa? Why would Lord George be referring to his father so informally in front of his property manager? And what was in that letter, what woman is coming to the house that is making him so upset?
“I ... I suppose there is no other way to avoid her, is there?” Freddie asked, sounding disappointed.
And now he has to go and stay at one of Lord George’s other properties? Why? How long is he going for? What about this woman could make him run so quickly?
“No other way that I could see,” Lord George responded seriously. “Come with me now, and we’ll begin arranging things ... what are you doing out here, anyway?”
Anne took in a sharp breath and then held it.
“I was just taking the horses out for some exercise,” Freddie answered, and he did it so calmly that if Anne hadn’t known he was lying, she probably wouldn’t have picked up on it.
“All right then, come along,” Lord George said, and then she heard him cantering away. She peeked out from behind the tree for just long enough to see that Lord George’s back was turned as he rode off. Freddie turned back to her and looked incredibly apologetic.
“I am so sorry to abandon you like this,” he called. “Will you be all right?”
Anne nodded. “I certainly will; you go on and figure out whatever it is that Lord George needed you for!”
With that, Freddie waved her goodbye and mounted his horse. As he was riding away, Anne crept out from the forest and collected her own horse, making sure to wait for long enough that she would not have to run into the two gentlemen in the stables and explain herself.
But as Anne rode back towards the house, a bothersome thought entered her head that she could not get rid of:
What if Freddie is hiding from the woman because he seduced her, just as he is seducing me, and then abandoned her?
