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“I don’t mind at all. Thank you.” I smelled the rose and tucked the stem into my brooch pin.
He indicated another gardener sitting atop a steam-powered lawn mower. “The police have already asked us about the brown coat man. No one saw him, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t here. There’s a lot of people around on match day.”
We thanked him and were about to return to Cobbit and the waiting carriage when Major Leavey’s assistant, Watkins, hailed us from the front steps of the clubhouse.
He trotted down the stairs to meet us. “I thought I saw you both. I wanted to tell you something that might help your investigation. It’s about Vernon Rigg-Lyon. I saw him arguing with one of the grooms a few weeks ago. I only just remembered it late yesterday when I saw the same groom. I rarely go into the stables, but I was looking for the major.”
“Do you know which groom?” Harry asked.
“I think his name was Bert.”
“Do you know what they were arguing about?”
“Rigg-Lyon was threatening Bert. He said he’d tell the major Bert’s secret if he didn’t do as he was told.”
“Do you know what Rigg-Lyon wanted him to do?”
Watkins shook his head.
“What about the secret? Do you have any idea what that could be?”
“No, sorry. I don’t know the grooms at all.”
We thanked him and headed to the stables. Robbie and Bert were standing out the front, tending to a horse that had just been brought in. It was still saddled, the rider already several feet away as he strode past us, mallet in hand.
Robbie saw us first. “You two again. Got more questions, have you?”
“Our questions are for Bert,” Harry told him.
Bert’s face blanched. His grip tightened on the reins.
“A few weeks ago, you argued with Vernon Rigg-Lyon.”
Bert shook his head, but I didn’t need to be a psychic to know he was lying. Guilt was written all over his face.
“A witness told us he threatened you,” Harry went on. “He was going to tell the major your secret if you didn’t do as he asked. What was that about?”
“Nothing!” Bert cried. “I didn’t kill him!”
“We’re not accusing you of killing him, we’re just trying to understand the victim. Come now, Bert. A witness heard you being threatened by Rigg-Lyon. Tell us what it was about so we can—”
“No!” Bert jumped into the saddle with athletic grace and urged the horse with a swift kick. The startled animal leapt forward, nostrils flared.
It headed straight for me.
Chapter8
Harry grabbed my arm and yanked with such force that I slammed into him. We both toppled to the ground, my fall cushioned by him. We lay there, face to face, breathing heavily, but not from exertion. Being so close to a man, feeling his muscular contours beneath me, was a new experience. One made all the more intoxicating because I desired him.
Our gazes connected for a brief, hot moment. It was all the time I needed to see that he desired me, too.
Robbie cleared his throat, a polite reminder that we weren’t alone.
Nothing dampens desire more than embarrassment. The realization that I’d almost been trampled by a horse probably had something to do with it, too.
Robbie assisted me to my feet. “You all right, miss?”
“Fine, thank you. Harry?”
