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‘I’ll see she comes inside safe and all,’ Angus murmured, his voice a low grumble beneath the sound of the water.
‘What the devil is she doing?’
‘Come to see the mountains, she said.’
Benneit shook his head and followed the path down to the stream. With all due respect to Angus, he was not comfortable with a woman under his protection standing outside in the pitch black. It was not precisely the proper behaviour of a dowdy widow or even the temporary companion to a future Duke. He stopped at the foot of the boulder.
‘What are you doing? Come inside.’
She shook her head, but he was not certain she had heard him.
‘The mountains are even more amazing at night. No wonder people imagine they are populated by all manner of beasts.’
‘Not just imagine. Now come down from there before you go headlong into the water. It is freezing and I am da—dashed if I’m going to fish you out.’
‘I wouldn’t expect you to.’
The reply was calm and matter of fact and devastating. It was not an accusation, but a statement of fact.
I wouldn’t expect you to.
He suppressed the spurt of sympathy and held out his hand.
‘Come down, Mrs Langdale.’
She looked down at him, a slim column, the moon catching her eyes. She looked like something out of the tales she conjured for Jamie.
‘Please,’ he added.
She untucked her hand from her cloak and he clasped it. It was almost as freezing as the water rushing by and without thought he closed his other hand around it.
‘Little fool. You’re frozen through.’
She gave a little tug, but he held her hand and raised it to blow on it as he did on Jamie’s hands when he returned from his explorations with his cheeks red and the rest of him a block of ice. The warmth of his breath carried back her scent, the same elusive rose that lingered in the carriage. It did not suit her; it was too lush a scent for someone so slight, unfurling and warming the air as he breathed it in. He turned her hand over without thought, seeking the source of that anomaly, but she stepped forward and nimbly jumped down from her rock.
He followed her up the narrow path towards the inn. Angus and his pipe were gone, but inside the landlord hovered in the hallway and Benneit sent him to prepare tea and punch. Inside the empty parlour he looked at the drab brown cloak she was untying.
‘Have you nothing warmer to wear?’
She shook her head and walked to the fire, holding out her hands.
‘I honestly did not think Lady Theale would succeed in convincing you to take me along.’
‘I see. Well, we shall have to find you something more suitable. You won’t be much use if you fall ill.’
‘Or drown.’
‘Lady Theale would definitely hold that against me. She appears quite fond of you.’
‘Most peculiar, I know.’
‘Do you take me for a fool, Mrs Langdale?’
She looked up from the fire, her eyes wide and a little worried.
‘No. Why?’
‘Why? Because you insist on speaking to me as if I were several steps below Jamie on the scale of human understanding. These snide little darts might have worked well with the marvellously thick-skinned Uxmores, but the only effect they have on me is to make me wish I had shown more fortitude in the face of Lady Theale’s demands. If you wish to say something to me, then say it and be done with it.’
Blast, he had gone too far. Her eyes widened even further, showing a ring of dark blue around the grey and her mouth wavered out of its prim line. What the devil was wrong with him? First Jamie and now her. Now she would cry and he would have to comfort her. He had sunk low indeed to be taking out his ill humour on children and widows.
A sudden spurt of laughter escaped her.
‘You are quite right, Your Grace. I have developed some dreadful habits over the years. I am not accustomed to people showing concern for my well-being. I know that sounds dreadfully self-pitying, but it is merely to explain that I was not quite certain how to react and so, to use Alfred’s description, I prickled.’
‘I see.’
The door opened and the landlord entered with a tray. Benneit hesitated, but poured her a glass of the steaming punch.
‘To help with the prickles,’ he explained and she smiled—a full, wide and wholly surprising smile.
