Cardiff Siblings 01 - Seven Minutes in Devon (14 page)

And what choice did she have? Emma
took hold of his proffered arm, biting down on her tongue in the
process to avoid saying anything untoward. Although on second
thought, letting Mr. Cardiff hear a few of her somewhat
less-than-friendly thoughts might not be the worst thing that could
happen today.

He followed after his sister, moving
with an intensity of purpose that left her shuffling her feet along
hastily in order to stay with him.

Indeed, he didn’t slow at all until
they were a scant two steps behind Morgan and Lord Jacob, within a
short enough distance that they could hear every word spoken
between the two. Not that they were saying much at all. For that
matter, Mr. Cardiff seemed perfectly content, at least for now, to
spend the morning without saying a word to her.

It certainly wouldn’t hurt her
feelings if she didn’t have to hear him deride her for some misstep
or another.

“
Tell me, Lord Jacob, where
are you leading us?” Morgan asked sweetly after they’d been walking
for nearly ten minutes. Her tone made it seem as though she were
unaware that she was on the arm of a man more frosty and less
congenial than even her brother. Could the inability to see into
his eyes have so thoroughly clouded Morgan’s judgment? “My feet
don’t seem to recognize the path we’re on.”

Only then did Emma chance a look at
her surroundings. She’d been too caught up in her discomfiture over
having to spend the morning with Mr. Cardiff that she hadn’t paid
even the slightest bit of attention to their direction.

Good heavens.

Lord Jacob had led them off in a
direction Emma had never before traveled at Heathcote Park, so
there was little wonder that Morgan didn’t recognize it. The trail
they’d taken was woody, thick with maples, willows, poplars, and
birch. The trees lining the path were overgrown, as though the path
itself hadn’t been in use for a great many years—but occasionally,
they’d pass by a large limb that seemed to have been freshly broken
off. Someone must have been along here not too long ago. What their
purpose might have been remained a mystery. Emma couldn’t imagine
what anyone would do out this way, so far from the great house. So
far from anything of use to the civilized world. Why, there were
hardly even any animals about—birds and the like. Just how deep
into the woods had they gone?

“
I’m not entirely certain,”
Lord Jacob said in response after a few moments. For that matter,
he didn’t sound as though he cared in the slightest where they were
going.

Still they stumbled along, never
slowing or stopping, and certainly never coming across anyone else.
Emma couldn’t imagine that any of the other groups had gone in this
direction. Surely, if they had, they would have turned back long
before now.

With each step she took, the tension
in Mr. Cardiff’s arm grew. The strong, corded muscles beneath
Emma’s fingertips clenched tighter and harder, yet never released.
He was as wary about their journey as she was, and yet he did not
put a halt to it. Why wouldn’t he say something? Why didn’t he stop
Lord Jacob?

Wasn’t he concerned about Morgan’s
safety, with the uncared-for path and the deep woods surrounding
them and Lord Jacob leading them with no clear direction in mind?
The man was infuriatingly persistent with hovering over his sister
at every opportunity which presented itself. So why now, when there
could truly be a problem, was he ignoring it?

Emma could well imagine he
had no such qualms about
her
safety and, perhaps, might even hope something
untoward might overcome her. But he was always so overprotective of
Morgan that she couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t insist they
turn back.

Where could they possibly be going? If
they didn’t stop soon, they might just walk all the way to London
or some other equally as unlikely place.

When the path narrowed
further, and the trees grew so thick there were only faint traces
of the sun’s light peeking through the branches, and
still
Lord Jacob led them
on in monotonous silence, Emma finally had had enough.

She planted her feet where she stood,
causing Mr. Cardiff to jerk to a sudden and unexpected stop. He
rounded on her, his eyes flashing with steely determination in the
dappled light, giving her a moment of hesitation.

“
What is the problem?” His
tone made clear the impatience she sensed in the tic along his jaw
line.

Emma refused to cower beneath his
glare. She’d allowed him to intimidate her far too much in this
lifetime already. No more. Not when Morgan’s safety could be
hanging in the balance. “Where in God’s name is Lord Jacob leading
us?” She loosed her grip upon his arm and crossed both of hers over
her chest. “This path clearly is not in use and hasn’t been for
some time. I cannot imagine where he thinks to take us. You can’t
truly think we should keep going.”

Mr. Cardiff pierced her
with his scowl before turning to look over his shoulder. When he
faced her again, his jaw was working in frustration. “I don’t know
where he thinks he’s going, but he’s got my sister with him
and
they’re
still
moving.” He again looked over his shoulder toward where Morgan and
Lord Jacob were disappearing into the woods. His brow furrowed, and
a single muscle flexed along his jaw.

“
Feel free to go with them,
sir. I’ll make my way back to the main house alone.”

Emma spun around to do precisely that,
but he gripped her on the upper arm, halting her escape.

“
Unhand me,” she
demanded.

“
You’re putting me in a
truly impossible situation, Miss Hathaway.”

For the first time that she could
remember, Emma felt slightly sorry for him. He sounded utterly
miserable, as though he couldn’t stand the thought of allowing her
to walk back on her own…as though it were equally as impossible a
thought to him as leaving Morgan alone with Lord Jacob.

How laughable.

Were he any other gentleman, Emma
might believe such a thing to be true. But she had no such
delusions where Mr. Cardiff was concerned.

Were she any other lady, she might
think him less a cad and more concerned about her welfare. She knew
better than to harbor such lies within her heart. She’d seen the
truth of his feelings for her in his eyes.

“
I can’t imagine it is as
impossible for you as you imply,” she said coolly. “Go make certain
your sister is well. I’ll do just fine on my own.”

Again she tried to leave him, yet his
hand remained improperly and firmly attached to her upper arm in an
unyielding grip. He tried to pull her along with him, dragging her
despite her desire to go back.

Emma tugged against him until once
more, he jerked to a stop.

He spun to face her, his eyes flashing
with ire. “It is unsafe for you to be out here alone, Miss
Hathaway.”

“
Pardon me.” The acidic
tone dripping from her tongue was unfamiliar even to her. Good
heavens, Emma didn’t recognize herself in the slightest. It was
bound to be his fault. No one else could possibly rouse such
negativity from her, not in all the three-and-twenty years of her
life. Yet she was powerless to stop it. “I never thought you to be
concerned for my safety before. Indeed, I never thought you to be
concerned for anyone save yourself.”

“
Myself?” he barked back at
her, his jaw grinding his teeth together unnaturally. “In all the
time of our acquaintance, you think I’ve been concerned for myself?
When have I ever done anything that was not for Morgan?”

“
You can’t possibly think
you’re helping her. You smother her. You never allow her to do
anything for herself. We all do, everyone in her life! How is that
helping her?”

Mr. Cardiff took a menacing step
toward her, tugging her closer by the arm he still grasped. “And
you think you know better? Better than her relatives, her
blood?”

Despite her every inclination to back
away, her stomach flipped about from his proximity. She wanted,
irrationally, to be closer. Good heavens, what was coming over her?
Emma took an involuntary step toward him as well, crossing her free
arm over her chest as though to place some sort of barrier between
them. “Yes, I do. You’re hurting her by trying to help her so
much.”

A muscle in his cheek jerked. His eyes
darkened, and his lips pressed tightly together, and for a moment
she thought he might do something more completely mad than even he
had done before, like kiss her. But then his grasp lessened just
enough that she could pull her arm free.

What was she thinking? Mr.
Cardiff,
kiss
her?
Perhaps she was the mad one of the two of them. She certainly
didn’t want him to kiss her. Did she? But no matter how she tried,
she couldn’t stop staring at the thin line of his lips and
wondering how it would feel to have them pressed against hers. Oh,
blast, what was happening to her? She took two quick steps away,
needing desperately to put more distance between them so she could
clear her thoughts.

He reached as though to stop her
again, but froze in place at the sound of a dog’s bark.

Emma spun her head in the
direction of the bark to find Kingley bounding toward her, his
tongue lolling from his mouth. If she didn’t know better, she’d
think the dog was actually grinning. But dogs couldn’t grin—could
they? She didn’t think they could. But then again, perhaps she just
didn’t
know
they
could.

He didn’t stop until he was at her
feet. Emma bent down to scratch behind his ears, and he yapped
happily.

“
You’ll be as flea-infested
as that beast is if you don’t stop,” Mr. Cardiff
grumbled.

But Kingley’s arrival had come at
precisely the right time. A moment longer, and she feared she would
have done something incredibly stupid like kiss him instead of
wondering if he wanted to kiss her.

“
I suppose we can discover
if you’re right, Mr. Cardiff. I’ll walk with Kingley back to the
main house, and you may chase after Lord Jacob and your
sister.”

Emma didn’t give the boor an
opportunity to stop her. She patted a hand against her thigh a few
times and took off. Kingley trotted at her side as though he had
walked with her thus every day of his life, never moving too far
away from her. He was the perfect companion.

Certainly far more perfect a companion
than Mr. Cardiff. It was too bad gentlemen couldn’t be as agreeable
as canines.

When he’d finally returned Morgan to
her maid that afternoon, thereby ensuring that she was no longer in
the clutches of Deering and his madcap schemes to take them on a
seemingly pointless journey through the woods, Aidan stomped
through the corridors of Heathcote Park until he found an empty
room in which to brood until luncheon.

The only positive to come from the
jaunt was that they’d come upon the hermitage where David had set
up a studio for Aidan. And, as promised, it was well off the main
path. No one would possibly come across him there, if he were to
choose to sculpt again. Well, other than perhaps Lord Jacob
Deering.

And why in God’s name did Deering want
to go out there in the first place? What was his intention? In all
likelihood, Aidan would never learn.

The entire morning, he had
felt the necessity to protect not only Morgan from Lord Jacob’s
aimless meanderings, but Miss Hathaway as well. If there was one
person on this earth he had no desire to ever purposefully protect,
it was Emma Hathaway. Yet, with her on his arm as they tromped
through the woods, he’d been unable to stop himself from feeling
the need to turn them all around and return
both
ladies to safety, post
haste.

It was maddening. Infuriating, even.
Particularly since he didn’t know what it was about Deering that
set his teeth on edge. True, the man was more sullen than even
Aidan by half, but what had he done to engender such anxiety for
the ladies’ safety. He’d never had a violent outburst. The worst
he’d done was to challenge Roxeburghe to a duel.

Far more troublesome, however was the
compunction Aidan felt to see to Emma’s safety.