Patricia Wynn (11 page)

“Are you certain you will be all right out here, Vigor?” she asked.

“Beg pardon, miss?” he said, one hand cupped to his ear.

Susan spoke a little louder, “I was asking if you would be quite comfortable!”

“Oh, we’ll make him comfortable, miss. Never you worry,” said the old groom. He began to set out the blankets for his own makeshift bed in the stall next to Tom’s as if it were something he did quite often.

Susan watched him with resignation then left the stable as he bade her good-night. She hoped Tom would be better by morning.

Chapter Seven

But Tom was still very feverish the next day and showed no signs of awareness. With Vigor’s help, Susan managed to get a little broth down his throat, and some water, but she wondered if she should ask Lady Mewhinny to send for a doctor. Only the thought that Lord Harleston might give them away kept her from making the request, not because she feared for her own safety, but because of the danger to his lordship’s reputation were his complicity discovered.

By nightfall, she was satisfied at least that his fever was down and she left him to Vigor, hoping for the best and giving instructions that she should be called if Tom took a turn for the worse.

The next morning when she arrived in the stables, Vigor had left his post, but not before filling the bucket with warm water. Susan felt his lordship’s forehead and was considerably relieved to feel a lessening of his temperature. He slept on, however, and she applied herself to the task of removing his perspiration from the night before.

After dipping a fresh piece of linen into the water and wringing it thoroughly, she first bathed Lord Harleston’s face, smoothing his fine hair back with a gentle hand. Then she freshened her cloth and began bathing his neck and torso. His skin was smooth and hairless on the inner portion of his arms, showing the highly developed muscles and veins in great detail. His firm chest also was relatively free of hair except for a soft covering of a pale, almost reddish colour. Susan had just begun to bathe him gently, smiling and crooning unconsciously to herself, when her hand froze in sudden dismay.

She experienced a cold, prickly feeling as if someone were watching her. Looking up quickly, she saw Lord Harleston’s brown eyes gleaming at her in a most disconcerting fashion. Slowly she withdrew her hand from his chest with as much dignity as she could muster.

“Lord Harleston,” she said in a curiously trembling voice. She had hoped to sound cheerful, but distantly cool as a nurse should. She cleared her throat and tried again. “You are better.” She could feel the surge of colour flooding her from head to toe.

A smile played about the corners of his mouth. “Yes.
Most
comfortable.” He raised himself up on one elbow, still looking at her with that fixed gleam in his eye.

“You have been quite feverish,” she said quickly. “It was most alarming. I was just... bathing you down to lower the fever.”

Drat the man,
Susan thought. He still refused to help her out of her confusion.
“Thank
you” was all he said, and in an odiously insinuating way.

Susan felt her temper rising. After all the trouble she had been to, it was quite unfair of him to tease her. “I
had to
nurse you myself,” she said with asperity. “You were delirious and kept calling out my father’s name. I was afraid you would give us both away.” Susan did not say her real concern had been for him, but she was relieved to see a quick frown replace his teasing smile.

Lord Harleston rose to a sitting position and ran his hands through his tousled hair. “I am sorry,” he said. “I cannot think what happened, but I really am quite grateful for all your bother.”

Susan ignored the last part of his speech and seized upon a safer topic. “Well,
I
certainly can. You had no sleep for upwards of three days. Then you set out in the cold to do the work of a Titan. We shall not go on until I am certain you are well. Lady Mewhinny is very kind and will not at all mind our staying until you are better.

“I can only wonder what possessed you to perform such a task,” she added. “You ought to have gone on to London and left me here. I could have done very well on my own.”

Tom gave her a quizzing look. “Well, first I might remind you of my pledge to your father. But I rather think I have you to blame for it.”

“Me?” Susan wished she could sound more outraged, but the truth was that she agreed with him.

He nodded. “I seem to have caught a bad habit from you. I have the most irrational need to rush about saving people from calamities. Never had it before. It must be catching.”

Susan flushed and he grinned at her discomfort. She decided not to respond to his sally, but instead asked, “How are you feeling this morning?”

“I am quite better now, thank you. But another day of rest does not sound like a bad idea. Where are my clothes?” he asked suddenly, looking about him and noticing his state of undress.

“I shall have them brought to you directly,” Susan said, trying to act as though there were nothing disturbing about his present state. “Peg removed them,” she added pointedly.

Lord Harleston smiled wickedly. “I seem to remember that.”

“I shall have Vigor return them,” Susan said, rising to her feet and ignoring the provocation. “He stayed with you here at night and was most helpful in lifting you to be fed. Though you must be famished, for all we got down you was a few sips of broth. You seemed quite anxious to be protected from Peg, by the way—crying out for help, and carrying on.”

She was amused to see that Lord Harleston finally had the grace to blush. He quickly reached up a hand and took hers before she could depart.

“My dear Mrs. Faringdon,” he said in a strangely serious voice. “Pray accept my thanks.”

Susan’s eyes met his and then faltered. “It was nothing,” she said. “Nothing compared to what you have risked for me. It is I who should be thanking you.”

Seeing her extreme confusion, he kissed her hand lightly and released it, saying, “Thanks accepted. Now, I would be most grateful for my clothes and a bit of breakfast.”

Promising to see to it right away, Susan left him with a glowing heart. The sight of Tom well and in full humour had filled her with a bubbling sense of happiness. Not until she had seen him thus had she realized how much she had missed his teasing company. And there had been something about that look in his eye which, although disturbing, had elated her beyond measure. In it there had been amusement, yes, but also pleasure, and desire.

Susan left orders with Bates to see that Tom’s clothes should be brought to him and a hearty meal sent to build back his strength. If the elderly butler found anything strange in her constant attention to the welfare of her groom, he gave no indication, but bowed politely and said it should be done. Then Susan went in search of Lady Mewhinny.

She found the diminutive lady engaged in supervising the scrubbing of the cages. The nervous animals were so excited with this activity, despite its familiarity, that they had set themselves to shrieking at an unbelievable pitch. The noise did not seem to disturb their mistress, however, for she listened calmly to Susan’s shouts with one ear while directing the operation from a chair.

“I am so glad he is better, my dear,” she said, managing to make herself heard above the din with little effort. “I was afraid you would worry too much about him. Vigor could have seen you safely home, you know, but I did not care to suggest it. Tom seems a truly faithful servant.”

Susan smiled to herself and agreed. “Indeed ’e is, Kitty, and I ’ad to reward ’is loyalty wiz my attention. If you would not mind too much, in fact, I should like to stay on a day or two until ’e is more definitely well. Per’aps I could ’elp you wiz ze monkeys,” she added, thinking she ought now to appear less interested in her groom.

The suggestion delighted Lady Mewhinny, so Susan stayed with her most of the day, resisting the temptation to check on Tom that night. It would appear all too strange, she thought, to continue to pay him attention when he was well able to care for himself. The next day she exhibited a similar restraint, waiting only for the afternoon when she would go down with his “instructions” for their departure the following day.

* * * *

After a day and a half of food and rest, Tom was quite himself and anxious to start their journey. It was high time they stopped this masquerade, he thought. Surely they could find some other way to travel which would not make it so impossible for them to speak freely. He was whistling to himself as he brushed down the horses, hoping for a chance to speak with Susan later in the day, when a female voice greeted him from the door to the stables. He whirled round happily, only to find Peg approaching him with a seductive look in her eye.

“Hallo, Peg,” he greeted her cheerfully, bracing himself for the onslaught.

“I ’eard you were up and about again,” said Peg coyly. “An’ I see you’re lookin’ chipper. Thought y’might like to ’ave a little visit.”

“Thanks, Peg. But I’m not quite up to snuff,” he demurred. “Still a little weak, if you know what I mean. That fever really knocked me up.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” said Peg, letting her gaze run up and down his figure suggestively. “You look about ready for anything, I’d say.”

Lord Harleston experienced a feeling of alarm. Drat the wench! Was she going to make him blush?

He turned anxiously back to his work. “Good of you to come, Peg. But I wouldn’t want to get you in trouble with Mrs. Faringdon. She’s got the devil of a temper, you know.”

The gambit did not work. Peg came close beside the horse he was brushing and sat down, nearly reclining at his feet in the straw. He tried to avoid glancing at her as he worked, but had an irrational fear that she might spring on him if he didn’t.

“Don’t I know it,” the girl agreed. “Liked to scratch my eyes out, she did, for puttin’ you to bed the way I did. As if there was anythin’ wrong with it and any decent, kind-’earted soul wouldn’a done the same.” She glanced up at him from under her eyelashes as if hoping to awaken a memory.

“Did she now?” he asked, ignoring it. “Was she so angry as to give you a hard time?”

“I’ll say she was. Made me do the wash and ‘elp with them blood—them monkeys,” she corrected herself. “Wanted to nurse you ’erself, she did. Thought she might fancy a bit of a go with you ’erself.” She smiled provocatively as though she had paid him a compliment.

Lord Harleston gritted his teeth in sudden irritation. “Don’t speak of the mistress that way, Peg,” he said seriously. Then he added lamely, “She might hear you.”

“Oll right,” Peg said, unconcernedly. “I
will
give
’er one thing, though. She’s just that smart.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Fancy ’er learnin’ English as fast as she done. An’ ’er not speakin’ above ten words when she first took me on.”

Lord Harleston smiled quietly to himself. So Susan had tired of playing her part. He did not worry, though, for obviously Peg, in spite of noticing a difference, had no suspicion of there being another reason for Susan’s fluency. Lady Mewhinny, by all rights, must be mad as a hatter and extremely frail to boot, as he recalled from the one time he’d seen her. It was hardly likely she would be so alert as to spot a fraud.

“Oh, smart she is,” he agreed, happy to have found his excuse. “And she watches me like a hawk. I’m always worried about losing my place if she catches me out. And you had better be off now, too. I wouldn’t want you to be turned off either.”

Peg rose reluctantly to her feet and moved closer. “Oh, I’ll prob’ly find meself another spot in Lunnon when we gets there,” she said saucily. “But not before you’re feelin’ a might stronger, I ’ope.” She edged herself between Tom and his horse and gazed up at him invitingly. His lordship was looking down at her, biting his lip and trying to think his way out of this spot, when a sudden sound behind him signalled his relief.

“Peg!” Susan cried sharply. The unrepentant girl sighed her disappointment and turned to greet her mistress with a scowl. Susan stood with arms folded in a gesture of displeased authority. Peg bobbed a curtsey and said, “Yes, miss,’ as though she’d been interrupted in her duties.

“Go into ze ’ouse at once and see to your chores, you lazy girl. I will not ’ave you wasting Tom’s time out ’ere in ze stables. We will be leaving zis ’ouse tomorrow and I need you to pack.”

“Oll right, miss,” said Peg, eyeing her sulkily and then turning to bestow a wink upon Tom. “I won’t be sorry to see the last of this place and them monkeys.” She moved away slowly, not omitting to wiggle her hips and casting a glance back in Tom’s direction before passing through the door.

After she had gone, Tom fell back against his horse and uttered a sigh of relief. “I thought you would never arrive.”

“Um-hmmm,” Susan said, tapping her fingers unconsciously against her forearm and still in her offended posture. “I daresay it is quite a trial for you.”

“It is. Turrible,” Lord Harleston teased. “And I cannot risk offending her, you know, for she would think it strange for me to be completely unresponsive.”

“I see,” said Susan. “Yes, I understand perfectly. That’s why I put on such a show of anger, too, you know. It’s all to convince her of my identity. It seems the genuine thing to do.” Tom was nodding in agreement, and she was glad to see he looked slightly less sure of himself.

“Are you quite recovered now?” she asked, choosing to change the subject. “I suppose we ought to be leaving.”

“Yes, I’m fine, thank you, and quite ready to go. I will have the carriage ready for you in the morning, madam,” Tom said, with a bow and a tug at his forelock.

Susan could not resist the impish look he gave her and smiled playfully in return. “Thank you, Tom. Have the horses put to at six-thirty, please. I shall be at the door and ready by seven.”

Lord Harleston bowed and then straightened, looking at her strangely. Susan fancied he was about to address her in seriousness when they both were distracted by the sound of wheels in the drive. A carriage was arriving.