“I’ll go and get your horse,” Jonathan murmured, nudging his horse toward the far corner of the field where Cecily’s mount now stood munching grass without a care in the world.
Despite her bravado, Jamie could feel the fine tremors still coursing through Cecily, and searched for some words of comfort. It behoved him that he came up with naught. It wasn’t like him. Although he was certainly no smooth talker, he could hold his own and as a knowledgeable man of the world, usually had no hesitation in entering into conversation with even the most introverted people. For some reason though, this woman’s opinion of him really mattered and he didn’t want to do anything; say anything that would cause her to want to avoid him. After all, it would work out to his own benefit if he was careful right now. They had enough problems on their hands without him needing to persuade her to even give him the time of day before he proposed to her.
CHAPTER THREE
She was tired, dirty and convinced that her bottom was going to be bruised forever. She was struggling to walk properly and struggled to retain some of her dignity as she staggered through the door of the small coaching inn later that evening. Trying not to fidget, she stood just inside the door and waited patiently for Jamie to secure their rooms. Her chin tilted defiantly and she blithely ignored the blatant stares that assessed each of them from head to toe. It was virtually impossible though, to ignore the expectant silence that had settled over the occupants as they observed the new arrivals suspiciously.
Although she was glad to have finally gotten off that wretched horse, she wished she was back on it now. It was certainly better being out there than under the curious gazes of the assorted locals. The yard had been empty of ostler or stable hands which, given the inn was barely habitable was unsurprising. It was just what they needed for tonight though and suited their purposes perfectly.
It didn’t come as any surprise when, moments later, Cecily was shown to a tiny room at the back of the inn by a surly maid who merely slammed the door open, nodded at her with a fierce scowl and snapped, “In there,” before stomping off with a huff.
Cecily cautiously tiptoed into the cold and unlit room. It had about as much appeal as a box in a hedge, but there was little she could do about it. The bed was unmade but at least it had what looked like clean sheets folded up on the bottom of it – waiting. She had no aversion to making her own bed for the night, but was so tired, she didn’t really care whether the bed was made or not. Quickly shaking the sheets out, she didn’t bother to tuck them in, just threw them across the bed before wearily slumping over them. She never bothered with the jug and bowl on the wash stand, and was fast asleep before her head hit the pillow.
Jamie frowned at the door and knocked again. He hated to simply barge in: his room was next door and he had been listening for her leaving the room in search of food but hadn’t heard anything from her for some time now. While he had been organising rooms for them all, Jonathan had completed a search of the upper floor of the tavern which, if he was honest, hadn’t taken long at all. There were only five rooms, and their small party took three of them. With no other guests, the inn keeper had been overjoyed when Jamie had purchased all five rooms for the night. The extra money he had handed over had assured their privacy and whatever refreshments they needed.
Frowning at the door, Jamie glanced up and down the corridor. He knew Jonathan was on watch in the tavern’s main room. Had she left? Had someone kidnapped her?
Growing cold, he cursed fluidly and swung the door open. The sight of the darkened interior made his blood run cold and he drew his gun. Glancing quickly around the small square space, his eyes landed on the clearly unconscious form of Cecily lying across the bed. She wasn’t tucked between the sheets, merely flopped out across the top, still fully dressed, still dirty and soiled from a days’ riding. Was she ill? Had she fainted?
It was then that he had remembered she had hardly eaten all day. The contents of her stomach had been lost in the carriage and, although they had carried food in their saddlebags, there hadn’t been much of it. Cecily had only nibbled on an apple while warily perched preciously on the horse she now didn’t trust. Cursing himself for being such a fool, Jamie strode across to the bed, his eyes running over her supine form.
“Cecily?”
He quickly lit the candle stub that was sitting on the bedside table before placing his hand upon her brow to check for fever. He was the very last person likely to nurse-maid anyone, especially a female and felt at a complete loss to know what to do with her. With any of his colleagues he would have slapped them about a bit, shook them roughly and swore at them. He couldn’t – wouldn’t do that with Cecily. If she was merely sleeping she would probably scream the entire place down, if not slap him back.
“Cecily? Are you all right?”
Cecily grumbled and pushed at the hand on her shoulder. She turned away from the annoying noise and readily slipped back into the foggy depths of sleep.
Jamie watched her with a frown. She was out cold, and he wasn’t certain if it was a good thing or not. He couldn’t leave her on her own in case she was sick, but it wasn’t appropriate for him to remain in the room with her all night, whether she needed protection or not. He could hardly ask for the maid-come-wrestler-type woman who had shown them up, to babysit her.
Cursing fluidly, he puffed out his cheeks and considered his options. Shaking his head, he covered her over with a rough blanket, and quietly left the room, heading downstairs to relieve Jonathan from his turn on watch. Once there, he quietly discussed Cecily’s state with his colleague and they agreed to take turns keeping watch on her as well. They came to the conclusion that she was just exhausted, but at any sign of illness they were going to get her out of there and ride with her all the way back to Melvedere Manor rather than risk calling one of the local doctors. They couldn’t allow the doctor confining her to her bed for a week while she recovered from her ordeal.
Shaking his head at the weakness of females, Jamie took a sip of the surprisingly strong brew the inn keeper handed him, and ordered his dinner.
Cecily awoke with a frown. Her head was bounding and every inch of her ached from head to foot. She was certain that someone had succeeded in sawing her bottom half off over the night because she could feel nothing from the waist down, except for her legs. Those hurt a lot. Oh, and her feet; those ached fiercely, as though she had walked throughout the last day rather than rode on a feral beast that was as determined to do away with her as the spies were.
The last day, she thought, wrinkling her nose up in distaste. To begin with she had quite enjoyed riding but now, she would be very glad if she never had to see another horse again, let alone ride one.
She slowly peeled her eyes open, and blinked rapidly against the sunlight that bathed her in a golden glow of a new morning. She hated sunlight. Why wasn’t it night still? Frowning darkly, she began to take stock of her situation.
“Morning.”
Cecily squeaked, sat bolt upright and winced as her sore muscles immediately protested. She turned toward the husky rumble and stared in horror at Jamie, who sat nonchalantly in a chair beside the window.
She knew she must look a fright, and struggled hard to resist the urge to straighten her hair and apologise for her appearance. She watched him for a moment, and tried not to stare longingly at the toast he was eating. The bread smelled heavenly, or was that the thick butter that was slathered all over it?
“Glad you could join us at last,” Jamie mumbled around the last mouthful of toast. Brushing the remaining crumbs off his hands, he nodded toward the breakfast tray sitting on the dresser on the far wall.
“I suggest you get as much of that as you can.” He had seen the longing look she had given his toast and fought to hide a smile. She was ravenous. He was struggling to contain his mirth as it was, and knew she was trying hard not to fidget. He found the sight of her wild hair, sticking out in fuzzy abandon as it framed her grubby, dirt smeared face endearing rather than off-put
ting. Her clothes had fared no better either. She was covered in dust from head to foot and looked, as well as smelled, as though she had been sleeping in the barn. Although he had carried a change of clothes on his horse, and her dress, he knew she had nothing to change into that was suitable for a day riding astride a horse. He, on the other hand, had washed, changed his shirt, been well fed and felt as fresh as a daisy.
He wondered briefly what his staff at Melvedere manor would think of him bringing home such a vagabond waif, and wondered whether they would stand her outside and scrub her down before they allowed her into the house, or whether he would be shunned and given the dog’s dinner for mistreating her in such a scandalous way.
Although he had a huge home, there were only a handful of servants. They were a small group of people who had grown very close to each other, and were used to depending on each other to get the job of running the manor done with a smooth efficiency that was startling. Although they each had their own job to do, it wasn’t unusual to find the butler emptying the downstairs grates, or the upstairs maid cooking in the kitchen. Everybody pitched in, including him when he was at home.
He wondered whether Cecily would be happy to do the same. Given her background and upbringing, he wondered if the staff would be able to stop her. She was about the least officious person he had ever come into contact with. It didn’t bother him one bit that she wasn’t entitled and wealthy, or used to being in a huge house like his, and he had no doubts as to her suitability to fit in with his lifestyle and home. The servants, such as they were, were a very large part of his life; more like an extended family than paid employees, and that was just the way he intended to keep it. Cecily would have no problem fitting in to become part of the family, he was sure of it.
His rather unconventional ‘family’ was extended by the presence of a ‘librarian’, Miss Emstridge who, having been employed by his father shortly before his death, had never seemed able to finish cataloguing the library. She had been there for so long now that Jamie couldn’t find the heart to sack her, or tell her to move on and, as such, she was now as much a part of the library as the books.
Rubbing a hand down his face, Jamie ignored the longing to return home and pushed out of the chair, trying not to look at Cecily’s pink cheeks as he passed on his way to the door.
“Once you have eaten and woken up a bit, come downstairs. We need to get going as soon as we can.” He didn’t wait for her reply, merely snapped the door closed behind him and scowled at the surly maid as he passed. She merely sniffed unconcernedly at him and carried on sweeping the floor, leaving him to shake his head in disgust as he walked through the dust cloud she created.
With any luck, they would be able to cover some distance today and, although it would mean riding into the night, they should arrive at Melvedere by just after nightfall. He and Jonathan were capable of riding through the night, if only Cecily would be able to keep up. For now though, they would just have to see what happened. One thing he knew with certainty was that they couldn’t afford to be lulled into a false sense of security. They had scraped by and avoided the ambush yesterday by the skin of their teeth; they may not be so lucky today. With the possibility of the guards lurking at any point on their journey, it was imperative they keep moving and as quickly as possible. If only Cecily was up to it.
The decision of how long they could keep riding was taken out of his hands later that afternoon when it became apparent that Cecily was seriously struggling to remain in the saddle. He had noticed her wince as she had mounted the horse earlier that morning, and could understand her discomfort however, he was bleakly aware that there was little consolation he could offer her. Instead, he had merely smiled unconcernedly and urged her on, feeling a cad for forcing her to ride while in pain. Throughout the day, conversation had been stilted and almost wary until, by mid-afternoon, it was apparent that she would barely make it to early evening, let alone nightfall before she fell off through sheer exhaustion.
Jonathan shook his head and eyed the town lying in the valley further ahead.
“I’ll go and see what I can sort out,” he muttered, glancing in concern at Cecily. Although she hadn’t uttered a word of complaint, she had grown increasingly morose to the point that he was certain she would just pass out on them through pain if they carried on.
Jamie nodded and moved his horse closer to Cecily’s. They hadn’t been followed for several miles and he felt reasonably confident that they could take an undisturbed rest for a while.
“Let’s eat,” Jamie declared, drawing his horse to a halt and dismounting. Tugging off the saddle bag, he turned to hold Cecily’s horse, frowning when she simply sat staring at him rather than dismounting.
“Throw your leg over the neck and slide down,” he ordered softly. She should throw her leg behind and dismount properly but he wondered if she could even bend her legs.
Cecily shook her head. Many miles back she had frozen. Parts of her she could not feel at all, and she was fairly certain that she would never be able to stand up let alone sit down ever again.
“Slide down, I’ll catch you,” Jamie muttered, shaking his head. He began to wonder if he was going to have to simply pull her off when she made no move to do as she was told but, eventually, she slowly eased her leg over the neck of the horse. The downward motion as she slid off made her gasp, but her feet didn’t touch the floor before she was swept off her feet and carried to a small grassy knoll. There she was deposited so carefully on her feet that she didn’t know whether to smile in gratitude, or cry. She stood for several long moments and waited for the blood to return to her toes, silently nodded her thanks at Jamie who was watching her carefully.
Eventually she cautiously sat down and they ate in companionable silence. The horses grazed happily nearby, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they weren’t tethered to anything.
Jamie stared off at the town and took the opportunity to study the area around them.
Cecily tried hard not to stare at him. Although she knew that men rode practically everywhere, she had never fully appreciated just what they went through when they undertook long journeys. Travelling carriages indeed made her sick to her stomach, but it was a much better alternative to riding astride a horse for hours on end. She shivered in horror at the thought of having to get back on, and wondered if they would allow her to walk for a while.
“There is someone coming,” Cecily muttered, nodding to the small black carriage heading down the narrow country lane toward them.
“I know,” Jamie replied, gathering their belongings up. “It is our ride.”
“Our ride?” Cecily glanced from the horses to the carriage and gulped, staring down at her remaining bread and cheese cautiously.
“It’s the lesser of two evils. The rest of the ride has to be continual. We won’t stop and it will be dark soon. Although you are good at riding, you aren’t used to riding at night and it is far too dangerous to risk having you out in the open so late. We have to stick to the roads and will be slower in the carriage, but at least we can keep going until we get to our destination.”
“Where is that?” Cecily asked, aware that she had yet to be told of anything that was going on. She frowned in frustration at the helplessness of her situation and the fact that she was, for now at least, completely at their mercy.
“Melvedere Manor,” Jamie murmured, casting a sideways glance at her. “It is about the safest place I know. We will remain there while we await news of Archie and Portia. As soon as they are cleared by Hugo, we will meet up and decide where to go from then on. It is evident that Applemore, our base, cannot be used for the time being. There is much work for us to do, and none of it you can be involved in, but at Melvedere you have the space to explore, rest, and simply enjoy being looked after for a change.” He didn’t wait for any further questions. He didn’t want her asking too many questions about Melvedere’s owner, or the people there, just in case anything went wrong and the French managed to capture her to ext
ract information. He couldn’t lose sight of the fact that her father was under suspicion, and was increasingly looking guilty of being a French smugglers’ financier – well, one of them at any rate. As such, that made Cecily someone the French needed to get hold of, at all costs apparently.
“Come on, let’s go.”
Cecily pushed awkwardly to her feet, stumbling after him when he made no attempt to stop and wait for her.
“What about the horses?”
“We will leave them here,” Jamie replied unconcernedly.
“What?” Cecily squeaked, looking in horror at the huge animals. Although Jonathan had ridden his horse into the village, theirs were still saddled and busy munching grass. “You cannot leave them here, still saddled and without shelter.”
Jamie rolled his eyes. “A farmer will probably spot them and collect them. The horses will be fine,” he declared dismissively.
Cecily scowled at Jamie in disgust. Although she was glad she didn’t have to ride one again, she wasn’t going to ignore the fact that the huge beast had carried her for miles. She wasn’t going to simply abandon it in the middle of nowhere to fend for itself.
“I’m not going,” Cecily declared loudly, crossing her arms with a scowl of defiance.
Jamie froze and turned toward her, his astonishment clear on his face. “What?”
“You heard me,” Cecily replied, glaring at him. “I said I am not going. I am not leaving these horses here to fend for themselves. They could die!”
“Cecily -”
“No!” Cecily snapped, turning her back on him and walking toward her horse. “I am not leaving him here.” She cautiously picked up the reins and ignored Jamie’s askance look as she stalked around him. Her chin pointed upward defiantly as she marched toward the town, the horse moseying obediently behind her.
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