A Lady's Favor by Josi S. Kilpack

wanted to fill the time, but he would not miss the opportunity to explain, glad to finally have the chance.
    “I had two older cousins,” he began, settling a bit further in the saddle so she could turn her hips a bit more. “They did not like me very much and . . .”

    “Mrs. Collins!” Mathew called when he opened the back door and ushered in a shivering, wet, and a bit less-miserable Bianca inside. He’d managed to make her laugh with his telling of his tale, and finally, after all these years, the matter was at rest between them. Now that they had arrived at his home, however, the seriousness of the situation was pressing upon them again.
    The housekeeper appeared almost immediately, took one look at Bianca, and rushed her toward the kitchen fire.
    “You poor dear!” Mrs. Collins said. She then looked to Mathew for additional information. He had had just enough time between his confession and their arrival to come up with a plan.
    “Help Miss Davidson wash off the worst of the mud, provide her with a clean nightdress and dressing gown from Mama’s things, and return her to the kitchen. I’ll have Ambrose waiting with further instructions.” He took off his hat only long enough to push his hair up before settling it back on his head.
    “You’re n-not stay-ying?” Bianca said through her chattering teeth.
    He stepped toward her and smiled. “I am still part of the search party. It appears that Ambrose found you somewhere safe and dry. You’ll have to take over the story from there, I’ve not thought of an explanation, but Ambrose and my staff will support whatever story you create, and I shall simply be one of the many who will be glad you are safely home. No one needs to know the whole of what’s happened, or that you were alone in my company for so long a time and in such a state.”
    She reached a mud-streaked hand from beneath the coat and took his. “Yo-o-u are doing th-this to p-p-preserve my honor?”
    “You are far more clothed than I was when you preserved mine.”
    She smiled, albeit weakly. “Thank you,” she whispered.
    She had mud in her hair and smelled like moldering vegetation but oh she was lovely! Mathew leaned down and kissed her in reply, soft and gentle.
    Mrs. Collins cleared her throat in disapproval.
    “I feel b-b-better alread-d-dy,” Bianca murmured.
    He pulled back, and she smiled at him as he moved toward the door. “Wait,” she said when he put his hand on the knob. He turned back to see her shrugging out of his coat. “You’ll n-n-eed this.”
    He took it gratefully, swung it over his shoulders, and disappeared back into the dark night with a satisfied smile on his face.

FOURTEEN
     
    “You’re sure you’re all right?” Mama asked for the twenty-fifth time, at least.
    “I’m all right,” Bianca said, also for the twenty-fifth time, at least. “I’m not even cold anymore.” It had been two days of hot-water bottles, tea, and constant fires in the grate, but she had not caught a cold and was feeling very much herself. She had even dressed today—in one of the dresses now returned to her wardrobe—and hoped she might go for a walk. The spring storm had passed and the broken tree limbs and damaged buildings were still being remedied.
    “I can’t believe you were in the hayloft all that time,” Mama said, not for the first time. “How had we not found you there?”
    “I fell asleep high in the loft,” Bianca said, feeling only a little bit guilty about the lie though it was getting easier to tell. This interrogation had also been repeated several times over the last two days. “And I’m so sorry, again, for raising all that alarm. I just wanted some space, and to listen to the rain on the barn roof after such a trying day. You know what comfort I took in that hiding place as a child.”
    “I wish you’d chosen the linen cupboard,” Mama said.
    Bianca just smiled.
    Luckily for Bianca, after everything had gone so horribly wrong, things had then gone