what you were like.”
“By kissing me?”
Richard looked amused. “That was just because he saw I was coming, of course.”
“You mean he deliberately wanted to challenge you, using me?” Helena stepped forward and laid her hand on his sleeve. “Did you mean it when you said you would call him out? What on earth is between you?”
“Whatever is between my brother and me doesn’t concern you. How could it?”
His face gave away nothing. Why was she forcing a quarrel with him? Was her dignity so important? Confused, Helena stepped back.
Her hand came away with a trace of red across the palm.
“Oh, heavens, you’re hurt!”
Richard glanced down at the tear in his sleeve and the trace of blood that was beginning to dry on the fabric.
“It’s nothing, a scratch. I was winged in the woods after Harry left.”
“Richard, what on earth happened?”
He smiled with an amused indifference. “A poacher appears to have mistaken me for a partridge. Luckily he was not a better shot. Scattered a few feathers, that’s all.”
“You were shot?”
Richard laughed. “Don’t look so horrified. I’ve survived worse. The village lads have undoubtedly been in the habit of supplementing their larders with the bounty of my grandmother’s woods and haven’t yet learned the difference between the master and his game. Some luckless fellow is now cowering in his mother’s house in fear of the hangman. Though I regret his attempt to ventilate me, I shan’t try to hunt him down.”
“But you could have been killed.”
“And was not. It is a matter of no moment whatsoever. Now, if you would kindly stop looking as if you had just heard the knell of doom?”
Helena flushed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to refine so much on an accident. And meanwhile, there is still the matter of your room. I beg you will believe me. Mrs. Hood explained your wishes to me when I first arrived and I have honored that absolutely. I did not go in there.”
“Being mistaken for St. Stephen apparently caused more holes in my thinking than in my coat. I hope they will be as easy to mend.”
Helena stared up at him. His eyes were unfathomable. “Is that an apology?”
He reached out a hand, and his long fingers gently caressed her cheek.
“I don’t know,” he said very softly. “There is no one else, you see. I have already asked Mrs. Hood. She is organizing the staff. She had all the maidservants in her room for instructions the entire morning. They are to learn to leave the books in the library alone except for the dust they can reach with a goose wing, and to use tea leaves to settle the dirt on the floors before sweeping. None of the maids had the opportunity.”
“You would take the word of the housekeeper over mine?”
“I have known Mrs. Hood since I was a child, Helena. I apologize for accusing you without evidence, and of course I must accept your word. It’s a perfectly trivial thing anyway. Yet someone disturbed my papers while I was out. And I would like it very much if you, dear wife, did not seem to be the last person I can trust.”
Richard turned on his heel and left her in the wreckage of the flowers that had dropped unnoticed around her feet.
* * *
Harry rode away from Acton Mead with a slight frown. What Richard had told him was extremely disturbing. If it wasn’t just like his brother to inform him of trouble, then leave out the details and demand that he not interfere. Although in this case it seemed there was nothing he could do. Harry, of course, did not reveal all of his own intentions either. For instance, he was not planning to go straight back to Oxford. Nor, however, was he planning on being followed.
Since he was in no hurry and hadn’t given a thought to any kind of secrecy, his pursuer didn’t have the least difficulty in tracing him. In fact, at the inn where Harry stopped for lunch and ordered himself a dish of oysters, the pursuer had already caught up.
“I believe we’ve met, sir,”
“By kissing me?”
Richard looked amused. “That was just because he saw I was coming, of course.”
“You mean he deliberately wanted to challenge you, using me?” Helena stepped forward and laid her hand on his sleeve. “Did you mean it when you said you would call him out? What on earth is between you?”
“Whatever is between my brother and me doesn’t concern you. How could it?”
His face gave away nothing. Why was she forcing a quarrel with him? Was her dignity so important? Confused, Helena stepped back.
Her hand came away with a trace of red across the palm.
“Oh, heavens, you’re hurt!”
Richard glanced down at the tear in his sleeve and the trace of blood that was beginning to dry on the fabric.
“It’s nothing, a scratch. I was winged in the woods after Harry left.”
“Richard, what on earth happened?”
He smiled with an amused indifference. “A poacher appears to have mistaken me for a partridge. Luckily he was not a better shot. Scattered a few feathers, that’s all.”
“You were shot?”
Richard laughed. “Don’t look so horrified. I’ve survived worse. The village lads have undoubtedly been in the habit of supplementing their larders with the bounty of my grandmother’s woods and haven’t yet learned the difference between the master and his game. Some luckless fellow is now cowering in his mother’s house in fear of the hangman. Though I regret his attempt to ventilate me, I shan’t try to hunt him down.”
“But you could have been killed.”
“And was not. It is a matter of no moment whatsoever. Now, if you would kindly stop looking as if you had just heard the knell of doom?”
Helena flushed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to refine so much on an accident. And meanwhile, there is still the matter of your room. I beg you will believe me. Mrs. Hood explained your wishes to me when I first arrived and I have honored that absolutely. I did not go in there.”
“Being mistaken for St. Stephen apparently caused more holes in my thinking than in my coat. I hope they will be as easy to mend.”
Helena stared up at him. His eyes were unfathomable. “Is that an apology?”
He reached out a hand, and his long fingers gently caressed her cheek.
“I don’t know,” he said very softly. “There is no one else, you see. I have already asked Mrs. Hood. She is organizing the staff. She had all the maidservants in her room for instructions the entire morning. They are to learn to leave the books in the library alone except for the dust they can reach with a goose wing, and to use tea leaves to settle the dirt on the floors before sweeping. None of the maids had the opportunity.”
“You would take the word of the housekeeper over mine?”
“I have known Mrs. Hood since I was a child, Helena. I apologize for accusing you without evidence, and of course I must accept your word. It’s a perfectly trivial thing anyway. Yet someone disturbed my papers while I was out. And I would like it very much if you, dear wife, did not seem to be the last person I can trust.”
Richard turned on his heel and left her in the wreckage of the flowers that had dropped unnoticed around her feet.
* * *
Harry rode away from Acton Mead with a slight frown. What Richard had told him was extremely disturbing. If it wasn’t just like his brother to inform him of trouble, then leave out the details and demand that he not interfere. Although in this case it seemed there was nothing he could do. Harry, of course, did not reveal all of his own intentions either. For instance, he was not planning to go straight back to Oxford. Nor, however, was he planning on being followed.
Since he was in no hurry and hadn’t given a thought to any kind of secrecy, his pursuer didn’t have the least difficulty in tracing him. In fact, at the inn where Harry stopped for lunch and ordered himself a dish of oysters, the pursuer had already caught up.
“I believe we’ve met, sir,”
Similar Books
