Page 61 of To Tempt a Troubled Earl
“The bossy,” Kit corrected him childishly. “Not the boss.”
His companion cackled. “But you still want in his breeches anyways.” And with that startlingly accurate observation, Jasper’s lips sealed shut.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
PRITCHARD EMPLOYED SEVERALmethods to communicateI told you so. This one, his favourite, centred on tilting his head forward and waggling his expressive eyebrows, rendering words superfluous.
“Yes, all right,” Lando said irritably. “No need to be quite so smug. I should have checked he wasn’t too put out by the fake arrest before I kidnapped him.”
Arriving at Rossingley ready to rush into his youthful lover’s embrace, only to discover the man had insisted on being dropped off at the village inn and was not, in fact, freshly bathed and naked in Lando’s bed awaiting a thorough ravaging, was a tad aggravating, to say the least.
“According to Jasper, Mr Angel appeared more vexed by the kidnapping part than the fake arrest,” Pritchard informed him. “Which can only lead me to deduce that he found being handcuffed perfectly acceptable. Although those cuffs must have chafed, assuming they were the solid iron kind.”
“Quite.” Lando eyed his valet with interest, having not ever considered the existence of any other type of handcuff material. Pritchard’s cheeks were unaccountably flushed.
“For a quiet country soul, you seem awfully knowledgeable about handcuff materials.”
“Not at all, my lord,” answered Pritchard hastily. “Pure speculation. I am simply reporting Jasper’s impression of the whole affair, and he made no mention that chafing handcuffs were vexatious.”
As Lando filed away that nugget of information for a rainy day, an extraordinary image popped into his head and refused to budge, of his beloved pearls wrapped around a familiar pair of strong wrists.
“Jasper believes Mr Angel is mostly unhappy about returning to Rossingley to be cast in the role of your doxy. He’s had enough of play-acting for the time being. Can’t imagine why, poor fellow.”
“He’s neither to be my doxy, concubine, or courtesan! Why on earth does he think that?”
“Perhaps because you haven’t furnished him with your alternative plan, my lord? That tiddly, piddling little plan, the one where he becomes lord of his own estate? All I know is that Jasper says Mr Angel leaped out of the carriage in a blue sulk and stomped off to the inn.”
Lando let out a long, needy sigh. “Gadzooks, he’s rather lovely when he’s sulking. Sulking and stomping combined sound truly marvellous. Did Jasper seem unduly worried?”
“No. He’s of the opinion the man is all talk and no trousers. He believes Mr Angel will come out when he’s hungry for a fu…for food, my lord.”
Lando sighed again. Success was so nearly in his grasp he could stretch out a finger and tickle the edges of it. “I grant you, Pritchard, Jasper is a first-rate bodyguard and soldier. Sadly, however, he possesses the emotional wherewithal of a coal scuttle. God knows Mr Angel is a very capable sulker, but who’s to say he isn’t, as we speak, marching towards Allenmouth never to be seen again?”
“Because I’ve ordered that great gobbet of a coal scuttle to watch the inn,” retorted Pritchard. “And apprehend him—again—should he attempt to scarper. So my advice to you, my lord, is to have a decent night sleep, pretty yourself up, and allow our hot-headed young friend to stew on his lumpy mattress for a day or two.”
*
THE CRAMPED ROOMat the inn served as a constant reminder of the prison cell he’d narrowly escaped. Thanks to the man with whom he was mighty cross. How could one person be so perfectly wonderful yet so damned exasperating?
After an uncomfortable night tossing that conundrum around, Kit embraced the fresh early morning chill and set off for a walk, despite knowing the path he trod and the air he breathed belonged to the man at the root of his poor humour. He needed answers, and his solitary confinement hadn’t brought any. Perhaps tramping up a great hill might.
He hated himself for being such an ungrateful bugger, but now he had his freedom, he wasn’t sure what to do with it. He didn’t need worry about seeing Clark again. Jasper hadn’t furnished him with all the details, but a deal had been struck between Robert and the runner; he knew that much. And apparently, Gartside had slunk off into the beyond with his tail betwixt his legs too. So as far as Kit saw things, he had two options—swallow his pride and stay here at Rossingley with his lover and accept that his lover and his employer were one and the same. But if that scenario griped now, who knew how badly it would chime a few months down the line?
Or Kit could fend for himself back in Kent, alone, miserable, and heartsick.
Two hours later, he concluded that tromping up and down hills, searching for answers, was a fruitless, overrated activity. At the top of the next one, he’d rest awhile, appreciate the view, catch his breath, and then…
Effortlessly poised and completely alone, the eleventh earl was at the highest point already, perched atop Twilight and taking stock of the swathe of ragged fields to his west. Against the skyline, Lando’s slender elegance, all sharp lines and crisp angles, had an exacting harshness. He could be an exacting man, and judging by the solemn expression on his haughty face, he didn’t care for what he saw.
That was freedom, thought Kit, as he approached. To sit astride a stallion with the wind blowing through one’s hair and master of all one surveyed, in every which direction. He wondered how many of Lando’s ancestors before him had ridden to this very spot to absorb the ebb and flow of the seasons, of the land, of the birds. Of Rossingley life. The scene held a timeless beauty. In one hundred, maybe two hundred years hence, another Earl of Rossingley, perhaps equally as graceful and aggravating, would undoubtedly be in his place.
The earl didn’t turn, though he knew Kit was there. He remained erect and proud and effortlessly in control of the beast pawing the ground underneath him.
“Jasper said you like to come up here.”
“My household knows my habits well. After a sojourn in London, I always ride out this way.”
“Checking none of your grass has been disturbed in your absence?”
