Page 15 of An Honorable Deception
Then her muscles grew tighter and heavier. Her breath went from normal to labored and then to ragged. And the blighted man only sped up and introduced a twist on every other jump.
Eight-year-old Lavinia had done that same move countless times. Twenty-three-year-old Lavinia let her rope go still and tried dragging in a long breath. “You win.”
He shook his head without breaking pace. “It’s not a competition. Though if it were, ofcourseI’d win. I’ve been training for years.”
Her calves were on fire. Waving a hand at him, she said, “And what a great job you’ve been doing. Keep it up. I’ll sit down for a minute.”
But the rhythmic sound of his rope hitting the ground came to a sudden stop. “Perfect. Sit there at the weights bench. I’ll get a bar ready for you.”
Marigold had it right the other day—he was a mad. “You donotintend to make me lift your nasty weights.”
“Mine? No.” He flashed her another grin, this one decidedly impish as he passed her by. “Nor even Marigold’s yet. But I daresay you can manage the bar itself. It’s only thirty-five pounds.”
She blinked at him, but the image didn’t change. He still strode toward that bench and moved to the bar with its ridiculously large weights on either end. How much did that thing weigh currently, as he had it set up now? About a ton by her estimation. Give or take. “You don’t honestly lift that, do you?”
“I do.” Not so much as a note of bragging in his voice, because it was likely so commonplace to him. “I have to, if I mean to toss Marigold about—I mean, usually. Notnow. For some bizarre reason, Merritt has forbidden me from any such tricks these days.”
“Boggling.” She planted her hands on her hips. At least her pulse was slowly returning to normal. “And I’m going to have to ask you to prove it before you take those weights off for me.”
He cast her a knowing look. “You’re trying to postpone your own attempt.”
Obviously. “No, I’m going to borrow a page from Gemma’sbook and compose a description of your rippling biceps for my friends back in London while I watch you.”
“Biceps don’t ripple, silly girl—they bulge.” But he straddled the bench, lay back, and positioned his hands on the bar. “Actually, watching me first is a good idea. Forgetting ridiculous adjectives, note my form. How I position my hands, and the angle my elbows need to be at when the bar is at rest. We’ll lower it for you. When I straighten my arms, I need to be able to clear the bar of its holder.” He demonstrated.
Her eyes bulged along with his biceps. He lifted the iron like it was a wooden dowel. “Be still my heart. I think Iamgoing to propose. I’ll even abandon my claims about not trusting such fleeting feelings as love and declare my undying devotion.”
He ignored her. “Now, a proper bench press involves lowering the bar toward your chest, keeping your arms angled like so. Do you see?”
She saw, all right. He lowered the bar to his chest, then lifted it again, keeping his arms steady and sure. “You’re not even breaking a sweat.”
“Oh, I will. As will you.” That impish grin again. “We’ll do ten repetitions, then switch to another muscle group, then come back.” He let the bar clang back into its place and sat up. “We’ll need to do this weight training to strengthen your muscles, but we must pay especial attention to your heart. Things like skipping rope, running, jumping jacks, and the like will help with that.”
Her face must have betrayed more than her distaste—it must have showed her fear.
She hadn’t done more than walk the distance from the Hemmings’ London house to the Fairfaxes’ in five years. She would run a few steps now and then, but even thirty secondswas enough to leave her breathless. Enough to make her heart thud so painfully she was sure it would give up and fail.
Yates stood, moved toward her, and clasped her shoulders in his hands. They were warm, steady. Strong. “I won’t let you hurt yourself, Lavinia. I promise you. We’re going to start small and work up to more. It will be strenuous, but I won’t push you harder than your body can go.”
How couldheknow what her body could do though? She shook her head. “This is a bad idea. Perhaps I should admit that ... that I’m not cut out for this. I’m not like you and Marigold, I’m not ... I’m not Imposters material. That’s obvious, isn’t it? You saw the shock on Gemma’s and Graham’s faces.”
She expected that quick grin again. The one that dismissed her claim and plowed ahead. Instead, his face stayed serious, and he even dipped his head to her level. “This isn’t about the Imposters—it’s aboutyou. About your health. No one wants to see you bedridden again. No one wants to wonder if your heart is strong enough to keep you alive for another day, another week, another month. You have tohelpit. Build it. Strengthen it.”
It wasn’t what her physician had said. He preached nothing but rest, rest, rest. And perhaps that had been right, for those years. But now? Resting didn’t make her any stronger. Maybe Yates was right that only work could do that.
Even so, she could still see the dubious look that Gemma and Graham Wharton had exchanged the other evening over dinner, when Yates had announced she was joining the team. They didn’t just doubt that she could do it; they doubted Yates’s wisdom in allowing her to try. Their looks had said they thought he was ruining the whole enterprise by bringing her in.
Anger prickled, shifting into determination. She would prove them wrong. She would prove her own fear wrong.
Yates must have seen it in her face. He smiled, rubbed his hands down and up her arms once, and then stepped away. “That’s my girl.”
Her lips tugged up. “That’s what you say to Penelope.”
“And soon you’ll be just as lithe and graceful. Come. Sit.” He motioned toward the bench. “Like I did. You get yourself in position while I take care of the bars.”
“You know, most women wouldn’t appreciate being compared to a monkey.”
“Only the ones who didn’t know Penelope and the great esteem in which I hold her.” He moved to the bar and began sliding the disks off the end—one from the left, one from the right, and then back again. “After training and breakfast, you can begin your firstrealImposters work.”
