Page 60 of A Sense of Injustice
‘He proposed to you.’
‘He was not serious.’ She touched his arm when he still wouldn’t look at her. ‘Luke, what is it?’
‘Paul thinks that Archie was serious. You like him, that much is obvious, so…’
‘Yes, I like him. I also feel sorry for him and find him endlessly amusing. But I don’t think of him that way. Surprising though it might seem to you after…well, after what just happened between us, I do know my place and don’t aspire to a marriage above my station. Or any marriage at all, for that matter. I am perfectly content with the way things are.’
‘I’m so glad,’ Luke said with the softest of smiles and relief in his eyes. ‘Anyway, let’s get you back to Beranger Court before you cause any more mayhem—’
‘Me! What did I do?’
He took her arm and led her from the barn, pausing to pick up her hat from where it had fallen on the ground outside. He brushed it down and handed it to her. With a wry smile, she twisted her hair back up and plonked her hat over the resulting untidy mess. Luke placed his hands on her waist and lifted her into Amethyst’s saddle. He waited until she was settled and had taken up the reins, then swung onto Onyx’s back. Romulus, who had given the impression of being sound asleep just moments before, sprang into action, wagging his tail, ready to run for the rest of the day if necessary.
‘When shall you call upon the squire?’ Flora asked, thinking it important to establish a more normal line of communication between them after their anything but normal interlude in the barn.
‘Now. As soon as I have seen you safely home.’
‘I wish I could be there to see Felicity’s face,’ Flora replied with an impish smile.
‘I don’t want you anywhere near the woman. You are perfectly capable of finding your own trouble without involving yourself in hers.’
‘You are very unkind. I try to help people and that’s all the thanks I get. If you want to blame anyone, it should be your grandmother. She asked me to help Louise. She is very sensitive, you know, despite the trouble she takes to appear otherwise.’
Luke laughed as he pushed Onyx into a canter. Amethyst loped after him and they crossed the lower meadow to Luke’s estate at a brisk pace.
‘I will leave you here,’ Luke said, when they drew rein at the end of the path that led to the stables. ‘Even you cannot get into trouble between here and the house.’ He tipped his hat to her. ‘Until later. I will come and find you and let you know how it goes. I am aware that you will be alive with curiosity.’
‘How thoughtful,’ she said with a sweet smile. ‘Good afternoon to you, my lord.’
He muttered something about disrespectful, impertinent females, turned Onyx and cantered away from her.
Chapter Fifteen
Luke had absolutely no idea what had possessed him to kiss Flora. No, that wasn’t exactly true. His motivation was crystal clear to him. He had been suppressing the desire to do so since first stealing a kiss not long after she came into his employ and used her supposed supernatural powers to save him from a highly unsuitable marriage. He had convinced himself that his actions had resulted from relief at his lucky escape and would never be repeated. It would give her entirely the wrong idea and engender expectations he was not in a position to fulfil.
However much he might sometimes wish that he could.
He pushed Onyx into a gallop, wondering if speed would clear his head of the inappropriate thoughts that were constantly working their way past his guard, especially at times when Flora’s actions caused him to wonder if she did actually possess some sort of supernatural power. She had certainly bewitched him. It concerned him that Paul had noticed his partiality for her. Presumably that was why he’d mentioned Archie’s desire to marry her.
‘Damn and blast!’
He leaned forward and put Onyx on a short rein as they approached an unusually high hedge. He felt the powerful horse gather his quarters beneath him as he launched himself from the ground and cleared the obstacle with ease. Luke, aware of his responsibilities, wouldn’t normally have risked jumping such a challenging barrier, but he was in a reckless mood and didn’t much care if he came a cropper.
He’d assumed the earldom far earlier than he had expected to, and had been obliged to put the rash behaviour of his youth behind him and take his responsibility for those who depended upon him more seriously. The same clearly could not be said for Archie who, in spite of his physical impediments, still appeared to put his own pleasures first. It was a measure of Luke’s annoyance with himself that he momentarily resented his closest friend’slaissez faireattitude to life. An attitude that had cost him a very great deal.
‘Damn it, Onyx!’ he said, for no particular reason other than that he felt the need to say something out loud, secure in the knowledge that he wouldn’t be overheard by anyone other than his horse, whose discretion was assured. He reined his stallion in and waited for Romulus to come barging through a gap in the hedge, tongue lolling, tailing spiralling, mud splattered across his belly.
Feeling slightly less resentful about a privileged situation that the majority of men would give their eye-teeth to assume, Luke pushed Onyx forward into a sedate walk. Most of those same men, he reasoned, would forget about family traditions and binding promises made to dead fathers, and would instead do as they damned well pleased when it came to securing their futures. That was the trouble with having scruples, Luke decided. If he followed his heart, he would spend the rest of his life battling with a guilty conscience. He didn’t believe in the hereafter, and he didn’t believe that Flora could communicate with the dead or whatever it was she seemed convinced she could do, so no one would know if he didn’t keep his word.
No one other than him. He had never once in his entire life given his word and then deliberately broken it.
And he did not intend to start now.
A sudden gust of wind had Luke reaching for his hat. Besides, there was his grandmother’s feelings to take into consideration, he reminded himself. Despite her outlandish behaviour and grossly exaggerated tales of youthful misdeeds designed to shock and entertain, she was at heart a stickler for tradition and for maintaining the family’s high standing within the ranks of the aristocracy—a rarefied and exclusive enclave. She was very fond of Flora, but would not thank Luke if he lowered the tone by making a mere parson’s daughter his countess.
His disgruntled speculations brought him close to the squire’s house, by which time he had stopped feeling sorry for himself and managed to focus his mind on the difficult interview in prospect. He was absolutely sure that Exton knew nothing whatsoever about his niece’s machinations. He was a proud man and would be devastated by what Luke had to tell him.
Despite his consideration for the older man’s feelings, Luke knew that he couldn’t hold back. Mrs Brigstock was clever and manipulative as well as beingone of Exton’s two remaining relatives. Blood was thicker than water, but if Luke left Exton in one iota of doubt about her character she would use that situation to her advantage and somehow manage to convince her uncle that Luke had got it wrong. Luke was required to work closely with Exton when it came to keeping the peace in the Swindon area. He liked and respected the squire and had no intention of permitting a scheming hussy to put cracks into their relationship.
