Page 36 of Fit for a Duke
‘Godfrey did not mistake you for a lad, and nor would anyone else who observed you at close quarters.’ His gaze again raked down the length of her body, making her feel exposed, but not in an unpleasant way, which seemed contradictory.
‘You are not taking this threat seriously,’ she complained.
‘On the contrary,’ he assured her.
‘And you are enjoying yourself a little too much. Men never really grow up, which is why they get involved with wars so frequently.’
‘There is nothing enjoyable about warfare, my love. Take my word for it. Anyway, no one tried to kill me this afternoon, which I consider to be a bonus.’
‘Who is Lady Walder?’ Clio asked, trying to make the question sound casual. ‘You appear to be well acquainted with her.’
‘Jealous?’ he asked, hitching a brow in a provocative manner that made her want to strike him.
‘Don’t be ridiculous! I am simply curious. I did not know she had been invited. In fact, I have never seen her before.’
‘She was married to an officer in our regiment, a man who died a hero’s death.’
‘Can death ever be heroic?’ she asked. ‘Dead is dead, no matter how it comes about.’
‘Some might say so.’
‘Most likely those who are attempting to encourage the enlisted men to take all the risks.’
Ezra laughed. ‘You have a very jaundiced view. However, to answer your question, I am slightly acquainted with Lady Walder, and I did not know she would he here either. I had no reason to. There, does that answer your question?’
‘Perfectly so.’
They had reached Raven’s position. Ezra placed his hands on Clio’s waist and lifted her into her saddle before swinging into his own.
‘Come on,’ he said, spurring Pharaoh forward. ‘I’ll race you home.’
Chapter Ten
If Ezra lived to be a hundred, he reflected as he dressed for dinner, he didn’t think anyone would ever do anything half so impulsively reckless on his behalf as Clio had that afternoon. It defied explanation. Ordinarily, everyone who crossed his path required something from him, not the other way around. If the child craved adventure there were far less dangerous ways in which she could go about experiencing it. Did she harbour doubts about her father’s wishes for her future and feel guilty for defying them by rejecting Salford? He had already surmised that Benton had largely ignored his only child, so it stood to reason that Clio would have wanted to impress him.
Ezra could have written a book on the subject of neglectful fathers and the lengths their children would go to in an effort to make an impression on them. Perhaps a small part of her actually believed that Benton had wanted his daughter to marry his adjutant. But Clio, young as she was, appeared already to know her own mind and trust her instincts. Those instincts told her that Salford was a wrong ’un, interested only in her fortune, which Ezra had heard was considerable, and she was going that extra mile to vindicate her decision. Protecting Ezra from any murderous intentions was not her primary motive.
‘That possibility has put me firmly in my place,’ he muttered with a wry smile.
‘Have to hand it to the chit,’ Godfrey remarked, apparently in tune with Ezra’s way of thinking. ‘She has pluck, misplaced or not.’
‘She could have met a worse fate than she feared for me.’ Ezra shook his head, which was filled with images of slim thighs and a pert backside encased in tight-fitting buckskin that he knew would haunt his dreams and cause him considerable discomfort for weeks to come. ‘If any of those dissolutes had been capable of seeing straight, they would have taken the evidence of her gender as an invitation that she was there to satisfy their baser needs.’ He clenched his fists. ‘And the devil of it is that we couldn’t have done a thing to avenge her without drawing the fact that she was there to her aunt’s attention, and dressed as a boy. Her reputation would never have recovered.’
‘Children of either sex only hang around those places for one reason. No wonder she was drawing glances,’ Godfrey agreed.
‘I am glad you spotted her before any harm was done.’
‘She’s hard to miss.’
‘You and I both know that,’ Ezra replied, slipping his arms into his coat, ‘but Clio is painfully unaware of the fact and still thinks that she was inconspicuous.’
‘I don’t doubt you’ll point out the error of her ways to her,’ Godfrey replied, chuckling. ‘I should like to be a fly on that particular wall. Unless I miss my guess, the chit don’t put much stock by your elevated status and will give as good as she gets.’
‘I’ll put her across my knee and spank some sense into her if she doesn’t stop behaving so irresponsibly,’ Ezra growled.
Godfrey grinned and refrained from commenting on that possibility. ‘Salford didn’t do anything out of the ordinary today,’ he remarked instead.
Ezra grunted. ‘Keep asking discreet questions about him, here and in the village. If he didn’t bring a servant with him then one of Lady Fletcher’s footmen must be waiting on him. See what he has to say about his habits. Go back to the village after supper and install yourself in the taproom. Keep your ears and eyes open. You know as well as I do that if he’s been in there meeting anyone, someone will have seen him and be willing to speculate if you make it worth his while.’
