“Too soon, too soon!”
They ought to have more time to get to know each other before committing themselves, he thought. But they had met last Spring, in London. They had had time enough.
For a marriage of convenience, all they needed was to know they did not dislike each other.
* * * *
Rain fell overnight. Despite a sky threatening more rain, most of the gentlemen and several ladies went out with the hunt next morning, Christmas Eve. Of those remaining, only Elspeth wished to ride with Cecily, and she could not.
“May I not go alone, Mama?” Cecily begged. She felt restless enough to scream if she took no exercise. “With a groom, I mean, of course.”
“She will be safe enough with any of Pembroke’s grooms, Lady Flint,” the Duchess promised. “Most have doubtless gone with the hunt, but some will have stayed behind.”
“Very well, my love, but do not leave the estate. The grounds of Felversham are quite extensive enough for a good ride, are they not, Duchess?”
“Quite. Lady Cecily, you may accomplish an errand for me, if you will.”
“Certainly, ma’am.”
The Duchess twinkled at her. “It is an errand of your own making. My physician and my husband are agreed that I shall do well to employ a page. Will you be so good as to stop at the gamekeeper’s cottage and inform young Ben that I shall expect him as soon as his arm is healed?”
“Oh yes, ma’am! I am so glad.”
“The gamekeeper’s cottage?” Lady Flint said dubiously.
“I need not go in, Mama. The groom may call someone out to speak to me.”
Permission achieved, Cecily dashed up to her chamber to change into riding dress. Her abigail helped her into her new habit. The chestnut-brown cloth was lavishly trimmed with gold braid and frogging à la Hussar, and the matching hat was a jaunty little creation with a curled gold plume.
The Duchess had sent a message to the stables, so when Cecily went down a groom had already brought to the front door the dapple-grey the Duke had provided for her. Shadow was a pretty young Thoroughbred mare, docile but with clean lines which promised a fair turn of speed. The groom was a stolid youth, mounted on a stolid dun cob. Cecily hoped he would be able to keep up if she found a good spot for a gallop.
Errand first, she decided, and asked the groom to lead the way to the gamekeeper’s cottage. Incurious, he obeyed.
In a clearing in the wood where he had come to grief stood Ben Diver’s home. The thatched, whitewashed cottage looked too low to possess a second story, though tiny dormer windows under shaggy brows peered from the roof. Approaching, Cecily saw a horse tied near the door. She recognized the bay gelding instantly.
So Dr Macfarlane had not gone with the hunt, as she had assumed.
On a sudden impulse, she turned to the groom. “Help me down, then you need not stay. Dr Macfarlane will see me back to the house.”
“M’lady.” Unquestioning, he swung down and cupped his hands for Cecily’s foot.
As he tied Shadow beside the bay, Cecily hesitated. The door stood open to the mild day, and she heard voices within. No one had observed her arrival.
She had told Mama she need not go in, but she had not said she would not. Surely the Duchess would not have sent her if she considered it improper or unwise to enter the cottage. Cecily was curious, having never been allowed in a servant’s or tenant’s cottage at home. And Dr Macfarlane was in there.
She glanced back. The groom had remounted. He tipped his hat to her and rode off.
The sound of Dr Macfarlane’s laugh decided her. Where he was she could come to no harm.
Chapter 5
The train of her habit looped over her arm, Cecily stepped up to the open door and raised her hand to knock. Before her gloved knuckles hit the wood, a glad cry welcomed her.
“Look, Ma, it’s the lady. The lady I told you ‘bout, what helped Dr Iain do me arm and let me go in the grand