She waited, watching as he waded into the pond. "Go out farther," she told him when he stood submerged to the hip. "I want to know how deep it is."
He nodded and used his strong arms to propel himself forward. He stopped at the center and spun around, treading water. "You"re not undressing," he called.
"I will in just a moment. Can you touch the bottom?"
"No."
"Why don"t you dive down and see how deep it is? I want to make sure we don"t have to worry should we forget ourselves while we"re . . . playing."
Even from a distance, his eyes gleamed with desire. Then, slick as a fish, he disappeared beneath the surface.
She sprang into action the moment he vanished from sight. Racing as fast as she could, she bent and gathered up his clothes, rolling them all into a tight bundle, which she tucked beneath her arm. Without sparing another glance in his direction, she ran for the trees.
She had just untethered both horses when she heard Lord Leopold call her name in the distance. Working as fast as she could, she tied the bundle of clothes to the back of her saddle, then thrust her foot into the stirrup. She wasn"t used to mounting a horse without a.s.sistance and faltered as she struggled to lift herself up. If he caught her, there would be h.e.l.l to pay.
The realization gave her the strength she needed in order to climb onto her horse. Her heart rabbited in her chest, her breathing labored.
Suddenly, he jogged out from behind the tree line, his wet hair plastered to his head, his naked body glistening from his swim. "Thalia, what are you doing?" His confusion was plain.
She wheeled her mount around to face him. "I am leaving."
"What? Why?" He looked shocked.
"If you had been paying attention, you would know why. You ought to have listened to me when I told you I wasn"t interested in being your bed partner."
A heavy frown settled on his brow. "You aren"t? Then what for Hades" sake has all this been about?" He waved an arm toward the pond behind him.
"A lesson, Lord Leopold. Since you refuse to take no for an answer, I thought a more overt demonstration of my wishes was in order. I"ve tried to be polite, but you persist in your unwanted pursuit of me."
"It is not unwanted." His eyes flashed.
"See? You are doing it again. Listen to me closely. I-do-not-want-you," she enunciated, "so stop chasing after me."
"Really? That"s not what your body and your kisses say."
She brushed off any truth to his words and continued on. "You"ve shamed me, first at Lord Elmore"s party and again here at Holland House by insinuating to everyone that I am your mistress. Rumors are as good as the truth and I am tired of being lied about and manipulated. You embarra.s.sed me, so I have decided to return the favor by embarra.s.sing you. Enjoy the humiliation, my lord."
His scowl turned black with sudden suspicion. "What humiliation? Get down from that horse. We will talk."
"No, I am done talking. Enjoy the walk. It"s only a couple of miles back to Holland House."
Before he could get close enough to reach up and grab the bridle, she wheeled her horse around. Raising her riding crop, she brought it down hard on the b.u.t.tocks of Lord Leopold"s horse, sending the startled animal into a frenzied gallop. She had no doubt the stallion would run all the way back to the stables. She gave her own horse a sharp kick and sent the mare charging forward.
"Thalia, come back here!" Lord Leo bellowed.
But she rode on, forcing herself to ignore his furious shouts of outrage.
Chapter 10.
Of all the endings to his afternoon, Leo had never expected to find himself walking stark naked through the open countryside back to Holland House. How he was going to present himself once he got there, he had no idea. He could only imagine the wide-eyed stares and t.i.tters over his arrival.
If he was lucky, maybe one of the servants could be persuaded to fetch him some garments while he concealed himself behind a convenient bush. Or even better, perhaps the a.s.sembled company would still be in their rooms dressing for dinner and he could sneak upstairs un.o.bserved.
Somehow he doubted he would be that fortunate-exactly as Lady Thalia had intended.
h.e.l.l and d.a.m.nation, he still couldn"t believe what she"d done-most particularly taking his clothes! He remembered the way his temples had throbbed with fury and disbelief when he"d gone back to the pond and realized they were gone.
At least she left my boots, he thought as he tramped along the path, leaves and stones crunching under his heels. I must look a complete fool.
Also exactly as she"d planned.
Just wait until he got back. She might think she"d delivered the last salvo, but he wasn"t the only one who would learn a lesson today. Precisely what he planned to do once he confronted her, he didn"t know. But this wasn"t over between them.
Doesn"t want me, does she?
Liar.
He"d tasted the pa.s.sion on her lips, knew he hadn"t imagined her pleasure or her longing for more.
And she was going to get more-a lot more. But first he had a score to settle with the deviously clever Lady Thalia.
He walked on, grateful that he hadn"t encountered anyone so far. If the trees hadn"t been barren of leaves, he might have tried snapping off a weak limb to use as concealment. But she"d plotted her revenge well, leaving him no choice but to make the journey back in nothing but his altogether.
For his own part, he didn"t care a jot about being naked, having never suffered from an overabundance of modesty. But other people might not feel the same. There was also the uncomfortable fact that he was growing chilled, gooseflesh beginning to pop out over his skin now that the sun was sinking lower in the sky.
He"d been walking for another five minutes when a cottage came into view. A brown-haired woman stood in the rear yard, tossing handfuls of grain to a small flock of chickens, while a toddler played with a wooden toy on a nearby patch of gra.s.s. Not far away, freshly washed laundry hung on a line, the clothes waving slowly to and fro in the modest breeze.
Among the items was a man"s shirt and trousers, the answer to his current dilemma. Even if the shirt was the only thing that fit, at least he wouldn"t be completely bare-a.r.s.ed naked any longer-shockingly attired, yes, but not naked.
But how to acquire them?
He considered the straightforward approach of just walking up to the woman, explaining his situation and asking to borrow the clothes-with the promise that she and her family would be more than generously compensated once he was back in his proper element and in his own clothes again. But there were far too many things that could go awry with that plan, he decided. Once she got an eyeful of him, she might not stay long enough to hear him out as she ran for the cottage and barricaded herself and her child inside.
His only other options were equally unappealing. The first being that he would continue on to Holland House exactly as he was, or the second, that he would wait until the woman wasn"t looking and take the clothes.
He balked at the idea. A gentleman no matter his difficulties did not stoop to thievery. It was wrong, plain and simple. Yet if he took the clothes, just long enough to make his way back to Holland House, then promptly returned them, was he actually stealing? It was more a case of borrowing really when you thought about it.
He cringed, knowing his rationalization was exactly that. But thanks to Thalia-blast her outrageousness-he was in a real fix and had to consider all his options, honorable or otherwise.
Yet what real harm was there in using the clothes for a couple of hours? If all went well, the woman wouldn"t even notice they were missing. And he would send the garments back, freshly washed, with a note of thanks and money attached for their use. Seen in that light, she and her husband might regard the entire incident as a kind of unexpected boon.
He weighed his choices, watching her from behind the tree.
She finished feeding the chickens, then walked over and scooped the little boy and his toy up off the ground. Tucking the child against her hip, she went into the house, the door swinging shut with a bang.
Now was his chance. If he wanted the clothes, he had better make a dash for them while the opportunity was ripe. He weighed his options one more time, cast another quick look around and ran.
He reached the clothesline and yanked the trousers out of their pins. He"d just taken hold of the shirt as well when the back door to the cottage slammed open on its hinges again. Only it wasn"t the woman who came out into the yard this time.
It was a man-a huge, ma.s.sive bull of a man with a barrel chest and arms that looked as if they could bend steel. His hands were the size of hams and curled inside one of them was a rifle. He raised the weapon to his shoulder and took aim.
"What in the h.e.l.l do ye think ye"re doin"?" he bellowed. "Ye believe ye can come up to my home, naked as the day G.o.d made ye, and help yerself to my clothes?"
Leo held out a hand. "No, no, it is nothing like that."
Technically, it was exactly like that, but there were mitigating circ.u.mstances. If only the bull-sized man would put down his weapon and let him explain.
"I"ve had an unusual mishap, you see, and lost my clothing while swimming in one of the nearby ponds," Leo began. "I"m borrowing these only until-"
"Borrowin", my left eye. Ye"re a thief an" I don"t hold with thieves. Ye"re indecent to boot."
Leo held up the trousers in his hand. "I wouldn"t be if you"d permit me to put these on. I am a guest of Lord Holland"s and will recompense you for their use."
The man didn"t lower the gun by so much as an inch. "Liar too, I see. Drop the rig and step back."
Leo"s hand tightened on the material. "If you would simply see reason, I am sure some accommodation can be reached. How much for the clothes? I will purchase them from you outright."
"Purchase them!" The farmer barked out a humorless laugh. "Don"t see no pockets ne"er ready coin on that bare skin of yers. Nay, ye stay where ye are, while my older boy goes for the constable."
Leo scowled. "There"s no need to involve the law. Send word to Holland House and you will see that I am telling you the truth. My name is-"
"Don"t care what yer name is. Now sit down and wait while Mull is called." He gestured toward the ground with the end of his rifle. "I want "im to see ye, jus" as ye are, so there"s no mistaking the situation."
Leo glanced beneath him at the damp gra.s.s, the thin green stalks underlain by patches of sticky mud and a scattering of moldering leaves. It looked cold and uninviting and he had no intention of sitting on it, especially naked. "I would prefer to stand."
"Ye sit or ye"ll get a taste of the wrong end of Bess here."
"I will thank you not to threaten me," Leo said in a voice hard with authority. "Put Bess, as you call it, down."
In answer, the farmer lifted the gun barrel higher.
Leo studied the other man, searching for potential weaknesses. On initial inspection, there didn"t seem to be any, particularly since the farmer was the one holding the weapon. But weapon or no, Leo wasn"t about to wait around for the local constabulary to arrive.
Considering how unwilling the other man was to listen to him, he didn"t hold out much hope that Mr. Mull would be any more accommodating. Leo was vulnerable enough standing here in nothing but his boots. He wasn"t taking the chance of being tossed that way into a gaol cell.
"Look, there is no need for all this," Leo said. "Why don"t I just give you back your garments and be on my way?" In a gesture of apparent concession, he let the clothes drop onto the gra.s.s. "See? No harm done."
"No harm? "Course there"s harm." The man bristled. "If I let you go, ye"ll be after one of me neighbors next. Now, enough of yer prattle. Shut yer gob and sit."
Leo said nothing for a long moment, then gave a conciliatory shrug, as if he was giving in. "As you like."
Certain he"d won, the cottager shifted his stance, the weapon finally lowering a little.
Springing into action, Leo charged the other man. Reaching him in seconds, Leo curled his hands around the wooden stock and pushed the rifle up and away, wrestling for possession.
But the big bull held fast, every ounce as strong as he looked. They hadn"t struggled for long when suddenly the gun went off. The bullet flew skyward, the reverberation from the shot traveling the length of Leo"s arms.
Leo wasn"t the sort to back away from a fight, but he also knew when retreat was the better choice. Hoping surprise would gain him a much needed advantage, he shoved the gun hard toward the farmer, then abruptly let go.
He ran, pushing himself as fast as his legs would carry him toward a stand of trees not too far in the distance. He might not be able to outwrestle the bull-sized farmer, but he knew he could outrun him.
He was nearly to his goal when pain suddenly burned like a brand through his arm, the echo of a rifle shot sounding behind him seconds later. He glanced down and watched as blood ran hot and wet over his skin. Scarlet droplets pooled at his fingertips before splattering in the gra.s.s.
Rather than stop, he ran faster, even more determined to escape now that he was injured. He finally reached the shelter of the trees, only then pausing long enough to catch his breath. But he knew he didn"t have time to waste. The farmer and his son, and whomever else the man could round up, would be after him soon.
He would have to tend to his wound later.
Cradling his injured arm against his chest, he pushed on. If he could just reach Holland House, he would be safe. As for arriving naked and bleeding, well, it would only add to the drama of his harrowing tale and raise the tally against Lady Thalia Lennox.
Checking quickly behind him to make sure they weren"t already in pursuit, he set out again in what he hoped was the right direction.
Thalia was almost to the Holland House stables when she slowed her mount. The mare whickered softly, shaking her head with a jingle of the tack as they came to a halt in the middle of a gra.s.sy field.
Thalia supposed Lord Leopold was walking back by now wearing nothing but his boots. He must make quite a picture, all that finely wrought flesh exposed for all the world to see-a.s.suming he wasn"t concealing himself behind every tree and bush along the way. Yet somehow she knew that he was far too proud a man to hide. Instead he was probably striding confidently forward, moving as if he were just out for a stroll regardless of the reaction he would most certainly provoke if seen by some unsuspecting local.
She frowned and caught her lower lip between her teeth, thinking of the predicament she"d put him in. She ought to be pleased, puffed up with self-satisfaction for a job well done. Her scheme had worked exactly as planned. She"d wanted to humiliate and humble him, to make him so angry that he would never want to speak to or look upon her again.
So why did she feel troubled?
Why was guilt souring in her stomach like a piece of unripened fruit?
She"d wanted to teach him a lesson. Instead, she wondered if she was the one in need of tutelage. Had she been unforgivably cruel? And if so, what was she going to do to make amends?
She sat unmoving for a few seconds more, then heaved out a breath and signaled for the mare to turn around and ride back the way they"d come.
Thalia was about halfway to the pond when a sharp crack splintered the air. She"d attended enough autumn shooting parties to recognize the sound of gunfire. Her heart sped faster, a strange, sick fear rising in her chest.
It could be anything, she thought. A hunter perhaps or shooting practice. It didn"t need to have anything to do with Lord Leopold.
Yet somehow she knew it was.
A harsh gasp rattled in her throat when she saw him, one of his arms bathed in a wash of crimson as he came out of a small grove of trees at a stumbling run.
"My G.o.d," she cried as she urged the horse toward him.
He stopped and looked up, the waning afternoon sun glinting off the threads of gold and amber in his hair. He looked beautiful despite his injury, like a warrior who"d just battled a mighty foe.
"Lady Thalia?" he said, clearly surprised to see her. "What are you doing here?"
She ignored his question as she kicked her stirrup free and jumped down from her mount, running to him as quickly as her skirts would allow. "My lord Leopold, what has befallen you? Have you been shot?"