Chapter 12

CHAPTER12

“Ineed an escape.”

Daniel raced out of his chamber. He’d had a night terror, again. Each time he’d closed his eyes, he’d been back on the battlefield.

When he had awoken, he had found a slip of paper under the door that connected his room to Rachel’s chamber. He’d bolted the door on his side, fearing he would be tempted by her and go to visit her. The paper was a simple thing, the note heartfelt.

I wished to wake you when you screamed, but the door was locked. I’m sorry I could not help.

He had folded up the paper and slipped it into the breast pocket of his tailcoat. He now kept it close as he ran out of his chamber and raced through the house, jumping down the staircase two steps at a time, sometimes three. Launching himself at the dining room door, he burst through, finding Dorothea, who was still staying with them. She was so startled that she spilt her tea down her gown.

Mrs. Brooks hastened to help her clear up the spilt tea as Anne laughed from the other side of the table.

“You should take more care, dear,” Dorothea warned her nephew. “I might have accidentally thrown it at you.”

“My apologies.” His eyes flicked toward the empty chair at the table. Rachel was not there. “Have you seen my wife?”

“I have not.” Dorothea shook her head.

“She has already eaten,” Mrs. Brooks said.

“Anne was up before me.” Dorothea pointed at Anne. “Did you see her, Anne?”

“We both sat at this table for breakfast, yes.” Anne said no more and sipped her tea.

Daniel stepped further into the room, feeling anger toward his sister. “Are you saying you sat beside her and did not say a word to her the whole time?”

“She spoke,” Anne said simply, “I did not.”

“Really, Anne.” Mrs. Brooks was horrified. “Is that the behavior of a young lady?”

“Mrs. Brooks is right.” Dorothea nodded, clearly not minding Mrs. Brooks’ outspoken ways, just as Daniel hardly minded.

Having had enough of this discussion, Daniel left the room. He needed an escape, and if it could not be found by talking to Rachel, then he needed another way to think of something else. He ignored breakfast and left the house, heading to the stable yard.

The sun was strong today, beating down with such heat that he shrugged off his tailcoat. The stable boy, Tom, ran out upon seeing him and offered to take the jacket for him.

“Your Grace! Would you like to ride Mackenzie today?”

“Yes, please, Tom. I’m in the need to ride fast.”

The tall chestnut horse was quickly prepared. Once ready in the yard, Daniel pulled himself up into the saddle, with his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and raced away. He urged the horse to gallop at once so that they sprinted far from the house. He rode across the open parkland, heading toward the lakes in the distance.

The wind soothed Daniel, taking away the dreadful feeling. The nightmare felt like a shadow cloying at his skin, blocking the sun from reaching him and warming his bones, but not out here. When he was riding in this way, he was free of such shadows.

He turned the horse, who snorted at his sharp movements, and together, they traveled between the lakes, darting over the wooden bridges and past the Palladian summer houses that had been built by his father. Daniel had little liking for the houses and preferred the openness of nature.

Heading past the houses and into the deepness of the woods, he put the manor further and further behind him. Soon, he thought only of the wind that whistled past him and the trees that he passed, with their gnarled branches waving at him in the breeze.

Darting up a hill, he passed through a bank of oak trees. The momentary shadows threatened him, daring the nightmares to return.

He saw himself riding through such a forest, but much slower, with his men behind him on horseback. They came across their enemy, all of them ready with muskets raised, aiming to fire. The first gunshot had pierced Daniel’s skin, running across his shoulder. He’d escaped with his life that day but had been knocked off his horse. The impact of his head on the ground had knocked him out. His enemy must have thought him dead already, for he did not try to kill him again.

In a way, that shot saved my life.

“Look out!” a woman’s voice pierced the air.

Daniel was brought back to the present. He was in a sunny clearing now. He tugged harshly on the reins of his horse, pulling back as he nearly collided with something.

No. Someone!

He jolted back in the saddle, forcing the horse to circle on the spot as he looked around. There was someone on the hill beside him.

“Rachel?” he spluttered in surprise.

Rachel wasn’t fully clothed. Struggling to pull herself back into her gown, her corset was completely revealed to him. The slender waist against the curves had him entranced.

“What in God’s name do you think you are doing?” He leapt down from his horse, not thinking of anything apart from her.

“Well, I was swimming.”

She pointed at the small lake beside them. This one was much smaller than the other lakes by the house, and wilder too, more secluded with the trees around it. It was then that he noticed her hair. The honey-brown locks were drenched and stuck to her neck.

He stood in front of her and looked through the trees in case a groundskeeper or gardener came by.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Shielding you.”

“Yes, because I am likely to be seen out here, aren’t I?” She laughed at the words. “Your groundskeepers do not work on Fridays.”

Her words reminded him of the fact, and he turned back around to find her lacing her fine blue gown shut. Now that her corset was no longer in view, he almost growled, wishing to see it again.

She was still an intoxicating sight. With her body so wet, the skirt of her gown stuck to her legs, and her hair stuck to her neck.

“You should see your face.” She laughed once again. “Let me guess, this is not the behavior of a duchess?”

“You think that is what I am worried about?” He couldn’t help smiling at her audacity. “My wife is bathing in public.”

“Your wife is bathing in your garden, in a lake that is very well hidden.” She gestured back toward the lake behind her, then reached down and lifted her stockings from the ground.

Lifting the skirt of her gown, she sat on a nearby rock and pulled on her stockings. The flash of her bare skin made him turn away.

Oh, this is too much of a temptation! If she continues in this way, I will surely take her here and now on this bank.

“And you cannot even look at me. What a sight I must be!” She laughed some more.

He turned back to face her and placed a hand down on the rock beside her, leaning close. “Yes, you are a deeply alluring sight at this moment, so don’t tempt me further.”

“What is so wrong with being tempted?” she asked.

No children. There cannot be any children.

He slowly lifted his hand and backed away from her, not answering her as she pulled on her other stocking. She cleared her throat after a minute or so of silence had passed between them.

“How come you’re out here?” she asked.

“I needed a ride to clear my head. I couldn’t find you in the house.”

“That is because I needed the same, so I decided to swim.” She stood and walked past him, her movements catching his attention. She went to his chestnut horse and patted his muzzle in greeting. “You are a fine rider.”

“You have to be, as a soldier.”

Mackenzie snorted in greeting, clearly liking her attention. Daniel could hardly blame the horse for it. He found himself longing for his wife’s attention too.

“Are you a fine rider, Rachel?” he asked.

She looked over her shoulder at him. “Would you like to find out?” She released the horse and made her way around the lake, heading toward a tall grey mare on the other side of the banks. “What about a race?”

“A race?”

“Yes. You know, one of those competitions where you see who rides the fastest.” She pulled herself into the saddle.

“I have not done such a thing since I was a child.”

“Really? Why not?” Her question silenced him. He didn’t know why. “No answer? Oh, dear, then I say it’s time we showed you how to have such innocent fun again.”

“I can have fun,” he insisted as she rode up to him, reaching out to pat Mackenzie on the muzzle one more time.

“Then prove it,” she said playfully. “Race against me?”

Daniel felt both challenged and intrigued. Rachel was sitting side-saddle, with her gown sticking to her in all sorts of alluring places. His eyes particularly tarried on the curve of her hips. He thought of grabbing them.

“What does the winner get?” he asked.

“A wish of their choosing,” Rachel said simply, then turned her horse around so she was level with Mackenzie.

“Very well.” Daniel climbed up into his saddle. “We shall race from here to the bottom of the hill on the other side. Be careful there, the ground is boggy, but if you go far enough, there is a folly in the middle of the lawn. The first one there wins.”

“As you wish. Ready, Daniel?”

“I’m ready.”

He prepped himself in the saddle, leaning forward, highly doubting Rachel would be able to keep up with him. He’d ridden in battle, through fighting men and around others who had run for their lives. He had always been the fastest rider.

“Go!”

At her word, he launched himself forward.

He set off the fastest at once, sprinting ahead of her. The incline down the hill had them picking up speed, and as they neared the bottom of the hill, she began to catch up with him. Daniel could scarcely believe it. He leaned forward, trying to increase the speed of the horse, and looked to his side.

Rachel rode athletically, as if she had done it every day of her life and gripped the reins with ease. He was so busy looking at her, he did not look where they were going.

His horse started to struggle. Daniel looked ahead as they ran into the boggy ground.

The horse snorted and abruptly stopped, flinging its nose into the air and then whinnying madly. Rachel’s mare did much the same, trying to battle on, but her hooves fell deeper and deeper into the ground.

Daniel flung himself out of the saddle and rounded the horse, his boots struggling in the mud, repeatedly slipping. He pulled the horse forward.

“That’s cheating,” Rachel called to him, now a few feet behind him.

“Then you better cheat too, or you’ll be stuck soon.” He pointed at her predicament.

She copied him and did the same. Her mare managed to pull herself out of the mud easier, and Rachel soon overtook him, streaking ahead.

“You can’t beat me at cheating,” he called to her.

“You started it!” She laughed and released the horse as she reached solid ground. The mare snorted, clearly not wanting to go on, so Rachel turned around, with the skirt of her gown in her hand, and ran.

“That is definitely cheating,” he shouted to her.

“I’m still winning,” she called with glee.

Daniel pulled his steed onto level ground with her mare, then took off, sprinting to catch up with Rachel. In the distance, the folly appeared. Towering high, the phony tower that could have been mistaken for an old castle turret stood out starkly in the middle of the lawn.

Now, Daniel had the advantage. Rachel may be tall, but he was taller still and eating up the ground as he caught up with her.

“No,” she called as he began to pass. “I’m so close now.” She took hold of his arm and pulled on it to slow him down.

He laughed indulgently as he was forced to slow down with her.

When they reached another bog, they both struggled, their boots slipping repeatedly in the mud. Her hand released his arm as she fell forward, her hands landing in the bog. He couldn’t run on, but he reached back for her, taking her arm and trying to pull her out.

“Is this how you win? By helping me?”

“I shall win, without you getting trapped in a bog.”

Yet, one of her boots was completely trapped. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her cleanly out of the mud. Her laughter peeled out, and he froze, smiling down at her expression.

From nowhere, this lightness had overtaken him. He and Rachel had shared something so freeing, so exhilarating, that he hadn’t thought about the past or getting stuck in bogs when he’d fought on the battlefields. He’d only thought of Rachel and her laughter.

He put her down at the end of the bog.

“Now, I shall win,” he said victoriously and ran on.

“Ah, you tease me!” She hurried after him, trying to keep up but slipping back.

When he reached the folly first, he taunted her further, not quite touching the folly but holding a hand toward it, inches from touching it. She ran toward him, and rather than heading to the folly at all, she ran straight into him.

He laughed as he caught her, falling back against the folly.

“Now, I don’t think that counts as you winning,” he said, his arms resting on her waist as he held her up and stopped her from falling over.

“No? You didn’t touch the wall until I reached it too,” she argued playfully, offering him a narrow glare that was softened by her smile.

“You know I won.”

“Fair enough, you won!” She laughed and shifted her arms. It was then he realized that his hands were splayed across her waist and that her hands were resting on his chest. “What is it you ask for, then? A wish that will be granted.”

He knew exactly what he wanted, and he almost took it. He moved his head forward, hovering his lips over hers, seconds from taking that kiss. Her laughter died, but she didn’t pull back. She stared up at him, her dark eyes glimmering and her lips slightly parted.

“Can’t you tell what I wish for?” he whispered, teasing her with his lips hovering over hers still.

“If you take it, I’ll know for certain.” Her voice was breathy as she tried to catch her breath from her run.

Daniel capitulated, but he didn’t quite kiss her. He moved his hands instead, one hand lifting from her waist to her head. He titled her head back and arched her neck, then traced his lips down the curve of her neck, tempting them both with what could be. As his lips trailed across her skin, he heard her panting grow. It mirrored his labored breathing.

One kiss, just one…

Each move he made caused that tingling to grow, caused the excitement to consume him further. The way her hands curled around the edge of his waistcoat told him all he needed, that she was also caught up in the thrill of it all. He needed this kiss. Perhaps then he would stop imagining her in all sorts of positions in his bed. He could move on and control his desire for her.

Would it be so wrong to indulge in her? Just once?

“Daniel?” she whispered.

He trailed his lips up her neck, skimming them just under her ear. She trembled at that touch, clearly wanting it too.

“Ask it of me, and I’ll do it,” he whispered in her ear, longing to hear that she wanted him to.

One kiss, that is all we need.

Suddenly, a horse snorted.

Daniel released Rachel and looked around to see that their horses had emerged by themselves from the boggy land and crossed the grass toward them. He backed up, nearly colliding with the folly as Rachel tottered on her feet, in danger of falling over.

“It seems our horses are acting as our chaperones for the day,” she said, moving her hands to her hips as she playfully glared at the beasts. He smiled at her, gladdened by her knack for shifting any awkward air. She looked back at him, that excitement still in her eyes. “You didn’t have to stop, Daniel.”

“We should.” He walked past her, heading back to the horses.

She took a moment or so to follow, but she no longer raised her head high. She looked down instead.

I have hurt her.

“Believe me, Rachel, I didn’t want to stop,” he said as they both paused by their horses, peering over at one another but not quite climbing up.

“Then why did you?” she asked.

“It’s hard to put into words.”

He couldn’t tell her out here that he didn’t want children, and that each time he grew closer to her he wished to abandon his determination not to bed her. They were difficult words to utter, regardless of wherever they were, but after the fun they’d just had, it felt like a sin to utter such things now.

“I’ll explain it another time.”

He pulled himself into the saddle and led them back to the manor, feeling her eyes as she looked at his back.

Please, Rachel, don’t hate me for this.