You, and Only You (12 page)

Ashleigh turned her attention to Alex and the baroness,
watching for a moment as they walked closer to the water’s edge.
 
She hesitated a moment before answering.
 
“It’s possible, I suppose.”

They were both silent for a moment, each lost to their own
thoughts, until finally Tiffany broke the silence.
 
“Do you think it’s true what they say?
 
That reformed rakes make for the best of
husbands?”

Turning her gaze once again to her husband, Ashleigh’s
expression softened at once.
 

“I shall take that as a yes,” Tiffany chuckled.
 

Grasping Tiffany’s hand, Ashleigh gave it a reassuring
squeeze.

“I was thinking of going for a ride around the lake,”
Tiffany said, glancing to where the horses were staked just a short distance
away.
 
Though she didn’t voice it aloud,
she longed to distance herself from the sight of Alex and Lucinda Langdon.
 
“I would ask you to join me,” she began,
keeping her tone intentionally light, “but as hostess, I fear your presence
would be missed.”

Ashleigh heaved an exaggerated, wistful sigh.
 
“Unfortunately, I think you are correct.”

A short while later, as Ashleigh fulfilled her duties as the
group’s hostess, Tiffany once again mounted the gentle mare she’d ridden
earlier and then guided her to the wooded area to the east.
 
She knew the area fairly well, for she and
Ashleigh had ridden several times through the surrounding woodlands since her
friend’s marriage to the duke, acquainting themselves with the breadth and
beauty of the Sethe private lands.
 
After
casting one last glance in Alex’s direction, she turned away and steered her
mount toward a break in the trees.

As Alex walked with Lucinda away from the picnickers and
closer to the water’s edge, she inched closer and closer until her bountiful
breasts were pushed right up against his arm.

“God’s teeth, Lucinda,” Alex chided, deliberately widening
the distance between them.
 
“Have you no
understanding of discretion at all?”

“Don’t be silly,” she cooed, glancing about.
 
“No one is paying us the slightest
attention.”

“Even if that were true, it matters not,” Alex said
reprovingly.
 
“This is hardly a private
setting and it appears that the blasted rumors about us have already
begun.”
 
He recalled Olivia Whitlunde’s
remark from the night before, as well as the comment Tiffany had made when
they’d stood out on the terrace.
 

Lucinda shrugged and pressed her breasts up against him once
again.
 
“Well then, perhaps we should
sneak away and find ourselves a more private setting,” she murmured
seductively.

Rather than inciting his desire, her brazen suggestion had
Alex’s temper rising.
 
Was she really so
reckless?
 
He stopped and turned to face
her, his expression harsh.
 
“Have you
completely lost your mind?” he bit out in an icy whisper.

She frowned.
 
“Of
course I haven’t,” she answered petulantly.
      

“Well then, perhaps you could at least
try
to assume some measure of prudence in your behavior.”

“I was under the impression that you liked my
behavior
exactly as it was.”
 
After a moment, when he said nothing in
response, her features tightened perceptively.
 
“However, if that is no longer the case, then perhaps I should take my
behavior
elsewhere.”
 
The threat in her voice was implicit.
 
The implication, that she could have any man
she desired.

He hesitated for only a moment.
 
He didn’t respond well to threats, he never
had.
 
“Perhaps you should.”
 
His tone was even and devoid of inflection.
 
Nonetheless, she recoiled as if he’d slapped
her.
 
Lucinda Langdon was a beautiful
woman and clearly accustomed to getting what she wanted, especially when it
came to men.
 

She stiffened.
 
“You
don’t mean that,” she said, studying him through narrowed eyes.

“Actually, I do.”
 

“You bastard,” she said indignantly.
 
“You think you can end it, just like
that?”
 
She snapped her fingers, her face
reddening in anger.

It was a decidedly unattractive color on her.
 
“Yes, as a matter of fact that is exactly
what I think,” he said, then abruptly turned on his heel and walked away.
 
Despite the outraged hiss that followed him,
he didn’t look back.

As Tiffany meandered through the wooded terrain, she tried
to make sense of her feelings regarding Alex.
 
Although she knew it was foolhardy to pine for a man who might never
return her affections, she seemed incapable of controlling her wayward
emotions.
 
And after last night, having
experienced the wonder of his kiss, it seemed that she was helpless to deny the
depths of her feelings any longer.
 
Heaven help her, she was falling in love with Alexander Warrene, truly,
madly, deeply and beyond reason.
 
Therefore, the question now it seemed was what did she do about it?
 
Or perhaps, what
could
she do about it?
 

Unfortunately though, as she continued her leisurely ride,
she couldn’t seem to come up with an answer.
 
It was frustrating to say the least.
 
Lost to her thoughts, she scarcely noticed when the first few drops of
rain began to fall around her, dripping intermittently through the thick cover
of leaves overhead.
 
In fact, it wasn’t
until a large glistening droplet landed with an unmistakable splat directly
upon the leather pommel that she was shaken from her musings and looked to the
sky.
 
Through a gap in the trees she
could see that it was darkening.
 
Urging her mount toward the
small clearing that lay ahead, she broke free of the sheltering trees and
scanned the sky above.
 
Her eyes widened
as she noted the dark, ominous looking clouds moving swiftly in overhead.
 
She’d been so distracted that she hadn’t even
noticed the changing weather.
 

Collecting her bearings, she realized that she had traveled
farther away from the picnic site than she had intended.
 
Silently castigating herself for her lack of
attention, it was then that she heard the first low rumble of thunder.
 
Mentally calculating how long it would take
her to get back to the group, she emitted a low groan.
 
She doubted that she could make it before the
rain began to fall in earnest.
 
Besides,
the others had probably noticed the darkening sky long before she had and most
likely had already begun their return to Sethe Manor.
 
Blast her rotten luck!
 
As she considered her options, she noticed
that her riding habit was quickly becoming dotted with tiny wet splotches.
 
Marvelous!
 
She was going to be soaked within minutes.

Glancing back to the trees, she wondered how much cover they
would provide once the rain really began to fall.
 
Not much, she figured; and the sprinkles were
already turning into a light drizzle.
 
All too soon it would be pouring buckets.
 
She needed to make a decision and she needed
to make it quickly.
 
Dare she try to make
it back to the house in the storm, or did she look for shelter and simply wait
it out?
 
Sadly, neither option was all
that appealing.
 
Just then, another loud
rumble of thunder sounded overhead, spooking the mare and causing her to
side-step nervously.
  
As Tiffany patted
the horse’s sleek neck and tried to calm her, the solution suddenly came to
her.
 
The old overseer’s cottage!
 
She and Ashleigh had stumbled upon it weeks
ago during one of their rides.
 
She
looked up, once more scanning her surroundings as she tried to recall its exact
location.
 
If she remembered correctly,
it wasn’t all that far from where she was now.
 
If she hurried, she might be able to escape the worst of the storm.
 
It was certainly worth a try, she
reasoned.
 
Urging her mount forward, she
went in search of the small dwelling.

Back at the picnic site, most of those present had already
mounted their horses or hastened into the waiting carriages, eager to make it
back to Sethe Manor ahead of the oncoming rainstorm.
 
In the mad scramble, only Ashleigh seemed
aware that Tiffany wasn’t among those heading back to the estate.

As Nicholas and Brendon assisted the last of the guests into
the carriages, Ashleigh mounted her horse, spying Alex upon his own mount not
far away.
 
She called out to him and he
rode quickly to her side.

“You haven’t seen Tiffany, have you?” she asked as he pulled
up beside her.

Alex frowned.
 
He’d
been about to ask her the same question, for he hadn’t noticed Tiffany amongst
the riders who’d already departed.
 
“No,
as a matter of fact I haven’t.”

“Oh dear,” Ashleigh breathed.
 

Alex regarded her intently.
 
“What is it?”

“She went for a ride around the lake a short while ago, and
it seems that she hasn’t yet returned.”

Alex glanced upward at the darkening sky.
 
“How long ago, exactly?”

“I’m not sure,” Ashleigh responded anxiously.
 
“Twenty, maybe thirty minutes ago.”

His frown grew more pronounced.
 
“Which direction did she take?”

Ashleigh pointed in the direction of the dark-colored
clouds.
 
“There’s a path that winds
around the lake.”

“Yes, I know it.”
 
He’d accompanied Nicholas across the Sethe private lands many times
before.
 
“Return to the house with the
others,” he told her.
 
“I’ll find her.”

Ashleigh nodded.
 
“What should I…” she trailed off, eyeing him expectantly.

Alex understood what she was asking.
 
“With all of the commotion, I doubt that
anyone has noticed her absence,” he began.
 
“And most likely, if anyone does wonder as to her whereabouts, or mine,
they will assume that we are already on our way back to the house with the
others.”

“Yes, alright.
  
And
when you do return, tell her to enter the house through the servant’s entrance
and to use the back stairs.
 
Her chamber
is at the end of the hall, so she should be able to slip in without being
seen.
 
In the meantime, I will do my best
to keep her father occupied.”

Alex nodded in agreement and then turned toward the woods.

Much to Tiffany’s dismay, by the time she reached the branch
in the path that led to the overseer’s cottage, the rain had gone from a steady
drizzle to a continuous downpour.
 
She
was completely drenched from head to toe, and with the wind having picked up,
she was starting to shiver with cold.
 
Clamping her jaw closed to keep her teeth from chattering, she pressed
on.
 
Fortunately, she had only to travel
a short distance more before she was able to make out the shape of the small
house through the heavy sheet of rain partially obscuring her vision.
 
Heaving an audible sigh of relief, she urged
her mount forward.
 

Blinking her eyes several times to rid them of the droplets
that clung tenaciously to her thick eyelashes, she steered the mare to the side
of the cottage and then dismounted in front of the small wooden stable.
 
Careful not to slip on the muddy ground, she
pulled open the heavy wooden door and quickly led the horse into the shelter.
 
Guiding her into one of the two empty stalls,
she then covered the mare with one of the old blankets she’d spotted lying in
the far corner of the room.

Satisfied that the horse was taken care of to the best of
her ability, she left the stable a few minutes later and made a mad dash to the
front of the cottage.
 
Skidding to a stop
just outside the front door, she grasped the metal latch with her wet
fingers.
 
As she’d hoped, the door was
unlocked.
 
Stepping inside, she quickly
scanned the interior, assuring herself that the cottage was still
uninhabited.
 
Thankfully, it looked as
though it was.
 
Shoving the door closed
behind her with a relieved sigh, Tiffany leaned her head back against the heavy
portal and blew an errant lock of wet, clinging hair from the corner of her mouth,
noting as she did that her soft, bouncy curls now fell in long, sopping-wet
ringlets around her shoulders.
 
Regrettably, she’d lost her hat to the wind some time ago.