Page 11 of The Duke Who Loved a Widow
I was wrong to speak to a lady, any lady, that way. It might have been a difficult day, but that doesn’t excuse how I behaved towards her.
What possessed me to be so haughty and proud? She thought her son was injured, she had a shock, and I behaved as if she were to blame for the whole incident.
No matter, he probably would never see her again. He knew, though, that he would carry a vivid memory of a nameless lady and a strange meeting on a forest path.
Chapter 4
Arabella looked at the back of the stranger, who had berated her, riding into the distance.
Still smarting from his words, she turned to Henry, still cradling Dash in his arms.
“Are you sure it doesn’t hurt anywhere?” she asked him.
“No, Mama, you’ve asked me twice now. I am not hurt. Dash has a very sore paw. Look, there’s blood.”
“He’ll feel better now the thorn has been removed,” she reassured Henry.
“That gentleman who took out the thorn said we should bathe the paw in hot water and keep the paw clean,” Henry informed her with a serious expression.
“Did he?” she queried in surprise. “I didn’t hear him say that.”
“He was very specific. He also suggested that the cook might boil some, now what was it, rosemary and thyme I think, and add it to goose grease and put that on the paw.”
Arabella was stunned that in the short time the stranger had been with them, he had removed the thorn and given Henry advice on caring for the injured paw.
“Henry, Henry. Where are you?” a woman’s voice was crying.
Arabella recognized Emma’s frantic tones and then a deeper baritone voice. “Henry, can you call back? We’re worried about you.”
She called in response. “Over here. All’s well.”
Emma and the Reverend Nathaniel turned the corner. Arabella saw Emma turn pale and race towards them. “Henry,” she cried. “Where did you get to? I turned around, and you weren’t there.”
“I’ll explain later,” said Arabella. “No one is hurt. Dash had a thorn in his paw, and a passing stranger helped remove it. We need to get home now.”
This was not the time for Arabella to explain that her cousin, so intent on talking to the vicar, had not even noticed Arabella walking past them.
“I’ll carry the spaniel,” offered Nathaniel. “There is a shortcut to Horton Hall, down that path over there.”
Arabella pretended not to notice when the parson patted Emma gently on her arm before cradling Dash in his arms and setting off along the woodland track.
On returning to Horton Hall, Arabella found herself involved with explaining what had happened to Henry and comforting Emma. Emma blamed herself for the incident when she had been so busy talking with the vicar that she had not noticed Henry wandering off into the woods.
“I’m so sorry. That horse might have killed him,” Emma said, sniffing as tears streamed down her cheeks.
“Emma, Henry is always getting into scrapes,” Arabella reassured her cousin.
“He’s so tiny, and I should have kept my eyes on him.”
“He craves adventure, and if wildlife or nature is involved, then he can disappear for hours. Truly, Emma, it is a nightmare sometimes keeping track of him.”
“I told him he could play on the green. I swear he was there, throwing sticks for Dash. And yes, Arabella, I did get lost in that conversation with Reverend Colbrooke.”
Arabella smiled at her young cousin, who was fast becoming a friend. “Of course you were. He seems such a nice young man, and I believe he admires you.”
How old I sound, she thought. It hasn’t been so long since I was young and in love myself.
Emma’s tears dried, replaced by thoughts of the Reverend Nathaniel Colbrooke. “He has such a way of listening to what I say as if I am the only person in the room. He isn’t at all stuffy for a clergyman.”
