Page 42 of The Gift of Patience
Patience made her way to her chambers and went through her evening ablutions in complete dismay over the task before her. “Be careful what you wish for,” she whispered to her reflection in the mirror as she brushed her hair out.
She should be grateful for any sort of adventure, and she knew they couldn’t all be glamorous and exciting. But to allow Rupert to woo her? An involuntary shudder of disgust ran through her body. Major Stuart expected her to fail, which only made her more determined. He never would have allowed her to assist if he didn’t think it would provide him more access to extract the information from Rupert himself. She would prove she could do it without him.
How could the man both annoy and attract her in the same breath?
And the attraction was strong. She’d made a complete and utter fool of herself earlier with her reaction to him. She’d been so transparent, but at least he did not seem disgusted by her, even if he had stepped away and left her quickly thereafter. When was her infatuation with him going to end? She thought that being around him more would surely cease the fantasy by nature of reality, but in fact, quite the opposite was true.
But ridding herself of her infatuation could only happen if she was separated from Stuart. The sooner he left the better.
What needed to happen was for her to draw Rupert out quickly and efficiently without further engaging his affections. Patience was capable of patience, was she not?
Then she could prove to Major Stuart and even Westwood that she was proficient in handling delicate situations. Moreover, when she later approached Westwood to aid her in her quest to be a spy, she would be able to cite her experience in this matter.
Climbing in bed, she quickly fell asleep after having reassured herself that Rupert was no more than an assignment.
In the morning, the prospect looked no more pleasant than it had the night before. She gathered Xander for a reassuring cuddle, then dressed and took him outside.
By the time they returned to the house, there was still no one in the breakfast room. How odd. She drank her coffee then filled her plate, sneaking kippers and bacon to Xander under the table. “It’s not really sneaking them if no one is here to watch, is it?” she remarked.
Where could everyone be? Was everyone exceptionally lazy today? The dinner party had not been very fatiguing, except mentally. It certainly did not compare to an evening out in London when they would not have reached their beds until dawn.
She ate very slowly, but still there was no one—not even her sisters or the other gentlemen. Perhaps all of them had gone for a ride?
It would be odd of them not to inform her. She rose from the table and decided to check the barn. Grace and Joy were very likely there fawning over the kittens.
There certainly was no sleeping in the barn. It was teeming with activity and Patience found Freddy with her kittens.Patience could only get near to pet them if she left Xander outside the stall they were in, so she left him whining on the other side of the door. After snuggling one to her face, she could no longer stand Xander’s whimpers so she put the kitten down and took the puppy back outside.
Immediately, Xander began running towards the stables.
“You are determined to get me into trouble, are you not?” she scolded as she took off after him. Thankfully, he did not run inside but stopped to sniff something of interest near one of the water troughs. That should be harmless enough.
She leaned against the wall while Xander circled and sniffed. Then her ears immediately perked up when she heard a familiar voice. Looking upward, there was a window open, and she smiled. In all honesty, she could say she had not been snooping this time. Moreover, she was hardly going to leave when the ripe fruit was dangling before her very eyes.
“Time is running out, Devil.” Major Stuart’s voice.
There was no apparent response. Surely, the prisoner must be reacting. If only she could see! She stretched up on her tiptoes and tried to pull herself up, but the window was just a few inches too high. She put her foot on the nearby water trough and boosted herself up. With a little grunt, she managed to get both of her forearms onto the sill and could see Major Stuart leaning over Devil, who was tied to a wooden chair. She could see the boots of someone else in the room, but no one else.
“You must know we cannot delay longer. Either the person delivering messages is going to realize you are gone, or you will not show up for your rendezvous. Surely there is more you can tell us without being too specific.”
The man shuffled a bit in the chair he was tied to. “Not all is as it appears to be.”
“Tell me something I was unaware of,” Stuart drawled.
“I don’t know the real toff, only the middleman. I don’t even know his real name, but he is an actor if I’ve ever seen one.”
Stuart looked up and caught her eyes before she could duck down again. Unfortunately, the quick movement caused her to lose her balance and her arms circled in the air and a squeal escaped her as she fell backwards, straight into the water trough.
Patience closed her eyes in exasperation, knowing what she must look like. She had to hurry away before anyone found her like this—not that she expected Stuart to run out to her rescue.
Opening her eyes, she looked up to find him standing over her with a raised brow and a knowing smirk. How did he get outside so quickly?
“Do not say a word,” she growled. As if she were not already humiliated enough, to hear scolding words right now from him might be enough for her to pull him into the trough with her.
“May I at least help you up?” He held out a hand to her.
She stared at the hand as though it were a viperous snake, and she was just tempted to take it and pull him in.
“You could never manage it.” His eyes twinkled at her as though he knew exactly what she was contemplating.
