Page 23 of A Sense of Paradise
‘Do I really?’ She grinned down at him from her perch on Amethyst’s back. ‘If that was supposed to be a compliment, then I thank you for it. As always, I aim to please.’
‘I will send Pawson to collect you tomorrow.’
‘There’s no need. The weather is lovely so I can save him the trouble by riding over, even if that deprives the locals of something to gossip about when your carriage is not seen at my cottage. Again.’
He laughed. ‘Have it your way.’
Louis had drawn the curricle alongside Amethyst, who now shifted about beneath Flora’s weight, anxious to be off.
‘A beautiful horse, mademoiselle,’ Louis remarked.
‘Isn’t he,’ Flora replied, sending Archie a playful smile. ‘I am madly in love with him and he knows it. One never has to question the unconditional love bestowed upon one by a faithful animal.’
Archie grunted, sent her a provocative look that implied she would be made to pay for teasing him later and raised a hand as horse and curricle moved off in tandem. If he was jealous of her feelings for her horse, Flora wondered if singing the praises of another gentleman would make him forget his own principled stand and whip her off to his bedchamber to enforce his claims upon her affections. The only problem was, with Luke now married, there was no one else she could pretend to form an attachment to. Botheration! Affairs of the heart were more complicated than she had realised.
‘You are really very kind to open up your home to me,’ Eloise said, looking up at Flora and obliging her to give the Frenchwoman her attention. ‘Especially given that we are unacquainted.’
‘You are a friend of Archie’s and you showed him kindness when he most needed it. That is all that signifies.’
It was Flora’s turn to wave to the occupants of the curricle when they left Archie’s gatehouse behind them, having been saluted by the porter on duty. She turned Amethyst onto a narrow path that cut across a field and which would reduce her journey by at least a mile.
‘Until Saturday,’ she said, raising her riding crop.
‘Thank you, Miss Latimer,’ Eloise said, and Flora was conscious of the Frenchwoman’s gaze burning into her back as she cantered away.
Feeling relieved to have shared her problems with Archie, she arrived home with the distinct feeling that Archie hadn’t returned the favour by sharing everything he suspected about Avery with her. She sighed, realising that he was probably being over-protective, as usual. No matter. She would have all of the following day in which to make him reveal the nature of his thoughts, and with a little forward planning and a lot of daring, she might succeed in tempting him into indiscretion.
In the meantime, she confronted the unpalatable fact that her father was clearly attempting to destroy Archie’s reputation. Be that as it may, he had made a basic error by writing to warn her of the fact. Forearmed, Flora had no intention of permitting him to succeed. Archie had been stripped of his physical prowess, admittedly through his own stupidity, and felt disadvantaged as a consequence. She refused to allow her vindictive father to strip him of his stature as a gentleman too, wishing now that the synod had publicly disowned her papa. But, of course, the church was more concerned about its own reputation than dishing out just punishments to disloyal clergy.
Flora knew how important Archie’s stature as a gentleman of honour was to him, as it had been to his father before him. None of Archie’s youthful antics had particularly disturbed the old marquess, but even the suggestion of a stain against his character had been an anathema to him.
‘Are you all right, Flora?’ Melanie looked anxious when Flora walked into her sitting room, pulling off her gloves. ‘You have been gone for an age and I was getting worried.’
‘No need to be.’
Flora sat down and gratefully accepted the tea that Beatrice brought in for them. The conversation at Felsham Hall had been too intense to allow for any thought of refreshments, and cantering in the warm afternoon sunshine had given Flora a thirst.
‘A gentleman called whilst you were gone. I did not receive him.’
Flora looked up sharply. ‘A gentleman? What gentleman? I was not expecting anyone.’
‘He left a card and said he would call again later in the day.’
Flora took the card that Melanie handed to her, highly suspicious. ‘Detective Chief Inspector Rochester of Scotland Yard.’ She tapped the card against her fingers. ‘I have heard Archie mention his name. I believe they are acquaintances. But what on earth could he possibly want with me?’
‘Have you been breaking the law?’ Melanie asked with a mischievous smile.
‘Not to my knowledge.’ Flora swallowed her tea and stood. ‘And even if I have, I doubt whether my transgressions are sufficiently serious to bring a senior detective all the way here from Scotland Yard. Anyway, I had best wash and change if I am to entertain him. I am hot and unfit to be seen.’
Melanie giggled. ‘He cannot arrest you for being untidy.’
Flora rolled her eyes. ‘Just as well.’
Flora spent a while over her ablutions, thinking that the detective’s visit had to be connected to her father’s misdeeds. But why he had been drawn into the investigation and what help he thought she could provide was less obvious. By the time she had changed into a practical day gown and tidied her hair, the sound of the door knocker alerted her to the fact that her visitor had returned.
Upon descending the stairs, she discovered her mistake. She had not one visitor but two, and Polly had just admitted them, informing the suave gentleman who crossed the threshold first that she would see if her mistress was at home.
‘I am indeed home, as you can see, gentlemen,’ she said, smiling as she joined the party in the small entrance hall, that now seemed overcrowded. ‘I am Miss Latimer and you, I assume, are Lord Riley. You are a long way from Scotland Yard if that is the case. How may I be of help to you?’
