Page 29

I sighed, tilting my head back to look at the water-stained ceiling of the inn.

“Before I left, he accused me of returning to Garretty with news of more blackmail,” I said.

“Or, rather, I put those words in his mouth. I told him I was sure that he was angry with me for leaving only because he thought of the detriment to his reputation that could come from my confidence in Garretty, and I could see that I had hurt him so badly with my words, but I didn’t try to fix it. I just fled.”

“You and Arthur are far more alike than I think you know,” Rudolph said.

“All I’ll say to you on the subject further is that you need to talk to him when you return, because the thought of having you dance around one another like this during the damned autumn ball is terribly annoying.

” Before he could speak further, a brief knock came at the door of our room and Rudolph got to his feet, answering it to find the wife of the inn’s owner.

“Dinner is ready, if you gentlemen are prepared,” she said, smiling. “It’ll be downstairs when you’d like it.”

The evening that followed was more pleasant than I had anticipated.

Dinner was surprisingly good, if a little rich, and I found that now that Rudolph and I had cleared the air with one another we had quite a bit in common.

A solid friendship was at the very beginning stages now that the initial attraction had been dealt with, and he proved himself a witty conversationalist and well-versed on a variety of topics.

After dinner, we retired back to our room, chatted for a while longer, and when time came to sleep, I was well-satisfied with both food and conversation.

My relationship with Rudolph now on substantially better footing, the night passed without incident, the morning spent with a good breakfast while the horses were prepared.

By nine, we were underway again, and I spent the better part of the journey absorbed in my work while Rudolph alternated between naps and reading a novel that he was keen to tell me the plot of.

On the whole, I reached Ashford Hall with a sense of belonging that had not existed the last time I’d made the journey.

As soon as we’d crossed the threshold into the estate lands, I became aware of the sound of another set of hoofbeats alongside the carriage.

I leaned forward in my seat and pulled back the curtain that hid the window on the door, having pulled it across to give Rudolph a darker environment for his sleep, and was greeted by the sight of Charles on the other side, keeping easy pace with our carriage on his own mare.

Startled, I let out a small cry of surprise and Rudolph opened his eyes, sitting up in his seat. “What’s wrong?”

“Charles,” I said, unlatching the window and pushing it open, the warmth of the late summer air entering the carriage as I did. “What are you doing?”

“I came to greet you!” he called back, and I could tell by his grin that he was pleased with himself for having managed to catch us so quickly into the Ashford forest. “Rudy said before he left when he thought he’d be back, and I decided I would wait for you.

You have no idea what sort of melancholy we’ve all been in since you left, Tom! ”

“Melancholy?” I echoed, laughing. “I hardly think it was as serious as you make it sound.”

“Quite the opposite! Take the misery you’re imagining and multiply by ten—no, a hundred!”

“He’s exaggerating,” Rudolph said from where he had returned to leaning against his seat, stifling a yawn.

“We missed you, of course, but none of us were lying about in terrible sorrow because you weren’t there.

Besides, we had quite the nice visit from some of Ida’s friends. That was a good distraction.”

“Just because there were beautiful women to distract me from Tom’s absence does not mean I didn’t spend every day in abject despair,” Charles said, keeping his leisurely pace alongside the carriage, Harry having slowed down to make sure Charles’s horse was not at a full-out trot.

“You were quite spot-on about your timing, Rudy.”

“Harry’s an excellent footman,” Rudolph called back. “Always quite prompt. Are you going to follow us the entire way to the manor?”

“I was planning on it,” Charles said. “Am I disturbing you?”

“Always,” Rudolph said. “I was sleeping before you appeared.”

Charles rolled his eyes before looking at me. “Did you get your invitation?” he asked. “For the ball. It’s quite soon.”

“I did get it. Will I not be let in if I don’t have it with me?”

“Hm, I don’t actually know,” Charles said thoughtfully. “By the way, I took the liberty of ordering you a suit for the ball using one of the outfits you left behind for measurements.”

My eyes went wide, and I leaned towards him, touched in a way that surprised me.

When Charles and I had first become friends, he had made an overly grand display of buying me a new sweater, the price of which left me frankly stunned, and it had very nearly put an end to our budding relationship.

Over the years, he had learned to keep his shows of affection to the more modestly priced, but I was touched by the fact that he had undoubtedly noticed that I had nothing nice enough for a ball.

“You ordered me an entire suit, Charles?” I asked, unable to hide my surprise and delight at the news.

“I was going to do that as soon as I’d determined what the theme was. ”

“Oh, I told Arthur not to tell you so I could ensure that I was able to order it instead,” Charles said, sounding pleased with himself.

“It should be delivered next week. I hope you’re not offended, but I had noticed that you didn’t have anything appropriate and thought I would do you a favor since you’ve been working on the poaching case for Arthur. ”

“I appreciate it,” I said, struck again by how things that would have been impossible for me to accept at the beginning of the summer were now effectively run of the mill experiences.

I was ingratiating myself into a class that I had very little experience with, and in doing so I was setting myself up, unintentionally, for the greatest fall I would take in my life.

As we approached the estate, I reminded myself of what Rudolph had advised—to try and make things up to Arthur—and I hoped that he would be as thrilled by my reappearance as Charles clearly was.

We pulled up to the front steps and, unsurprisingly, Ida was waiting to meet us.

She hurried down the steps and caught Rudolph in a hug almost as soon as he’d stepped out of the carriage, squeezing him briefly before turning to me.

She hugged me as well, her slim arms squishing me around the middle, and when she pulled back, she was beaming at me.

“Has Charles been regaling you with his misery on your ride in, Thomas?”

“He has indeed,” I said, rolling my eyes. “According to him, he’s been confined to his chambers weeping since I was away. He looks remarkably hale, however.”

“Strange how that happened,” Ida said, laughing as she let go of my waist and looked towards the manor.

“Arthur has been cooped up in his library preparing for the ball, but he told me to let you know to come and say hello once you’d arrived.

To be perfectly honest, I think he’s pleased that you’ve returned. ”

So, Arthur had manufactured a reason for me to meet him one-on-one, without any of the others around to disrupt our reunion.

I knew that this was either a way for us to fight or make up, and I was determined to have it be the latter, determined not to allow my foolishness to get in the way of the rest of my summer and the beginning of my autumn.

I would not give up on this, would make things right if it killed me, and did not want to waste another moment without letting Arthur know that I had not betrayed his trust nor did I think him suspicious of me.

“Thank you, Ida,” I said, smiling at her.

“If you see Felix, can you let him know I’m happy to be back?

I have to clear something up with Arthur straight away. ”

With that, I hurried up the front steps and into the estate, unaware—at least consciously—that the entire course of my life was about to change.