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S hay arrived later in the morning, and Thea guessed he had waited for the rain to abate before coming down to the cottage.

“Here you are, my lady,” he handed over a thick book, simply titled Reptilians .

“Thank you,” she said with more excitement than such a book warranted, but she did enjoy learning new things.

“I can’t wait to find out what you plan to do with your new knowledge about crocodiles,” Lord Flemming said with a raised brow. If he expected her to tell him, he was sadly mistaken.

“It is something for Frannie, actually,” Thea said with a secret smile. She hadn’t decided yet if she would name the villain after her brother, but she did feel like she owed Frannie that much. “You will have to wait and see.”

She handed over the stack of pages he had yet to read and watched as he settled on the small settee. Surely it couldn’t be comfortable for him. She imagined a bed would be better suited for someone of his size. Then she imagined the marquess lying in her bed upstairs and was shocked by how her heart fluttered at such a vision.

Whyever would she think of him—or any man for that matter—in such a way? She had long given up on such fantasies. She was not destined to marry. She didn’t want a husband. Someone who would order her about and take control over her affairs.

Besides, even if she had reconsidered the possibility, Lord Flemming was not a likely candidate as he had literally fled London to avoid any risk he might end up shackled to a prized debutante. If he had no need for some lovely young lady, with a dowry, he’d surely not be interested in an…aged oddity. Isn’t that what her brother had called her?

She pressed harder, breaking the tip of her quill. She pulled her pen knife over the nub, cutting it to a sharp point once again.

“Are you well, Miss Thea? You look angry,” Lord Flemming said.

“No. I’m fine. It’s just this quill that is giving me grief.”

He sat up. “Should I go fetch you a new one?” he offered, kindly. She wanted to think he wished to take care of her needs, but she knew he only cared so much as it hindered her finishing the book he wanted to read. And she didn’t need anyone to take care of her. She was well-suited to see to her own needs.

“No, thank you. I have plenty.” There let him see how much she didn’t need him. She gave a satisfied nod as he took his seat again, though why she was being so irritable, she didn’t know.

Shaking her head and the unwelcome thoughts from her mind, she focused on the story at hand. The words began churning away.

Shay asked a few questions, mostly speculations regarding the crocodiles, which she deftly avoided answering. Then he fell quiet for far longer than was normal. When she realized she’d gone more than an hour without interruption, she looked up to see Lord Flemming had laid out across the settee and fallen asleep.

This couldn’t speak well of her book if it put the man into a slumber. She was about to rouse him to ask what page he was on so she might add in some bit of excitement at that point of the story when she stopped to look at him closer.

He was quite large. She’d thought so many times since he’d towered over her, but the way the settee failed to support his entire frame made it all the more evident now. His head rested on the arm but his legs hung over the opposite end by a little more than a foot.

And his feet were large as well. Which was a silly thought. Of course, his feet would need to be large enough to keep him from falling over. Everyone knew a tall building needed a wider base.

His shoulders didn’t fit across the settee either. His arm hung out past the edge, which was probably why he had his arm bent over his flat middle. The sun was coming through the window, touching his dark hair. It didn’t lighten up the strands in the slightest. Stephen’s hair appeared dark until the sun hit it. Then it flared with blond and even auburn strands. But Lord Flemming’s hair was only black. The deep black of her inkwell.

His hands were large. She didn’t know why she continued to be surprised by how big each of his body parts were. He was a large man. If he had anything normal sized it would seem odd. There was no reason for her to continue cataloging everything separately. Still she continued noting his features as she came closer.

My, but she’d been staring at him for some time. Eventually, she nudged his arm with her hand. He started awake as if ready for battle, causing Thea to jump back and trip over the low table next to the settee.

She went over landing on her back and head with an “oof.”

“Miss Thea!” he shouted and jumped up to come to her aid. “I’m sorry. I should have warned ye never to wake me. I’m uncivilized about it. Are you well? Should I call for a doctor?”

He helped her to sitting and she rubbed the back of her head where a lump was already forming.

“No. I think I’ll be all right. Just a bump.” She winced and pulled her hand away, glad to see there was no blood. What she wasn’t expecting was for Lord Flemming to put his hands in her hair. With the gentlest of touches he removed the pins. She felt the weight disperse from the top of her head to her shoulders and down her back.

When she looked over at him she saw his blue eyes had turned darker. No. They only looked that way for the pupils had enlarged to take up most of the blue. He must surely be in a fright for such a reaction.

“Thank you, that does help some,” she said.

Lord Flemming seemed to be frozen with his hand in her hair.

“Thank you,” she repeated, louder this time. She managed to shake him out of the trance he’d fallen into.

“Of course,” he said and pulled his hand free of her hair.

“Why did you fall asleep?” she asked, while rubbing her head again.

“What?” he asked.

“You were reading my book, but then you fell asleep which means it must be boring.”

His eyes went wide.

“Nay. It wasn’t boring. I just don’t always sleep well so I generally fall asleep at some point throughout the day. Please don’t think my dozing off proves anything about your writing.”

She nodded, reluctantly. “I suffer the same ailment. Even more so, recently.”

“You’re worried you will be found here,” he guessed correctly.

“I dream that Flint arrives and captures me. He’s a large, hideous beast and I can’t escape him.”

Lord Flemming chuckled. “Flint is about as tall as you and is a frail old man. I’d reckon you would be able to fell him with your boxing skills.”

“You’ve met Flint?” she said in some surprise. She thought the man to run gaming hells in the stews where proper gentleman didn’t visit.

“Aye. He runs a number of gaming hells I have been known to attend.”

“Oh. I see.” He was gambler. Just like her brother. Which meant she would not be able to count on his help if she were to need him.

He’d offered to help her find a home, but that seemed unwise. It was better she fended for herself than to depend on a stranger. As soon as she had the money from her book, she would reach out to Mr. MacLain and have him come to Scotland to help her buy her new home and she would leave this place and Lord Flemming.

She was wrong to have thought to trust the man, or any man for that matter. She would need to do better at protecting herself. For, after all, she was the only person she could depend on.

*

Shay had done something wrong. It was the only explanation for Thea’s sudden distance. When before they’d been sharing tales of their lack of sleep, she’d shut him down and gone back to her writing.

That was after she’d whipped her hair up into a tidy braid that hung over her left shoulder. That hair had nearly ended him. Not only was it soft and the color of gold, but it smelled of oranges and jasmine.

He shook himself again to focus on the problem at hand. Thea seemed to have gone quiet as soon as he’d admitted to knowing Flint.

He’d interrupted her more than was kind over the last few days, but she’d not seemed bothered until now. Now her hand was moving so quickly across the paper he worried he wouldn’t be able to read her penmanship when it came time for him to get to that chapter.

“You know I would never tell anyone where you are?” he mentioned. If she needed reassurances about his loyalty, or his concern for her safety, he would be happy to oblige.

“So you’ve said.”

She did not sound reassured. In fact she sounded…angry, if her biting tone was any evidence. Rather than continue to guess at what could have caused the change in her demeanor, he just asked. He didn’t spare a lot of patience for guessing what another person was thinking or feeling.

“What is wrong?” He preferred to get right to the matter. The sooner he could fix what he’d done in error.

“Nothing at all.”

“Thea,” he said her name like a plea. She stopped writing but didn’t raise her head. He thought getting her to pause was a feat in itself.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to be alone. Perhaps you could finish your nap at the castle.”

He let out a breath. Clearly she was dismissing him. He decided to give her the space she requested rather than back the kitten into the corner where he would surely feel the wrath of her claws.

“Very well. I will see you tomorrow.”

The tight smile she offered him proved what a poor liar she was. She would have lost her arse at one of his tables.

He was nearly back to the castle when he realized what had riled his guest. Of course, she wouldn’t think highly of anyone who spent their time at the gaming tables. Not after having her life turned upside down because of a person who couldn’t manage to stop.

Thea likely thought all gamblers the same. She wouldn’t have spent any time in a gaming hell to know the difference between a man who played for sport and one that played because he couldn’t walk away.

Shay had seen every sort of player over the years. It all came down to how much money a man still had when they left. A casual player lost only what they planned to lose that night. Some evenings they went home that much poorer while other times they returned with more than they’d started with.

Others treated it like their very business. They played heavy but smart, and they were content to walk away when the tables weren’t turned in their favor rather than lose more than they could manage.

And then there were the men like Stephen Rockledge who weren’t able to stop. Not even when they ran out of coin.

To Thea, gamblers all looked like her brother. She’d taken his comment and tidily cast him in with the lot of Lord Percival without another thought. Lord only knew what she would think of him if she knew everything.

With a disgruntled sigh he went to the library and pulled out The Case of the Duke’s Racehorse . But this time as he read, he pictured Thea riding the circuit in the dark to get the feel of the track so she might describe it correctly.

He fell asleep in the library, as was common when he was in residence. Also common was that the nightmares began as they always did. Familiar with them as he was after all these years, he knew well enough he was dreaming. It didn’t stop him from feeling the fear he always felt when he walked into that stable. He felt the flask of water fall from his chilled hands. In his dreams it was difficult for him to run, when in real life it had been a quick thing to get to the other boy’s side.

Shay tried to wake him, but he didn’t stir, his skin had already gone cold in the winter air. But unlike all the other times he’d dreamed of that day, something did change. For this time the boy opened his eyes, looked straight into Shay’s soul, and spoke.

“You’re a liar,” he said.

Shay woke, gasping for air with a racing heart.

In an effort to force the fear away, he scrambled for something else to think about and grasped onto what he’d been thinking about before he’d fallen asleep.

Thea had judged him because he’d admitted to attending gaming hells.

While he was in no danger of giving up his soul to the cards and dice, he understood why she was wary of such activities. She would not allow herself to become close to another man who may need her to cover his debts.

And if hearing he attended games at Flint’s tables worried her, surely finding out Shay owned such an establishment himself would not win her over to trusting him again.

For now, he would need to keep it a secret.

He realized as he devised his plan that this extra heaping of secrets might account for why his dream had changed. For he did his best not to lie, save for the biggest one he had ever told, but now he would need to lie to Thea.

For some reason he couldn’t explain, that didn’t sit well with him.

Not at all.