Page 31 of The Lord’s Reluctant Lady (Sisters of Ember Hall #2)

“Tristan is all I have ever wanted.” She felt weak as a kitten as the sustaining anger slowly drained away from her. “But things between us are impossible.” Her hands wrung together. “It would be better if I returned straight away to Ember Hall. Can we do that, Jonah? Please?”

She was asking a lot, but Mirrie rarely asked anything of anyone. Surely just one of the de Neville siblings could prioritise her interests this one time?

“Whatever you want.” Jonah took her hands, but a frown clouded his brow. “But are you sure you’re doing the right thing? I am no expert in love, but I understand that compromise is important. We cannot always have what we want.”

Mirrie nodded, shakily. “I know what I’m doing,” she assured him. “’Tis a funny thing, Jonah, but on this point, I believe Tristan has been right all along. No one should marry for less than love.”

*

Tristan walked away from the old bakehouse without any clear idea of where he was going. It had been a foolish idea, he ruminated angrily. He should have known better than to put his trust in Jonah.

He kicked at a fallen branch, taking satisfaction in seeing it skitter into the long grass.

Jonah had gone out of his way to lead Mirrie to a declaration of feeling for the physician. ’Twas as if he had wanted Tristan to be listening outside, for the whole purpose of humiliating him.

His quest was accomplished. For Tristan had ne’er been more humiliated.

Nor angry. Nor seized with such a fierce desire to break something.

He walked until he reached the lake. Then he followed the winding path all the way around the perimeter, paying no attention to the birdsong or the rippling reflections.

He was in no mood for the glories of nature.

On his way back to the keep, he found Jonah sitting on a low stone wall, apparently waiting for him.

“You left too soon,” his younger brother announced, without preamble.

Tristan folded his arms and regarded him. They had never been close. But nor had he ever before considered Jonah his enemy.

“What did I miss?” He kept his tone neutral.

Jonah was twisting a blade of grass in his long, slender fingers. “She said she loved you.”

Tristan’s eyebrows shot up. “She said those exact words?”

His brother squirmed on the stone wall. “Mayhap not those exact words.” He frowned in concentration. “She said you were all she has ever wanted. And that she would not marry for less than love.”

Tristan let out a low laugh. “I agree on that score.”

“I tell you, if you had not dashed away, you would have heard her declare her feelings for you.” Jonah shaded his eyes from the sun and looked up at him. “Do I need to say more to convince you?”

“Nay.” Tristan widened his stance. “But I am not convinced.”

Jonah sighed. “Well, ’tis your loss, brother. Mirrie wants to return to Ember Hall, right away.”

Sorrow clutched at his heart, but anger tossed its claws away. “With you at her side, to offer comfort?”

“There is no cause for jealousy between us,” Jonah said, equably. “Yes. I will return alongside her. I would not allow her to make the journey alone.”

“What about your physician?”

“David?” Jonah pursed his lips. “I cannot answer for him. Mayhap the man will not want to share a carriage with a woman who so recently spurned his advances.”

Tristan raised a hand to stop him. “Mirrie spurned his advances?”

Jonah shrugged. “I cannot say. All I know is what I already told you. Mirrie has said she is not willing to marry for less than love. And for some reason, brother, she persists in loving you and no other.”

His words fell like summer raindrops on Tristan’s shoulders. They were irritating but easy to ignore. Jonah knew nothing; could tell him nothing. He had far better return to Ember Hall and stop meddling in Tristan’s life.

He nodded with a show of formality to his brother. “I wish you a pleasant journey.”

Jonah cocked an eyebrow. “Is that a dismissal?”

Tristan would not be goaded. “You are welcome to treat it as such.” He turned with deliberate slowness to face the lake.

“Very well.” There was a pause, filled with scuffling noises indicating that Jonah was heaving himself upright. “I would say that it was nice seeing you, Tris, but that would be a lie. Try not to upset anyone else.”

By the time Tristan had framed a suitable response, Jonah was already walking away. Walking with as much speed as he could manage, Tristan noticed. A wry smile curved his lips. Was his younger brother worried that he would chase him down and deliver a punch for his troubles?

It’s a little bit tempting.

Instead, he picked up a different path to the paddocks and walked slowly, being in no particular rush to arrive anywhere. He had learned little from Jonah. The snippets his brother had claimed as fact, Tristan was not willing to believe.

He had already been made a fool of once. Twice.

He shook his head. If Mirrie wanted to marry the physician, the reliable and steady man, then she was welcome to him.

There was naught he could do to stop her, after all.

He crested a hill and for the first time, knew a sinking feeling when the granite battlements of the keep came into view. Those solid walls had always been a place of sanctuary. Of happiness.

Mayhap things would go back to normal when Mirrie returned to Ember Hall?

But the prospect brought him no lurch of anticipation.

Tristan’s temper had soured further by the time he reached the castle gardens. He was in no mood at all to encounter Mirrie’s physician lurking by the rose bushes.

The man straightened up when he saw Tristan, dipping into a bow and having the grace to look discomfited.

“I was just admiring the rose bushes, my lord.”

“Indeed.” Tristan squared his shoulders. “And are you an expert at horticulture, Mr Bryce?”

“Nay, not at all. Only insofar as knowing what herbs and plants can be put to use in my professional field.”

“Ah, yes.” Tristan began walking back to the keep. To his immense irritation, David Bryce kept pace with him. “Your professional field. You are a physician, are you not?”

“I am, my lord.”

“And do you enjoy your work?”

“Very much.”

Tristan halted. The beginnings of an idea were taking shape in Tristan’s mind. “Yet you live close by Ember Hall. Is there much call for a physician so far north?”

David Bryce tightened his lips regretfully. “Alas, not so much.”

“We have great need for a new physician here at Wolvesley.” Tristan kept his voice light. “But I assume you have obligations to keep you further north. Family, perchance?”

“No family, my lord.” The man simpered. “’Twould be an honour indeed to work at Wolvesley.”

Tristan smiled. What he was about to do was wrong, mayhap. But cross as he was with her, he still had a role to play as Mirrie’s protector.

If this man had intentions towards Mirrie, Tristan would do well to test the strength of them.

“’Tis a demanding role.” He pretended to pause to think. “We would need to see if you would suit.”

“Of course.” The physician nodded eagerly.

“The salary, of course, reflects the post.” He named the sum, which he knew would exceed the man’s current earnings.

David Bryce’s eyes opened even wider.

Tristan began walking again. They had all but reached the steps of the keep. He glanced at the fountain and the memory of what he had witnessed there last night caused him such a surge of rage that he almost dunked Mr Bryce headfirst into the pool.

Instead he swivelled around, pretending to enjoy the view. “Would that be amenable to you?” he asked, calmly.

“Very much, my lord.”

Tristan wanted to get away from this man, but his test was not yet complete. He put his hands behind his back and forced himself to walk steadily up the stone steps.

“And would an immediate start be possible?”

“I am at your disposal.” The physician smiled again. Evidently the prospect of so much coin had put him in an excellent humour.

“Are you sure?” He frowned in a pretence at concern. “I know that Miss Mirabel and Lord Jonah plan to return to Ember Hall later today. Do you not wish to accompany them? To gather your belongings, or say your goodbyes?” He lingered long over the last suggestion.

But Mr Bryce appeared still caught up in contemplation of the promised coin. “There is naught to return for,” he announced. “If it pleases your lordship, I will begin straight away.”

“It pleases me.” Tristan waved to the passing Seneschal. “This man will see you settled in.” He raised his eyebrows and the Seneschal bowed his acquiescence. “Please excuse me, gentlemen, I have business to attend to.”

Tristan had never walked away from anyone with such speed.

As much as Mr Bryce’s avarice left him cold, he calculated Mirrie’s foolishness as the greater crime. The woman had accepted advances from a man who weighed her against coin and found her lacking.

As far as Tristan could see, he had provided her with a lucky escape.

Later that morn, when Jonah and Mirrie departed in the carriage, he did not join the rest of his family in waving them off.

He told himself that he hardly even noticed them leave.