Page 42 of The Wise Daughter

Aaron was confused. Nora had asked to go riding that morning.

She had even taken the lead as if she knew the land and its paths, and what was more strange, she had chosen to ride a different mare while Locket remained in the stables.

Aaron didn’t know Locket as well as Nora did, but he could have sworn her horse looked betrayed.

“Nora, how is it that you’ve come to know this land so well?”

She glanced around, shielding her eyes from the sun. “I don’t. I’m merely trying a new path Ruthers told me about.”

“Since when have you and Ruthers become friends?”

“Since yesterday. We discovered a common foe.”

He laughed nervously. “I hope you are not referring to me.”

Ever since returning from their picnic, Nora had been distant.

How could he blame her? First Lord Bilford ruined their moment, then Lady Ellen tromped in, trying to lay claim to Aaron, but Nora had taken it all in stride.

Hadn’t she? Then why the restraint in her voice and the caution in her movements around him?

It was a distance he did not know how to close.

He tried to shake off his insecurities, but it was difficult when he thought of their kiss constantly while she appeared to have forgotten it.

“I am referring to the thieves, Aaron.”

He followed her gaze but saw nothing of particular interest. “Nora, what are you looking for?”

“I’ll tell you when we come to it. I don’t exactly know whether…”

Her voice drifted as her attention fixed on a farmer’s field only partially closed by a crumbling stone wall. Half a dozen cows were lazily grazing while a little foal trotted a ways off, looking the part of an outcast.

When the little foal gave a small cry, Nora’s horse whinnied and jumped to a trot, making straight for the little beast. Aaron worried at first that Nora had lost control of her horse, but her confident posture suggested she was letting her horse have its head.

Aaron urged his horse to catch up.

“Nora! What is all this about? You’re behaving very oddly.”

“Aaron, look.”

Nora’s horse nuzzled the little foal who would only hold still for a moment before hopping around, then returning for another nuzzle. It was certainly a sweet scene, but he didn’t understand her point.

A man came running out, waving his hands. “Stop! Stop! Idiots! What are you doing in my fields? You’re trespassing, that’s what you’re doing! You’ll upset my animals!”

Aaron straightened in his saddle. “I caution you, sir, not to speak like that or raise your voice to the lady. It is not possible for me to trespass on my own land.”

In the open light of day, Aaron obtained an excellent look at the pudgy man.

Sloped shoulders, furrowed brows casting a shadow over dark brown eyes, and an unmistakable sneer.

The only thing missing was a parcel balanced under his arm.

Aaron began to sweat just like he had when he’d chased this man from the castle.

The place on his temple where a bruise was almost healed began to throb as if it had been planted there yesterday.

And Nora was mere feet from this man.

The man's heavy brows pinched even closer as he looked Aaron over. “Are you saying you’re the duke?”

Did the man recognize Aaron? Quite possibly. Aaron had thrown a cloak over himself that night but had done nothing to hide his face.

He raced through his options. Yes, he was the duke. He could declare the man a criminal right then, but he and Nora were alone. He had no way to apprehend the man or enforce any command, and if any of those other men who had attacked him were nearby, how would he keep Nora safe?

He sat straight atop his horse and infused his voice with authority. “I am the Duke of Ravenglass, and this is my betrothed.” He gestured to Nora who, he could tell, was listening to every word though her eyes often strayed to the little foal.

The anger in the man’s brow tightened. “Forgive a poor fool like me, Your Grace, but what’s a duke and his lady doing riding through the same pasture my cows are grazing in?”

Nora turned a shrewd gaze on the man. “It is no more strange, sir, than finding a lone foal among a herd of cattle.”

Sweat trickled down Aaron’s neck. Had he imagined it, or had the man flinched?

Aaron tugged at his cravat and brushed the hair off his forehead.

So his ride with Nora had everything to do with the foal.

Her unusual behavior, her interest in riding, it had nothing to do with spending time with him.

Curse her cleverness and my stupidity! He now realized the horse she rode was the same pregnant mare he had seen the stablehands walking in the paddock when Nora had first arrived.

Only now, the mare was clearly not pregnant.

Aaron looked around just to be sure he was not mistaken. There were no other horses in sight. How had Nora discovered this?

The man grew indignant. “Even if you are the duke and future duchess, my animals don’t know the difference. You’re upsetting them and keeping me from earning my day’s wages.”

“Pardon me. Your animals, sir?” A fire kindled in Nora’s eyes, a fire Aaron desperately wished he could snuff with a warning expression, but she did not look his way and continued.

“If that is true, how do you explain how my horse knows this little foal so well? Why, as soon as the poor creature cried out, my horse could not be held back.”

The man sneered. “How should I know what a horse thinks? A poor man like me has work to do.”

“Aaron.” Her expectant look carried the weight of several pleas.

Now she turns to me. Perfect.

He willed his expression to do everything to discourage her from talking, but either she didn’t notice or didn’t heed him.

“Aaron, I believe this man stole this foal from your own stables. My mount is clearly this tiny creature’s mother.”

“How dare you!” the man yelled.

“Sir, you will control your temper and your volume before my future wife.”

As the danger of the situation grew, Aaron’s eagerness to remove Nora to a safe location blazed within.

He was angry. Why hadn’t Nora told him about this before they had ridden out that morning?

He could have prepared himself and other men.

Did she think he would need this sort of demonstration in order to be believed?

Exposing the thieves was a worthy goal, but he would not sacrifice her safety to accomplish it, not after the fire.

The man jutted out his chin. “Begging your pardon, Your Grace, but she doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”

Aaron tightened his grip on his reins. Breathing calmly was impossible. “You are right to beg my pardon for that thoughtless outburst, sir. My betrothed does not speak of things she does not know about.”

“She don’t know my business. I worked everything out with your steward. There’s no need for her to insert herself in matters she ain’t a part of.”

Aaron felt Nora’s eyes on him. “That isn’t for you to decide, Mr…”

“Gaines,” the man supplied resentfully.

“Well, Mr. Gaines, do you mean to say you have purchased the foal?” If he had worked something out with Carver, that would change the current predicament, but this was still one of the men who had attacked him.

The man hedged. “As I said, your steward, Carver, and I worked everything out.” Mr. Gaines was studying Aaron’s face now. Aaron could see the moment his eyes narrowed with a knowing look.

Time to leave.

Aaron swallowed. “Very well, Mr. Gaines.”

“Aaron!”

Leaving now would look insufficient to Nora, especially since he would appear to be choosing to believe the man’s word over hers, but the man was dangerous. Aaron had to remove her to safety. He could return later with help to apprehend the man.

“I’ll have my steward apprise me of your business, Mr. Gaines, but I will be back should anything appear amiss.”

Mr. Gaines nodded, his anger dissipating somewhat, though Aaron could still feel his eyes studying his face.

“Aaron, the foal.”

His next words were very difficult to speak. “Leave the foal where it is.”

“Aaron!”

He closed his eyes for two aching heartbeats. Whatever happened next, he hoped never to give Nora another reason to speak his name with such wretched disappointment again.

“Nora, I believe we’ve intruded on Mr. Gaines long enough.”

Mr. Gaines held the little foal by its mane.

Aaron turned his horse, waiting for Nora to follow with hers.

As she urged the mare to obey, both the foal and poor mother whinnied to one another in heartbreaking accents that pierced Aaron’s heart and made him want to shrug off the world to find his own mother.

If leading the mare away from her baby was this difficult for him, he couldn’t imagine what Nora or the mare were feeling.

He kept his gaze straight ahead and urged his horse into a quick canter once he was sure Nora had control over hers.

More than anything, he needed distance from Mr. Gaines and those mournful cries.

After several minutes, he sensed Nora falling behind.

She could have caught up, but he didn’t think she wanted to. He slowed enough to fall back with her.

“Poor thing,” she cried with a sniffle. “At least your baby looked well enough.” Aaron realized she was talking to her horse. “There was good grazing in that field and– I’m so sorry, my friend. I tried.”

Aaron didn’t dare meet her eye for nearly another mile, not until they were entirely beyond view of Mr. Gaines’s fields. Even after he thought he had cleared his head and was in control of himself, speaking was difficult.

“Nora, I know you are upset.”

“Oh Aaron. It is so much more than that. My heart is aching right now. That man is a thief. He might be one of the thieves. He might have been involved in the fire. How could you leave like that, letting him go free when you’ve promised me we’ll catch them all?

I can hardly believe you let him keep the foal.

This poor mare! Listen to her cries! How is she to bear being separated from her son like that? ”