A Curious Courting (19 page)

“Then I should like to stay around just to see how you accomplish it,” he returned. “I can picture you managing for yourself, but what about the dog?”

“You are straining our new agreement already,” Selina said with a flush. “Trust me. I can manage.”

The corners of his mouth twitched with amusement, but he bowed formally and swung onto his horse. “As you wish, of course. May I look in on you before I leave?”

“To see if I have made it home?” Her chin lifted stubbornly.

“No, I long to see what poor Scamp will look like after her haircut.”

“Do just as you please, Mr. Rushton.”

It sounded very like he said, “I wouldn’t dare,” but Selina could not be sure, as their horses were moving off, and the thuds of hooves and the jingling of the harness obscured his softly spoken words. Without acknowledging their waves, she stooped to pet the dog. “He is the most infuriating man, Scamp! Hold still now and I will try not to pull too much. And he laughs at me all the time. How would he like it if I laughed at him that way? Oh, I’d like to box his ears. Scamp, you must be patient. This will not take long. If he
really
wanted to be my friend, he would not be so provoking. Lie still, Scamp! How could you let him cozzen you with a few soft words?” Although the last was directed to the shaggy mutt, Selina thought ruefully that it applied to herself as well. “He is only charming when he wishes to be, and that is not nearly often enough. Well, we shan’t worry about him, shall we? There, that will do until I get you home.”

Scamp shook herself thankfully, unaware of her decidedly unattractive appearance. Tufts of hair were missing in a random pattern all over her body, and Selina shook her head doubtfully. “McDonough will not approve of you, you know. I’ll have to cut it all back to a decent length.” Faced now with the problem of mounting her horse, Selina groaned. “Not for the world would I admit that he was right, so you had best cooperate with me, Scamp. I will not arrive at the stables carrying you and leading Starlight.”

The chestnut mare patiently allowed her mistress to lead her to a stump, and she did not move, other than a wild flickering of her ears, during the whole procedure which followed. First, Selina attempted to place Scamp on the saddle, but the frightened dog would not stay there, possibly could not stay there, but slid off to the ground. After trying this several times, Scamp became annoyed with her precipitate journeys and glared at Selina menacingly. “You could not have glowered in that manner at Mr. Rushton, could you?” she asked with asperity. “Oh, no, you had to fawn all over him. Very well, we’ll try something else.”

Her second maneuver was no more successful than her first
.
Although she managed to get herself on the sidesaddle, Scamp would not jump onto the stump so that Selina could reach her. No amount of cajolery had any effect. Selina was beginning to lose her temper.

Driven by the desire to prove she had not overestimated her resourcefulness, Selina once again returned to the ground and picked up the dog, tucking the ball of fluff under her arm.
“You
are not going to like this, Scamp, but if you bite me I promise I shall allow you to wander about the house just as scraggly as you are!” After two unsuccessful attempts to seat herself on the horse, she lost her temper and threw a stone with all her might against a hapless tree. The third time she was triumphant. Scamp did not in fact bite her, merely clawed her in a frantic effort to get away. Selina surveyed the ugly red welt on her wrist and decided, “It is better than proving Mr. Rushton right.”

For the first time it occurred to her that she would have done better to mount her horse on the road side of the fence, and she almost cried with frustration when she thought of the fences she would have to jump with Scamp in her arms. Only one, really, she considered, if she jumped into the road instead of going across country. Surely she could manage one jump with the dog. “It’s like flying,” she assured Scamp as she set Starlight at the fence.

Whether or not Scamp agreed that it was like flying was immaterial. She had never been on a horse before, of course, and did not like the experience at all. Selina had her hands full simply keeping the dog from scrambling out of her lap. When they touched ground in the road, Starlight continued her lengthy stride for the two-mile run home, while Selina occupied herself with calming the dog. The Shalbrook gates were open, but not the fence to the stable area. Tried beyond endurance, Selina could only think that she daren’t get down to open the fence because of the dog; it never occurred to her that they were quite close enough that the dog could walk the rest of the way home, even in her tattered condition. So Selina put her heels to her mare and they jumped the fence, to the astonishment of the stable-hands, and the incredulous admiration of Mr. Rushton, who had moved to a window on hearing the hoofbeats approaching.

“My God, what a seat!” he exclaimed to Henry.

“Glorious, ain’t it?” the young man replied proudly. “How I should have liked to see Selina hunt. A pity she has given it up.”

“More than a pity, a crime. And with the damn dog in her arms, no less!”

“Poor Scamp. She ain’t at all fond of horses at the best of times,” Henry admitted.

“It doesn’t seem to have done her any harm,” Rushton commented laconically as he watched the frisking Scamp follow her mistress from the stable-yard. Selina’s color was high, her hair blown unkempt by the ride and her eyes bright from the merciless wind. Rushton had never seen her look more enchanting. It is perhaps fortunate that Selina did not see him at the window, for in her present state of mind she would very likely have stuck her tongue out at him.

Selina took the dog to be bathed and her scratches attended to, then dried her in the library before the fire, after which she sat down and patiently attempted to even out the shaggy coat. Standing back to view her handiwork, hands on hips, she said, “You are undoubtedly the scruffiest thing I’ve ever seen. No more hunting for you, little one.”

“She wasn’t any good        at it, anyhow,” Henry announced cheerfully as he stuck his head around the door. “May we come in?”

“Just once I would like to be dressed properly when you bring me your guests,” Selina complained in a voice that would have moved a stone to pity.

“She’s being dramatic again,” Henry explained to Rushton as the latter followed him into the room. “I’ve told her she is missing her chance for a fine career on the stage, but she pays me no mind.”

“And why should I?” she asked, picking the dog’s hairs from her dress. “A mere lad of sixteen who wouldn’t know Shakespeare from Sheridan? And would probably find the latter more to his taste.”

“Dr. Davenport has had me read half a dozen of Shakespeare’s plays, and you know it,” Henry retorted.

Selina sniffed. “Read them! Ha! That makes you an authority on the theater, I take it. Ask Mr. Rushton. Though he, too, is probably more familiar with Sheridan than Shakespeare. Not that I object to Sheridan. Far from it. I can laugh at the absurdities of life as well as the next,” she proclaimed, eying Mr. Rushton balefully.

“So I perceive,” he said evenly, though his shoulders shook suspiciously.

Pursuing her
grande dame
attitude, Selina waved them to seats, declaring imperiously, “I shall ring for tea.”

“Not on my account, I beg you,” Rushton protested. “I came only to see how Scamp has fared.”

“I shall ring for tea!” Selina repeated, in a slightly louder voice.

“Well, for God’s sake, do it, then,” Henry advised her, saying aside to Rushton, “When she’s in one of these moods, there’s no gainsaying her.”

“Do they come over her often?” he asked curiously.

“I think mostly when she’s had a trying day. She often becomes exceedingly dramatic just after one of your visits,” Henry said thoughtfully.

“I see. Usually she waits until I’ve left?”

“Yes, but perhaps today was especially trying for her.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

Pointedly ignoring their dialogue, Selina swept over to the bellpull where she gave a violent tug. Returning with equal grace, she seated herself opposite Mr. Rushton and asked politely, “Have you had an enjoyable afternoon at your pugilistic activities?”

“Yes, the instruction went very well.”

With a sweet smile, she turned next to Henry. “And you, my dear cousin, did you find boxing as much to your taste as you expected?”

“Dammit, Selina, we’re not at a tea party. It was famous! I hadn’t the least trouble with my limp. That’s to say, only once or twice, and I shall easily overcome that.”

His cousin nodded wisely. “There is nothing so rewarding as acquiring new skills. I note that you have survived this first session with no sign of damage to your person, Henry, and I congratulate you.” She turned again to Rushton. “Now then, sir, I wonder if you think this fine weather will hold.”

“My lack of knowledge of the spring climate in Leicestershire unfortunately prevents me from predicting with any certainty, Miss Easterly-Cummings, but it would certainly be a delightful prospect.”

Henry said disgustedly, “If you
both
intend to carry on this way, I shan’t stay for tea.”

“What is that, dear? No tea?” Selina gasped. “You must keep up your strength, dear Henry. Think of the exertion you have just undergone! Think of how long it is until we dine! Think of the horror Lord Leyburn would experience should such a piece of information come to his ears! Think…”

Abruptly, Henry rose to his feet. “Stop it, Selina. You are embarrassing me.” And then he stomped from the room.

The two who remained did not speak, or even look at one another. Rushton brushed an invisible speck of lint from his jacket. Selina gazed dumbfounded at the closed door for a moment, and then burst into tears.

“An especially trying day,” Rushton murmured as he rose and went to Selina’s side, thrusting a handkerchief into her hand. “Don’t be upset on my account. I promise you I was thoroughly enjoying your performance.” He waved away the footman who entered bearing the tea tray.

Too many times in the last few weeks Selina had repressed her tears. Too many emotionally charged events had overset her and yet gone unrewarded by the soothing balm of releasing those salty wet wonders. This time she made no effort to do so. It did not matter that Mr. Rushton was in the room with her; it would not have mattered if the whole village of Barton had been there. She cried until her body shook and Rushton pressed her head against his leg where he stood beside her, gently stroking her hair. She cried for a very long time, and when no more tears flowed she drew in gasping, hiccoughing breaths of air.

Scamp had awakened from the nap she was taking by the fire and came to thrust her muzzle between Selina’s feet, looking sadly up at her mistress as though she sympathized, but Selina did not notice her. Once the storm had abated, Selina had become excruciatingly aware of Rushton’s hand on her hair, and her head against his leg. There were tearstains on his buckskin breeches in spite of her use of his handkerchief. She could not force herself to sit back or get up; either way she would have to face him, and that she could not do.

As she had grown calmer, Rushton realized by the awkward angle of her head that she was no longer unaware of his presence. Placing both hands on her shoulders, he gently pushed her back on her chair and moved to stand behind it, his hands returning to her shoulders. “I had forgotten how difficult boys can be, Miss Easterly-Cummings. You have my sympathy. And yet I can remember that agonizing stage where my parents embarrassed me by almost everything they did when we were in company. I had my own ideas of how one should act. Everyone should act as I did! Boys outgrow it, and learn to accommodate a wide variety of acceptable behavior.” He laughed. “You probably don’t believe that even today I accept a wide variety of behavior, but I assure you I do. There is no one socially acceptable way to act. We would be a sorry society if there were. As I said before, I was thoroughly enjoying your acting. Stay here, and I will have your maid sent to you.”

Unable to speak, Selina bowed her head and listened to his footsteps recede across
the room and finally proceed down the hall.

Chapter Fifteen

McDonough, on hearing the footsteps in the hall, hurried down the passage on the other side of the stairs to intercept Mr. Rushton. “Will you be leaving, sir?”

“Not yet. Would you have Miss Easterly-Cummings’ maid sent to her in the library?”

It seemed to McDonough that his mistress had recently had a great deal more need for her maid than she had in many years, but he merely said, “Certainly, sir.”

“Do you know where Forrester is?”

“I believe he went up to his room.”

“Have him sent for. I wish to see him in the study— immediately.”

In spite of the fact that Rushton had not the least say at Shalbrook, which no one knew better than McDonough, the butler indicated no hesitancy. “Very good, sir.”

“Thank you.” With a nod, Rushton turned and strolled off to the study, the quiet murmur of voices behind reassuring him that his instructions were being carried out.

Quaking inwardly, Henry presented himself at the study door within five minutes. He had lived at Shalbrook for five years, and was not in the habit of knocking on doors, perhaps unfortunately, but he did not care to enter before doing so this time. He entered at Rushton’s summons and attempted not to show his nervousness, but his cravat felt suddenly far too tight and he was forced to ease it by tugging it away from his throat. “You sent for me, sir?”

No answer was forthcoming. Rushton merely raked him with his eyes until Henry flushed with embarrassment and something akin to despair. “I…I…”

Henry wished desperately that Rushton would suggest that he seat himself, but no such relief was offered. “Did I upset Selina?”

“Naturally.”

“Well, she was upsetting me,” Henry managed with a touch of bravado.

“You don’t say. She was not upsetting
me.”

“How can you say that?” Henry blurted. There she was, acting as though she were on the stage at Drury Lane! In our library!”