As he had been wanting to do that very thing for years, he made no protest. Liam enclosed her in his arms. Her head fit snugly under his chin, her arms sliding around his waist, her cheek resting against his heart. Thea felt soright,so perfect in his arms, as though she had been born to fit comfortably within them. Her body melded into his, not two people but one single entity.
“I love you,” he murmured against her hair. He kissed her head. “I would die for you.”
“You had better not,” she husked. “I need you too much for you to do that.”
“Thea,” he whispered, his voice trailing off.
“Do not say it, please,” she said, her grip on his back tightening. “Do not say we can never be together. Not tonight.”
So he contented himself with just holding her, trying not to think of the bleak future ahead of him, one in which Thea married a man of her own station and left Willowdale behind. Instead, he permitted himself the luxury of the moment, where he could imagine a life with her, a destiny that included waking up beside her every morning.
However, even that fantasy came to an abrupt end. Loud voices arguing drifted across to them, the bright flares of torches set the shadows of the trees to dancing, reflecting off the black surface of the lake. Thea sighed and lifted her face from his chest.
“I expect Robert of Ampleforth has been found,” she said with a tiny snort of disgust.
“Something is wrong,” Liam stated, gazing as the two in the center of the torches pushed and shoved one another.
“That man never fails to create problems for me,” she said, her tone annoyed. “Even when he is drunk and several yards away. I cannot have a peaceful moment with you without his disrupting it.”
She gazed ruefully into Liam’s face, her lips quirked in that smile he loved so much to see. “Then I suppose we should go find out what the problem is.”
Liam gave her a three-step head start before following behind as a proper footman would do. Thea lifted her skirts to avoid stepping on them as she strode firmly toward the firelight and the circle of footmen around Lord Willowdale and the Baron of Ampleforth.
“Might I inquire as to what is going on here?” she demanded, striding into the circle.
Lord Willowdale, a huge swelling growing on his left cheek glanced at her in surprise. The Baron gaped in drunken shock as though she had caught him naked in the bath. Liam noticed the muscle in her jaw flex as a prelude to her explosion of rage as she stared at the obvious damage done to her brother.
“What did you do to him?” she screeched, her fingers curling into claws.
“I, well, he caught me at a bad moment,” the Baron stammered, taking a step back from her and her fury. “I tried to apologize.”
“He hit me, Thea,” Lord Willowdale said, running his hand over his cheek. “Yes, we are arguing about it, but I am fine.”
Thea lunged at the Baron, shrieking like a banshee. Liam stepped forward quickly to block her, even as Lord Willowdale seized her by the arm and spun her around. “Robert,” he snapped. “Go sleep it off. Now. You three, escort him.”
A chastened Lord of Ampleforth, his head down, shambled away while the three footmen, torches carried high, followed after. Thea let loose a huge gust of breath, swiping her hair from her face as Lord Willowdale released her arm. “Why did he hit you?” she demanded, folding her arms across her bosom, watching him go. “How dare he.”
Lord Willowdale rubbed his face, wincing. “He came out of a stupor and saw me leaning over him. He says he did not recognize me and lashed out.”
“The most ridiculous excuse I have ever heard, Freddie.”
“What is done is done,” he replied, steering her back toward the house. “He is still a guest and my friend.”
“Perhaps he should be chucked out of both,” she snapped, permitting him to herd her.
“Please, can we drop this?” Lord Willowdale asked, lifting his hands, palms up. “It is late, and I am certain you are weary from your journey.”
Thea nodded. “Yes. I am just angry.”
Lord Willowdale chuckled. “As it happens, so was I. To be struck out of the blue like that, well I pushed him a bit and he pushed back, both apologetic and angry. We have not behaved that way since we were younger.”
“Do you need Mr. Noonan to have a look at you?” Thea asked.
“He hit me with his fist, not a brick,” Lord Willowdale replied, irritated. “I am fine.”
Sardonic, Thea paused to curtsey low, her upper lip curling. “Forgive me, My Lord, for worrying about you.”
“Stop that, Thea. You are making me want to put you over my knee and paddle your bottom.”
