* * *
Having slept a while, Thea declined to eat in the dining room and sent a message to Freddie that she did not feel well and would eat in her chambers. Despite knowing she only delayed the inevitable, her arm pained her enough that sitting in her chair by the window, the sun playing across her lap, made her feel far better than word fencing with the Baron. Thus, late in the day with the sun setting, she changed into formal supper attire with reluctance, and, dreading what lay ahead, Thea went down the stairs.
To her surprise, the Baron was nowhere in evidence as she was bowed into the dining room. Freddie sat in his usual place, a tumbler of whiskey in his hand and his perplexed gaze on her. He shrugged at her lifted brow.
“He made his apologies and departed soon after luncheon,” Freddie said as Liam pulled her chair out for her.
“That is incredibly odd, even for his strange behavior,” she observed as Mr. O’Bannon signaled the footmen to begin serving the meal.
“I know,” Freddie admitted. “He hardly spoke to me at all, seemed withdrawn, as though he were ill.”
“Perhaps he poisoned himself on his own charm and good looks,” Thea said, her tone caustic.
“Thea.”
“Sorry.”
Liam poured her wine into her glass, his expression stonily neutral, as ever, not meeting her eyes. Thea observed Freddie watching him with speculation, and a tremor wriggled through her.He cannot know about our talks by the lake, our love for one another. Surely he is thinking about trapping the killer in the walls.Freddie said nothing, however, and Liam stood back against the wall as Thea and Freddie started to eat their soup.
“I have been thinking,” Freddie commented, dipping his spoon into his bowl for another mouthful of soup. “I am beginning to understand your need to go to the lake for introspection.”
“Oh?” Thea replied, eating the beef soup with enthusiasm. “Thinking about taking it up yourself?”
“Not the lake, exactly,” he replied. “Not only would I not intrude upon your privacy there, but water gives off a stench I do not care for.”
“It is hardly a stench,” she said. “It is an odor.”
“My stench, your odor. No, I think I will begin taking time in the garden. I prefer the scent of the flowers, and I can soak up some sunlight and perhaps read a book. It will be my time to be alone without the pressures of ruling this estate.”
Thea nodded. “I find spending time alone quite relaxing, and I enjoy the opportunity to simply be.”
Freddie raised a brow. “Simply be?”
“Of course. To just look at the lake in the night and be – me, I suppose is the best way to put it.”
He chuckled. “Well, I will stare at a flower and see if I can become myself, as well. Though how I can be anyone except myself is confusing.”
“Once you just let yourself relax and permit your mind to wander, you will see what I mean.”
“We shall see. But I will take an hour each afternoon, and give orders I am not to be disturbed.”
“We have both been under a great deal of stress lately,” Thea told him, nodding. “I believe going to the garden will help you. I am glad you have not curtailed my excursions to the lake at night.”
“Just as long as you do not go anywhere else, Thea,” he said, his tone stern. “It is close enough to the house that if help is needed it can be there quickly.”
“Just the lake,” Thea answered. “I promise.”
The owl hooted from the same tree as Thea walked down the path. Once again the clouds covered the heavens and the stars in them. She was thinking of the bait Freddie had just set, if indeed their resident villain had remained within the walls in order to try, yet again, to kill her brother. “And me,” she muttered. She did not feel afraid exactly, but she glanced around cautiously, wondering if the assassin who tried to kill them both watched her from the darkness even now.
Liam followed, his presence reassuring her that no cowardly murderer could ever harm her while he stood near.Unless he shoots Liam dead first. Uneasily, she recalled the sight of John’s dead body on the ground, thankful once more she never saw his face. “But that could happen to you,” she said as Liam stopped in the grove of trees with her.
“What could?”
“I was just reminding myself how safe I am with you,” she answered honestly, striding slowly to the edge of the water, the tiny waves sweeping the gravel shore. “Unless he kills you first to get at me.”
“That is a risk I am willing to take.”
It was Liam who took her hand this time, not the other way around. “Did Lord Willowdale set himself up as bait this evening?”
