“What the hell are you doing here?”Vincent growled.
Ignoring the frustration in Vincent’s voice, Matthew looked at him sideways.“Isn’t it a bit early in the season to go wading in the sea?”
Vincent sat on a nearby boulder to put on his stockings and boots.“I thought you went for a ride with Xavier.”He looked up and down the beach but didn’t see his brother.
“We had a lovely ride across the estate together, thank you,” Matthew said with a touch of sarcasm.“Then we rode to the church to visit with Mr.Middlebrook.I thought if anyone would know, the vicar would be able to tell me where the Ebringtons live, so I could meet with Mildred’s father.”He took off his hat and scrubbed his fingers through his hair.“But he’s never heard of Mr.Ebrington.Or Mildred, other than at Gert’s dinner party the other night.In a town as small as Sidmouth, how could the vicar not know who they are?”He stared out over the waves.“It’s like they don’t even live here.”
Vincent had his suspicions but decided not to voice them yet.
“Xavier decided to stay and ride with Mr.Middlebrook to visit a family that recently had a baby.Something about getting practical experience with the duties he’ll have soon as a curate.Seems he is truly serious about serving in the church, not just fulfilling an expected role for a younger son.”Matthew jammed his hat back on his head.“When I returned to the stable, the groom said you headed toward the beach on foot.So here I am.”
Breeches unrolled and buttoned, stockings and boots back on, Vincent began walking.Only the bottom three inches or so of fabric were damp.Perhaps Lawrence wouldn’t have too hard a time getting the saltwater stains out.At least they were wool, not silk.
Matthew led his horse as he walked beside him.“I suppose I’ll just have to wait to hear back from my solicitor.I wrote him right after I realized who Mildred was.I’d like to have the banns read and set a date for our wedding as soon as possible.”
It’s as if they don’t even live here.If Miss Ebrington’s escapade in the storm with Miss Walden and in the secret passageway was anything to go by, Vincent realized, she did not live here in Sidmouth as a permanent resident.Why had she been out in the storm?“You suppose she knows she was engaged to your cousin?”
“It would seem logical for her parents to share a detail like that with her,” Matthew drawled.
“Do you think she knows that your cousin is dead, andyouare now Lord Wingfield?”
Matthew froze in mid-step.Slowly he put his foot down and stared at Vincent, mouth agape.“Oh my stars and garters,” he said after a lengthy pause.“She thinks I’m just Mr.Huntley.”
“What if she heard about your cousin’s reputation as Wicked Wingfield?”
Matthew clutched his chest.“A sweet girl with a spirit like Mildred could not possibly want to marry a beast like him.”
“What do you think she would do to avoid marrying him?To what lengths would she go?”Things were starting to make sense now.“Do you think she might run away from her family?”
Vincent stared up at Hobart Grange visible above the bluff, including the window to the room Miss Walden occupied, facts finally falling into place for him in a blessedly logical order.“Do you think she might seek out a friend, a former teacher, for help to find a way out of an arranged marriage to such an odious man?”
Matthew smacked his forehead.“Of course!She must have come to Miss Burrell seeking help.”
“To Miss Bu— Yes, you must be right.”It hadn’t been Miss Burrell he’d seen last night in the rainstorm.
Matthew nodded his head vigorously.“All I have to do, then, is get Miss Burrell alone for a private conversation, and we can straighten out this whole misunderstanding.”
“And Miss Ebrington.Don’t forget, you’re going to have to confess to your beloved who you are and that you have known who she is since you first met.”He stared directly at Matthew.“And did not bother to tell her.”
Matthew winced.“Er, yes.There is that.”He brightened.“But I believe she loves me, so she will forgive me.Before too long.”He gestured back at the path up the bluff.“You didn’t answer my question.Was that Miss Walden I saw scurrying away when you were naked from the knees down?How did that come about?”
Vincent rolled his eyes but related the tale of their inspection of the cave and how he had carried her out when the tide came in.
“Riding on your shoulders?Which means she had her legs—”
“Donotfinish that sentence,” Vincent bit out.
Matthew laughed.
* * *
Sophia set another completed page on the corner of the desk for the ink to dry and started on the next page, transcribing her shorthand of Mrs.Digby’s memoir into elegant script, when Wallace strolled into the library.He had a sketchbook clutched under one arm, a small easel held in his hand, and a pencil tucked above his ear.Even though his hair was short and brown, not long and black like Fairfax’s, the similar gesture reminded her of earlier that day when she’d helped Fairfax with his musical composition.Warmth spread through her at the memory of the kiss that followed.
“Aunt Agnes has banished me from her studio for the day,” Wallace said with a theatrical sigh, and a dramatic sweep of his arm that revealed a swipe of green paint across his knuckles and a smudge of blue on his chin.What she first thought to be another smear of paint on his right cheek, upon closer inspection, appeared to be a faint bruise.“Do you mind if I sketch in here?I’ve been dying to draw your braids.”
Without moving her head, Sophia looked at him from the corner of her eyes.
“That sounded odd,” Wallace quickly said.“I meant that I struggle with getting the details of a woman’s hair correct, and I’d like to practice with you as my model.If you don’t object.”
