His eyes, until then hidden beneath his hooded lids, opened wide. “What?”
Lucinda flicked out the modesty blanket and turned toward him as Caitlin explained, “You need to get out of those sodden clothes.”
He stared at the blanket, then at her. “And into what, pray tell?”
That question proved unanswerable.
He was much broader in the shoulders than the slight William, as well as being considerably taller. He grew more and more doggedly resistant to the idea of stripping out of his wet things and, eventually, stood up, shrugged off his overcoat and, spreading his arms and legs, arrayed himself before the fire. As the heat penetrated his clothes, they steamed.
“There,” he said challengingly. “I’ll be dry enough, soon enough.”
Along with Lucinda, Caitlin pressed her lips tight and forbore to point out that his breeches were of tightly woven twill and wouldn’t dry quickly, and as for his boots, they still squelched.
Accepting defeat, she thought quickly. The Pooles kept no horse, borrowing those at the Hall or going with neighbors when they needed to venture beyond the estate. She turned to Lucinda and asked if Hattie might go to the Hall and return with the Hall’s gig.
Gregory huffed and pointed out that he and she could walk the distance more rapidly than Hattie could return with the gig, and having thought of that, he insisted that walking briskly back to the Hall would, indeed, be the best solution for him. “It’ll get my blood flowing, and I’ll dry out along the way.”
Caitlin glared at him.
He smiled winningly at her. “And once we arrive, I promise to get into a hot bath as soon as you and Snibbs organize one.”
She humphed.
Lucinda suggested a compromise, to which he reluctantly agreed. He stripped off his thin and still-damp linen shirt and donned his waistcoat, coat, and overcoat, then allowed Caitlin to rewrap the knitted muffler snugly about his neck.
She didn’t meet his eyes, even when she stepped back. She was still struggling to calm her fluster on seeing his naked, exceedingly well-muscled chest. The bunch and play of muscles under his taut skin had been…mesmerizing.
Given she’d seen naked male chests often enough in the past, she was at a loss to account for the distinctly disturbing impact the sight ofhisnaked chest had had on her. Her mouth was still watering.
She took refuge in briskness and waved him toward the door. “As you insist on walking back, we should get started.”
“Indeed.” Lucinda was peering out of the window. “The light’s already fading—there might be a storm on the way.”
That’s all we need.
Lucinda turned to Gregory and Caitlin. “Once again, we’re deeply in your debt—both of you.”
William and Hattie added their fervent thanks as well.
Caitlin left it to Gregory to smile charmingly and demur, then she led the way out of the door Hattie, with a beaming smile of gratitude, held for them.
The chilly breeze that had been blowing earlier had whipped up into an icy wind. Without hesitation or thought, Caitlin took Gregory’s arm, twining hers with his, so that if he stumbled or weakened, she could steady him.
He glanced at her—she felt his sharp gaze—but after a second’s hesitation, he accepted the contact without protest.
They stepped out smartly along the lane to the Hall, and when, after the first hundred yards, he didn’t slow, she allowed herself to breathe a touch easier.
The wind was blowing from the north; there was no way she could shield him from it. She kept firmly holding his arm; that seemed all she could do to help him.
But as they started up the long rise to the top of the low hill beside the ruins, she sensed his strength waning and anxiously grumbled, “We should have taken note of the weather and driven out in the gig.”
She felt the distinctly amused glance he threw her as he murmured back, “You couldn’t have foreseen me needing to go for a dip.”
She suppressed a snort, but the comment sent her thoughts back to those moments when he’d been in the river.
Several paces on, she glanced at his face. “When you were swimming to shore, you went under at one point. Why was that?”
He grimaced. “My boot got trapped in submerged roots. For a while, I couldn’t get it out, but luckily, with the rope as leverage, I managed to pull free.”
