He shook his head. ‘I find that odd.’
‘Is it because you live alone, do you think?’
He laughed, tilting his head to the sky and breathing deeply, as he had the other night. ‘I am not lonely, if that is what you wish to know. I am content. I enjoy this life and being outdoors. I love nature. I am a fortunate man.’
A picture of his campsite formed in her head. He had so little, compared to the riches and the opulence she and her family took for granted: the huge, sprawling Cheriton Abbey in Devonshire, minor estates scattered around the country, each one of them with a house at least as big as Stourwell Court, and a full contingent of staff to keep them in readiness for family visits, plus a magnificent town house in Grosvenor Square in London. And yet he was content, and she...she...
I have done nothing but complain. Poor little me: my brother got married and I am no longer the mistress of the Abbey and all his other properties.
Zach’s attitude was humbling.
‘You are fortunate to be so content. I hope to be as settled and as happy as you in the future.’
‘True contentment comes from following your heart and in appreciating what you have, not hankering after that which you have not.’
She pondered his words. ‘That is true, but only to an extent.’
She pictured Leo’s bleak expression as she had ridden away with Zach. She knew her brother well enough to know he used his anger to mask his concern, as well as any hint of weakness, and she also knew she had upset him by following her own inclination—her heart—and returning to the Court with Zach rather than with Leo.
‘What if, by following your heart, you cause pain to someone you love?’
Zach’s mouth twitched. ‘Then you have a choice to make about which is more important to you.’
‘Mayhap that is why you are so content. You only have yourself to please.’
Pain flashed across his face and was as quickly gone.
‘What is it?’
‘My mother—she died last summer.’ He raised his hand to the diamond in his ear.
She touched his arm. ‘I am sorry. Is...is your earring a traditional Romany adornment?’ Her fascination with that glinting diamond prompted her to risk the question.
‘It was part of a wedding gift from my father to my mother. She had to sell her jewellery after he died.’ Bitterness lit his eyes. ‘But she gave me the ring and I had the stone made into this.’
Diamonds? Cecily hid her surprise that a Romany could lavish such an expensive gift upon his bride, but she felt the poignancy that Zach’s mother had been forced to part with such a treasured gift. ‘It is a lovely memento of both of them.’
They had arrived back at the stable yard and a groom emerged to take charge of the horses.
‘I shall see you later,’ said Zach after he had helped Cecily to the ground. His dark gaze roamed her face, then drifted down her body, conjuring heat wherever it lingered. Her corset grew tight, restricting her lungs. ‘I am invited to dinner. I refused the invitation last night, but I shall accept tonight.’
The news pleased her. She longed to learn more about this enigmatic man and watching him interact with the others at Stourwell Court would hopefully allow her to do so.
‘Are you going to treat Thea’s mare now?’
‘Star? Yes, I am.’
‘I should like to watch.’
He held her gaze. ‘Your brother will not approve.’
She smiled. ‘But my heart is telling me I wish to see how you help her even though my head tells me I ought to return to the house.’
* * *
And he could not argue with that, because it was how he had encouraged her to think. Zach shook his head at her, smiling, then strode into the stable, where Star was tethered in a large pen at the far end, rather than in one of the stalls. The heels of Lady Perfect’s boots rang on the cobbled floor as she followed behind.
‘Wait outside,’ he said, hoping she would not chatter and distract him while he worked.
He stripped off his jacket, rolled up his sleeves and entered the pen, where he was joined by Pritchard, the head man, and an older groom called Malky, who went to the mare’s head to hold her. Zach stripped the blanket from her back and brushed away the wisps of straw, listening to the low murmur of Malky’s voice as he kept Star calm and replied to Lady Perfect’s question about what was wrong with her.
First, Zach felt gently along either side of the mare’s spine, probing the tension of her muscles. He tried hard to keep his full attention on the mare, but found it wandering all too often to Lady Perfect who—to his surprise—now stood quietly on the spot he had indicated, doing nothing to distract him... It was his own visceral awareness of her presence to blame for that. He began to gently massage the knotted muscles either side of her spine.
A shadow fell across him and he looked around. It was the Duke, his countenance even more forbidding than before. Zach returned his attention to his task.
‘Leo!’ Cecily spoke in a hushed voice behind him. ‘Thea’s horse is lame, but they can’t find out which leg it is. Bleeding and purging have failed to help and so they have asked Mr Gray to try and help her.’
Zach watched Star’s ears closely for signs of pain. ‘There is no heat in her legs or hooves,’ he said, sparing a glance at the Duke, who stepped closer, his interest unmistakable. ‘The pain appears to be in her back—it is making her tense and she naturally restricts her stride to protect herself.’
‘Thea will be very grateful if you can help her, Absalom,’ Daniel said. ‘Star is her favourite...the horse she rode when she and Vernon set out to search for me.’
Zach listened to the murmured conversation with half an ear as he continued to massage Star. Then he took a carrot and a knife from his pocket. He cut a chunk and crouched by her foreleg, holding the carrot beneath Star’s nose, just out of her reach. As she followed the carrot, Zach lowered his hand, bringing it back between her forelegs. When he judged she had stretched sufficiently, he rewarded her with the carrot.
He straightened. ‘If it is done slowly and steadily, it will help to stretch her back,’ he said to Malky, who nodded. ‘Lead her out, then. I’d like to see her walk.’
The onlookers moved aside as Malky led Star from the pen and out of a rear door in the barn that led straight out on to the stretch of grass between the stable and the lake. Admiration glowed in Cecily’s mossy eyes as Zach passed her, sparking a flame of awareness and need deep in his gut. Then he caught the Duke’s eye and that smothered the flame more effectively than a shovelful of earth would extinguish his campfire. She was Lady Perfect. Sister of a duke. And the warning in his Grace’s silvery eyes promised dire retribution if Zach forgot his place.
He concentrated on keeping the churn of anger and resentment deep inside, letting nothing of his feelings show. There was no point in provoking such a man when his own conscience told him there was no future for him and Lady Perfect, no matter how fascinated he was by this prim and proper lady. No matter how she called to his soul.
‘That’ll do.’ After five minutes, Zach motioned to Malky to return Star to the stable. ‘Walk her in hand several times a day, just five minutes at a time to begin with. I’ll bring down some belladonna salve for her and massage her again this afternoon. And I’ll look in on her again before I go up to the house for dinner tonight.’
As he spoke, he happened to glance at the Duke, whose lips thinned at Zach’s words. His clear disapproval prompted an urge to tweak the man’s tail, despite Zach’s earlier resolve not to provoke such a powerful man needlessly.
‘I