pointed the small gun at him. “I’m perfectly safe.”
He cursed. It was colorful. I’d never heard such a fluid and creative
description of both people and animals put together. Grandfather would have been
impressed. He probably would have slapped John on the back?and maybe even timed
him to see how long he could go without repeating any curses.
“Goodness, can you do that again?”
“Yes, but first I’m going to strangle you. Don’t try to weasel out of this, Andy.
No trying to distract me. You do it very well, but not this time, not now. What
the hell are you doing out here alone? Dammit, you don’t even have that famous
watchdog George with you.”
“He would protect me with his life if he had the sense to realize that my life
was in danger. Oh, dear, I hope no one is out searching for me. Tell me you didn’t
announce my temporary defection and raise an alarm?”
“No, no, I told Brantley not to worry. I told him I would keep an eye on you. I
believe Uncle Lawrence, Miss Gillbank, your stepdaughter, and Miss Crislock are
being entertained by Lord Waverleigh or ‘Hobson dear,’ as Lady Waverleigh calls
him. She adds even more alarming details while he relates ghostly manifestations
he has experienced. As for Thomas, he is lying down upstairs, Amelia lightly
stroking her fingers over his brow. At least that’s what he told me they were
going to do. I don’t think I believe him. Amelia’s cheeks were flushed, and her
eyes were very bright. I do believe they were?no, forget I said that. Are you
not cold?”
I shook my head, then said, “Did you unstrap the derringer from my leg?”
“Yes, certainly, when I carried you upstairs. I didn’t want anyone to know about
it. I had a moment when Belinda was pulling back your bedcovers, moaning and
clucking over you, dashing about your room for whatever reasons I don’t know. I
put it back under your pillow.”
“Yes, I found it. Thank you. That doesn’t sound at all like Belinda. She is a
very independent girl, she told me when I first arrived. She has her own ideas
about things. She is strong.”
“All that’s possible, but she acted like a mother chicken whose chick came too
close to the kitchen ax. She calmed after we got the laudanum down your gullet.
Why did you come out here alone?”
I wished he would just let it go, but knew well enough that he wouldn’t. I said,
“You are just like my grandfather. He never let anything go until he was
satisfied. He would just continue to push and prod until I spilled my innards to
him. If it turned out then to be something he really didn’t want to know about,
he would just stare at me, shake his head, and go for the brandy bottle.
“Oh, all right. Perhaps the fall did scramble my brains. I just wanted to come
here and think, to try to figure out who is doing this and why.”
“And what have you decided? Have you managed to deduce our villain and his
motive, since you have had all this time alone with no interruptions until I had
the gall to come along?”
“Your sarcasm is too blunt. You have no subtlety.” I sighed again. “I’m sorry,
you’re right to want to yell your splendid curses in my face.” I gently shoved
my derringer back into my cloak pocket. I gave him a crooked smile. “But you
know, John, with this, I can even protect you.”
I thought he would explode, but he managed to hold himself in check. My
grandfather usually hadn’t had that great an amount of self-control.
I said, “Thank you for not shouting at me anymore. My head still aches and
throbs a bit. Now, I haven’t decided anything, truth be told. I cannot seem to
find anything to latch onto so that I could think of something to decide.”
“It bothers me that I understand exactly what you said.”
I smiled, impossible not to.
He walked away from me, down to the edge of the stream. He bent down and picked