Chapter Twenty-Nine
BROOKE MADE SURE NOT to run into Dominic for the rest of that day by simply staying in her room, even taking her meals there. From the sound of so much traffic coming and going from his room, she guessed he wasn’t going to follow her advice to stay off his wounded leg for a few hours a day. She would have thought he’d at least pamper his leg today after so much activity last night and this morning, but obviously not. She even heard him in the corridor later telling Gabriel he was going out to the stable to check on some of his prized horses.
Her run of the house had been brief. And as much as she might be tempted to avoid Dominic and his nasty tactics, she knew she couldn’t or they’d never resolve their issues. Well, she had no issues other than his campaign to drive her away. Would that end once they married? Or was his meanness ingrained? Still, she wasn’t about to follow him around Rothdale like a lovesick puppy. She needed viable reasons to seek him out and spend time with him now that she no longer had an excuse to enter his room. Why the deuce did he have to heal so quickly?
Alfreda joined her in her room for an early lunch, bringing enough food for them both. “Does he love you yet after you spent the night with him?” the maid asked even before she set the tray down on the little table.
Brooke sat down on the love seat, admitting, “He did kiss me several times, but he had an incredible excuse for doing so.”
“Oh?”
Brooke snorted. “He heard our horses breeding during the night. It apparently stirred his own lust.”
“And you didn’t take advantage of that?”
“I tried to,” Brooke mumbled, then growled, “He stopped, claiming I’d never leave Rothdale if he made love to me.”
Alfreda laughed, earning a glare from Brooke across the table. Having coughed her humor away, the maid pointed out, “That was a whopper and you should have recognized it as one.”
“Then what was his real reason? I was willing, he even guessed I was.”
“Perhaps your wolf is more chivalrous than he lets on and simply didn’t want your initiation into the delights of the marital bed to be lacking a bed. And since he’s still hoping you’ll go home, he wouldn’t admit to that, now would he?”
“Maybe.” Brooke remembered her own thought last night that it had been chivalrous of him to try to block the wind from her.
“So now that he’s healed enough to ride through a storm and back for you, which was a magnificently heroic—”
“Do not ascribe to him motives he didn’t have. It was self-interest and nothing else that impelled him to find me.”
Alfreda tsked as if she didn’t agree. “In either case, you need to figure out new ways to spend time with him. Your plan could be working and he just won’t own up to it yet. I saw him go out to the stable. Perhaps join him there after you eat? Does he even know how much you love horses?”
“He knows I want to breed them. But that’s a good idea and—” Brooke paused when she heard Dominic in the hall calling to Wolf, heralding his return to the house. “Just as well. I would probably have ended up scolding him today for not resting his leg. I’ll join him at the stable tomorrow if he goes there again.”
“Or ride with him if he starts to exercise that brute he rides. He might even suggest that, not trusting you not to get lost again.”
Brooke snorted. “He already said I must take a footman with me from now on.”
“So tell him it’s more appropriate for him to escort you since he’s your fiancé. Be assertive, him or no one.”
Brooke chuckled. “Do you know what it’s like to be insistent with him? It’s like barking at the wind. Both are pointless.”
“You’re starting to make me lose hope, poppet. I know this mountain between the two of you seems insurmountable, especially now that we know he blames your brother not just for his sister’s death, but also for the death of her child. I wish you didn’t find that out when you read the girl’s diary.”
“Me, too,” Brooke said a bit dismally.
When Alfreda had caught her reading the diary, Brooke had mentioned the part she’d seen at the end of it. Alfreda had offered again that day to make Brooke a love potion to at least get past the animosity and straight to the nicer parts of a marriage. Brooke had declined again. She wanted Dominic to really love her, not just to think he did.
“You should have listened to me the other day,” Alfreda said, bringing that up. “This situation is more extreme than we first thought, and that calls for extreme measures. I’m making you that potion.”
“But it’s not his lust that I want.”
“Love, lust, they go hand in hand.” The maid stood up and headed for the door. “At least you’ll have it on hand in case a situation arises when you think it will be useful.”
Because of her harrowing ordeal the previous day, Brooke gave in to her tiredness and went to bed while it was still dusk outside. It was dark when the loud howl woke her. She lit her bedside lamp and looked at her pocket watch. It was half past ten. She grabbed her robe and went quickly to Dominic’s room to make sure he was in it, but she was hesitant to knock on his door. What excuse would she have if he was in there? But if he wasn’t and was out howling on the moors instead? Of course he wasn’t. She shook off that ridiculous middle-of-the-night thought. It was just a silly rumor, but she wanted to disprove it once and for all, and not just for her own satisfaction, but so she could support him in debunking it.
She knocked softly and waited. The door opened only a crack. It was Andrew and he said immediately, “He’s gone for a walk, m’lady.”
Wonderful, just what she didn’t want to hear, support for that silly rumor. “Did you hear that mournful howl?”
“Dogs from the village out wandering this way.”
Was it? Or were the servants used to making excuses for their lord’s eccentric habits? “Where does his lordship usually walk?”
“To the village. He frequents a pub when he can’t sleep.”
She thanked Andrew and went back to her room, but not right back to bed. A pub, eh? Maybe he had a favorite serving girl there? She was miffed that he was turning to other women instead of her, first his former mistress, now a tavern girl? Wide-awake now, she dressed and left the house, deciding to see for herself.
On this beautiful summer night the wide path to the village was bathed in moonlight. It didn’t take her long to get there and spot the one building that was lit up and noisy. She headed straight for it, but stopped at one of the windows to peer inside. She spotted Dominic immediately, taller than anyone else in the room. Gabriel and a half dozen other men surrounded him.
He was dressed casually and didn’t even look like a lord tonight. Nor was he acting like one. She was seeing a new side to the wolf and was fascinated, watching him laugh and drink with the commoners, and good grief, was he the one singing? She was impressed that the local men seemed to like him and feel comfortable with him. When Dominic suddenly let out a howl, the other men did as well, and soon they were all laughing about it.
Brooke grinned. No, indeed, that rumor about his being part wolf obviously didn’t bother him at all anymore—if it ever did. That thought made her wonder how many of the other things he’d told her about himself were true and how many he’d made up to chase her away.
At least he wasn’t there cavorting with women. She turned away from the window to walk back to Rothdale, but gasped when she bumped into someone.
“Steady, lass,” the man said. “If you’ve got a chap in there who’s stayed longer than he ought to, come tell him.”
Before she could protest, she was pulled into the tavern. She would have bolted right back out if Dominic hadn’t seen her immediately. Her eyes locked to his across the room, she didn’t move. Then a perky red-cheeked serving girl thrust a drink in her hand and smiled. Brooke felt bad about having had such angry thoughts about the women who worked at the tavern.
“So who is he?” asked the man who had led her inside.
When she glanced at the grinning villager who looked as if he was hoping to see one of the men get yelled at, she probably disappointed him by saying, “I’m Dominic’s fiancée.”
The last thing she expected was for him to laugh and shout that information to the room. Hoots and hollers filled the room, and men started patting Dominic on the back.
“We heard that gossip,” one of the men admitted. “Now we know it’s true!”
Another man, who was having trouble taking his eyes off Brooke, told Dominic, “You’re a lucky man, m’lord.”
Dominic actually smiled, though he replied, “That remains to be seen.”
That got quite a few laughs, probably because everyone in the tavern had guessed that she was checking up on him. And how was she going to explain this to him? She took a big sip of the local beer when he started toward her. Then the toasts started, and hearing so many people wishing her and Dominic health and happiness, she couldn’t stop smiling.
That might have been why he didn’t rush her out of the tavern. After a few more sips of beer, which she’d never tasted before, she stopped worrying that he might be annoyed that she’d come to the tavern.
But he did finally take the half-empty glass from her hand. “Time to go.”
She nodded and preceded him out the door and stumbled on the step.
Suddenly, his arm was about her waist. “Do I need to carry you home?”
She looked up at him. “D’you want to? No, of course you don’t. Which way is the path to Rothdale?”
He laughed. “Not accustomed to drink, are you?”
“No, well, wine, but rarely. But I’m fine. I just wasn’t looking down and forgot there was a step.”
“Sure.”
His tone sounded teasing rather than skeptical. She should stop hearing what she wanted to hear and remember that he had no reason to be nice to her—yet.
When they reached the path, he let go of her waist. She was disappointed. She liked the way she felt when his arm was around her—so secure, as if she belonged to someone. She wondered if he’d made the protective gesture because his tenants might have been watching them leave the village. Glancing at him, she realized that the man she’d seen in the tavern wasn’t the one she knew. No jacket, no cravat of any sort, dressed no differently from the other village men. And they didn’t treat him like their landlord; they appeared to like him! She wanted to learn more about the real Dominic Wolfe.
“What was it like growing up at Rothdale?”
He glanced down at her, seeming surprised by her question. “Wonderful, idyllic, peaceful—at least while my family was here with me.”
She shouldn’t say another word. Did everything have to lead back to his sister’s death? But that little bit of beer she’d drunk had made her bold. “When did you know you wanted to breed horses?”
“The day I set loose my father’s herd.”
She grinned. “You didn’t.”
“Indeed I did. It was a dare, but I still wanted to see what would happen other than my getting punished for it. Gabe helped me pull down a long strip of fence at the back of the pasture, so there would be a mass exodus, and there was. We couldn’t stop laughing as we watched Arnold’s father, who’d been head groom at the time, trying to chase down the horses on foot. Well worth the week I had to spend confined to my room. I was only nine at the time.”
“So your father raised horses, too?”
“And my grandfather before him. I wasn’t sure I wanted to follow in their footsteps until I pulled that prank. It might have been funny when I did it, but I soon regretted it and worried they wouldn’t all be caught, in particular my father’s prize stallion, who I wanted a get from for my own mount.”
“And did you get one?”
“Of course. Royal’s sire.”
“I’m glad.” She smiled, enjoying the genial conversation with Dominic as they walked through the starry night. “Those people in the tavern weren’t nervous around you. They remind me of the servants at our house in Leicestershire. They’re the people I had the most fun with while I was growing up.”
“Your parents allowed you to consort with them?”
“They didn’t know.” She giggled. “Those servants were my real family.”
They’d reached the house. He opened the front door for her, but didn’t follow her in. She turned. “You’re not coming to bed?”
“You might want to rephrase that.”
She didn’t know what he meant. Then she did and started blushing. “I wasn’t suggesting—”
“No, heaven forbid you do that. But I’m not nearly drunk enough yet to find my bed. D’you think it’s easy, sleeping in the room next to yours?”
She drew in her breath sharply, but he didn’t hear it; he’d already closed the door to head back to the tavern.