Chapter 16
Thaddeus could not focus on the hunt. Now and then, he heard Crowley’s voice among the other men, and it reminded him of how annoyed he was that the man was here. He had not seen him since the night of the ball, and every time he saw his face, he remembered how scared Isolde had looked that night.
He tightened his fist and spurred his horse to move away from the main hunting party, putting distance between himself and the object of his anger.
Why would he even accept Cassian’s invitation? I know he loathes me as much I loathe him.
Cassian had followed him away from the group, and so now he turned his ire on his friend.
“Why would you invite Lord Crowley here?” he hissed.
Cassian glanced at him, then shrugged.
“I mentioned the hunting party, and he said it sounded fun, and I invited him before I thought the better of it. It would have been rude to uninvite him, just as you know it would have been rude to turn him away this morning. I know you’re not on the friendliest terms, but I didn’t think you hated him this much. ”
Thaddeus gave his friend a sharp look, suspicious of his casual tone. He pulled his horse to a stop and fixed Cassian with a serious stare.
“You know his involvement in the bet with Isolde. He’s the reason I’m in this mess. Be honest with me, Cassian. What are you up to?”
Cassian’s eyes widened innocently, and Thaddeus could swear he’d seen the same look on Vivienne’s face.
“Honestly, Harrow, I don’t have any sort of grand scheme.
I saw the man, invited him without thinking, end of story.
I meant what I said earlier – the more, the merrier.
” Then he laughed, and it seemed genuine.
“Actually, that is my grand scheme. To have fun! You should try it more often, my friend. And anyway,” he raised an eyebrow, “does Crowley’s relation to Isolde really matter to you? ”
“What do you mean?” Thaddeus asked, bristling.
“Simply that nothing about Isolde really seems to matter to you. You’ve spent hardly any time with her this weekend. You’ve spent more time with Vivienne.”
Thaddeus tensed in the saddle, annoyed that Cassian had found a way to bring them back around to this topic of conversation.
“Once again,” he said, gritting his teeth, “absolutely nothing happened between me and your cousin last night. And I feel that you know this, so I wish you would stop incessantly needling me about it.”
“Oh, I know nothing inappropriate happened last night,” Cassian said, rolling his eyes like he thought Thaddeus had missed an opportunity.
“All I’m doing is pointing out that you seem to find yourself drawn to Viviene more than you are to the woman you are supposedly marrying.
And we both know the truth of how your engagement came to be.
I don’t understand why you’re carrying on this charade when you could have the woman who obviously holds your attention more. ”
“You know nothing about my attention or who holds it,” Thaddeus snapped. And you’d know that if you’d listened to me last night, instead of falling asleep, he added silently to himself.
Irritation thrumming through his body, he turned his horse back toward the main hunting party. At this point, Cassian was annoying him nearly as much as Crowley, so he decided he might as well get some actual hunting done.
He regretted this choice almost immediately, however. The group had stopped to gather pheasants they’d shot, and Crowley had everyone in a circle, listening to him. The longer he went on, the angrier Thaddeus became.
“I was rather put out, of course, when our dear host swept in and stole the Fairchild woman from me. After all, I had more or less claimed her. Her father had offered her hand. So I can’t deny I was upset with how things went down.”
Thaddeus slipped off his horse and marched closer to Crowley as the tension in his body ratcheted up another notch.
“But now I see fate was on my side all along. Because now what do I have before me, but a chance – nearly a done deal, I would say – to have the hand of Miss Fairchild’s sister.
More beautiful than her sister – and younger, too.
” Crowley winked at this, and Thaddeus’s stomach turned.
“Yes,” Crowley continued, “Miss Cornelia Fairchild is as good as mine, and you can bet I’ll keep her on a much shorter leash than Hartington does her sister.
None of this wandering around giving attention to every man but me, I’ll see to that. ”
For the second time in as many weeks, Thaddeus found himself rushing toward Crowley filled with an anger he could barely contain. He grabbed the man and shook him, which was kinder than he wanted to be.
“I’ll not have you speak of my fiancé or her sister like that again. They will not be disrespected on my land or under my roof. Do you understand?”
Crowley stared at him, no doubt shocked that Thaddeus would treat him this way when there were others around. Thaddeus didn’t care what anyone thought, though – if he had his way, the word ‘Fairchild’ would never cross Crowley’s lips again.
There were murmurs from the other men, and Crowley smirked a little, knowing he had their sympathies. He reached up and pushed Thaddeus’s hands but found them immovable.
“Now, Lord Hartington, surely we need not come to uncivilized blows from such a trivial matter?” he asked, voice smooth. “After all, it’s just a bit of gentlemen’s talk.”
Thaddeus glanced around, realizing in the eyes of all the men here, it was he that was being disrespectful, not Crowley. The anger was still hot in his gut, but likely anything he did next would only make things worse for Isolde, not to mention his own reputation.
He dropped his hands, and Crowley dusted off some pretend specks of dirt. Without a word, Thaddeus turned and marched back to his horse, swinging up onto it and riding away to start the hunt again.
***
By the time Cassian caught up to him, Thaddeus was well into the woods.
“Harrow,” Cassian said, riding up alongside him, “what has gotten into you?”
“Leave me be,” he said without looking at his friend.
“Careful, I think I’m your only friend right now,” Cassian said.
Thaddeus didn’t reply. His stomach grumbled with hunger, and he thought with relief that it was nearly lunchtime. He couldn’t deny it to himself anymore – whenever he thought of seeing Isolde, it instantly brightened his mood.
It really was time for them to speak about their relationship. If for nothing else, than to bring some clarity to his own actions. If she rejected him, then at least he would know where he stood, and he could get back to helping her make another match, making sure the man was worthy of her.
“You can’t just refuse to speak to me,” Cassian whined. He hated to be ignored.
“I can, actually,” Thaddeus said, feeling better now that he’d decided to speak to Isolde, but still irritated with his friend. “This is my estate, so I can refuse anything I like. In fact –”
“Harrow!” Cassian shouted suddenly, grabbing Thaddeus’s reins. “Watch out!”
He turned his head to try to see what Cassian was warning him about, but when Cassian grabbed the reins, the horse pulled up abruptly and reared back.
One minute, he was searching for the cause of his friend’s alarm, and the next, he was slipping backward, scrambling to hold onto his horse, but failing.
He twisted mid-air and saw the ground hurtling up toward him, and the last thing he registered before everything went dark was a sharp pain on the side of his head.