Chapter 15
At first, when Monte had perked up his torn ear and commenced barking madly, Hart had doubted him. Yet, as Hart drew the phaeton to a halt on the grassy verge bordering Kew Road, he recognized Melford’s clarence standing farther away, beyond an avenue of cedar trees.
Hart held the agitated Monte back by his collar. “See here, you have a mission to complete. It’s not enough just to find Emeline. Do we understand one another?” Monte stared back into his eyes and gave a low woof of agreement. “Very well then. Carry on.”
With that, the scruffy dog leaped from the phaeton and began to run, still barking, toward a row of tall cedar trees. Hart jumped lightly down, handed the horse’s reins to William, who was acting as groom, and followed Monte at a more leisurely pace.
It was a good sign, Hart knew, when the barking stopped. A moment later, he saw Emeline, sitting up on a blanket while Melford reclined nearby. Close enough to touch her, damn him. An array of delicacies surrounded them. How romantic…
Hart couldn’t take his eyes off of Emeline, who was clad in a fetching gown of rose and cream fitted alluringly to her small waistline. The barking caused her to lift her face, searching. At the first sight of Hart, her countenance was transformed from beautiful to radiant.
Unable to look away, in that moment Hart saw into her heart.
He felt at once thrilled and terrified, and again a demon taunted, Why can you not stay away from her? You are incapable of giving her what she deserves.
None of this inner turmoil was evident in Hart’s voice when he spoke. “You must forgive my dog for disturbing your peace.” He stopped a few feet away and gave Melford a faintly mocking bow. “Clearly, he sensed the presence of his rescuer, who will always be first in his heart.”
Monte heard his cue and climbed onto Emeline’s lap, heedless of her gown, and dared to lick her cheek. Hart bit back a laugh.
Tobias was on his feet. By the look of him, his customary patience had run out. “Hartcliffe! Why are you here? By Jove, I begin to suspect you of following me.”
“I’ll own it may seem that way,” Hart replied smoothly, “but in truth I came to Kew to have a look at the new glass structure being built. As we were passing the Great Pagoda, this wretched dog began to bark. Apparently, he sensed that his goddess was nearby.”
“Indeed?” Tobias lifted his eyebrows.
Hart addressed Emeline, who was trapped under Monte’s happily squirming form. “So nice to see you again, Miss St. Briac. Kindly excuse this interruption.” He pointed at Monte and ordered, “Come!”
As if they had rehearsed at length, Monte snuggled closer to Emeline. And when she gave Hart a glowing look, he could have sworn she was in on their scheme.
“Monte,” she said, “you must be a good boy and obey your master.” Gently, she pushed him off her lap.
The dog whimpered.
“Come here this instant,” Hart commanded.
Monte’s head drooped as he lifted his previously injured right paw and gave Emeline a pitiful look.
“Why, he is in pain,” she exclaimed. Looking toward the incredulous Tobias, she added, “Poor little fellow. It seems he has hurt his leg again. After all, it wasn’t long ago that he could not even walk.”
“He is just fine,” Hart uttered sternly.
“My lord, I am grateful to you for offering Monte a home,” she said, rising gracefully from the blanket and allowing the dog to half-conceal himself in her skirts, “but can you not show more compassion?”
As this exchange went on, the viscount looked back and forth, as if undecided on the best course of action.
“Compassion?” Hart gave a derisive laugh. “Next you would have me give him a seat at my dining table!” He motioned again to Monte. “Come with me, wastrel.”
The dog continued to hold his paw aloft, gazing up at Emeline, who bent to pet him. After a long moment spent gazing into Monte’s stricken eyes, she straightened and extended a pleading hand toward Melford.
“I do not think this little fellow will go with his lordship unless I accompany them,” she said.
“I know it is very ill-mannered of me to leave you here like this, but I feel I have an obligation to poor Monte. I believe he never knew kindness until the day he appeared in our garden, and his very first real attachment was to me.”
Hart felt a surge of triumph but schooled his features to remain sober. “Ordinarily, I would not agree to such a plan, but since the dog’s injury does seem to be flaring up…”
Monte moved the drama along by holding his paw up even higher and looking back and forth between Hart and Emeline.
Melford drew closer to Emeline and spoke to her in a low voice. “My dear, are you quite certain this is what you want?”
“Yes. I think I must.” Her answering smile was a bit too warm for Hart’s liking. “In any event, Tobias, you wanted to see more of the gardens, and I find I have a little headache, so it’s just as well that I go…to help with Monte.”
The viscount frowned. “Something doesn’t feel right about this business, but I must accede to the lady’s wishes.” He jabbed a forefinger at Hart, adding, “I trust you to behave as a gentleman toward Miss St. Briac!”
This proprietorial speech made Hart long to hit him, but the feeling passed as Emeline picked up her sunshade and took a step in Hart’s direction.
“Perhaps you will have to carry Monte,” she suggested. “I don’t think he can walk.”
The blasted dog seemed to nod agreement, so Hart picked him up. In spite of his short stature, he was as heavy as a sack of potatoes. Monte laid his head on Hart’s shoulder and sighed.
To his dismay, Melford took Emeline’s elbow and walked with her the distance to the phaeton, speaking to her in a low voice. From time to time, she nodded or made a reply that Hart couldn’t hear.
Reaching the open equipage with its hooded top, Hart set Monte in the small open place behind the seat and gestured to William to ready the chestnuts.
“Thank you for coming this far, Melford.” He sent the viscount a sharp look that was meant to punctuate his own victory. “Goodbye.”
With that, he handed Emeline up to the seat and William took his position in back. With a flick of the reins, the equipage started forward, turning back onto Kew Road.
“I must say, you were quite rude to Tobias,” Emeline pronounced as they gained more speed. She was sitting close to him, her skirts partially obscuring his hard thigh.
“Did you mind?”
“He has been very kind to me.”
Hart flicked up a brow. “That’s not an answer.”
The road was straight with no one else in sight. Holding the reins lightly in one hand, Hart turned his head and gazed down into her thick-lashed eyes. What he saw in their violet depths made his heart clench.
“No…I didn’t mind.” Color stained her cheeks. “I was glad that you came.”
“I assumed that must be the case because you played your part in our little drama as if you had helped to write the script,” Hart said with heavy irony.
“Of course I knew it was an act. Both of you were behaving outrageously!” She laughed, remembering Hart’s very stern demeanor toward Monte. “But is it possible that Monte actually understood how he was meant to behave in response to your severe treatment?”
“So it seems.” He cast an ironic look back to the dog’s sleeping form. “The mongrel appears to harbor a secret talent. Perhaps he will leave my protection to join an acting troupe.”
Emeline happily moved closer to Hart, feeling the warmth of his hard body. “It’s true, Monte does have a gift for theatrics.”
“And what of you?” he asked. “Weren’t you enjoying your outing with Viscount Melford?”
Emeline considered her reply. “Tobias is a truly lovely man, but I don’t care for a lot of ceremony and polite conversation.”
“Ah, I see. It was not your desire to have liveried footmen serve a picnic lunch?”
She lightly cuffed his arm. “You are teasing me.”
From the space behind their seat, Monte emitted a snoring sound, and they both laughed.
“Truly, this is what I love. Freedom!” Emeline exclaimed, happily looking around at the passing countryside, even as the outskirts of London appeared in the distance. “I prefer not knowing what might happen next.”
“So do I.”
She nodded. “Yes, I have sensed that about you. We are both rather misfits in London society, don’t you think so?”
“I have always been so,” he replied, a shadow crossing his handsome face.
Remembering their previous conversation about his disdain for a settled life or even a house of his own, Emeline dared to prod, “Is that why you will not make a home here?”
“Perhaps.” They were now leaving the countryside behind, and Hart drew in on the reins enough to slow the horses’ pace. His tone was casual as he continued, “However, you may be surprised to learn that I am considering the purchase of a house.”
Emeline sat up straighter, thrilled by this news for reasons she couldn’t quite understand. “A—house! Why, you said it as if it were a small matter. But surely, for you, that is not the case!”
They passed an open wagon with a large, black dog staring over the side. Suddenly Monte came awake and sent the other animal a menacing growl.
“Don’t be a fool,” Hart chided him. “That beast could eat you for breakfast.”
“Do tell me more about this house,” Emeline prompted. In a few minutes they would reach Chesterfield Street, and she would be forced to disembark.
He shrugged, his gaze fixed ahead on the crowded street.
“I don’t believe I have a choice. It’s quite impossible to keep this mongrel at the Pulteney any longer.
As I have already told you, there have been complaints about his barking, and William has threatened to leave my employ if he has to get out of his warm bed one more time to take Monte across to the Green Park. ”
“I see!” Was it really possible that a hardened rake like Hart was prepared to alter his entire way of life simply because of a stray dog? The notion was mind-boggling.