Chapter 18 The Candidate #2
“Both Battie and her are about people they’re seeing. They tend not to introduce us to the ones who aren’t candidates.”
Yikes.
Candidates?
“Though,” she carried on, “Battie isn’t as strict about it. However, he will share before we meet someone,” she took off his deep purr, “‘she’s not the one.’”
That made me laugh out loud.
“He hasn’t taken us aside to tell us you’re not the one,” she went on.
I quit laughing as a happy shiver drifted over me.
“I don’t think either of us would have gone there if we weren’t…if this wasn’t…” I faltered.
“I get it,” she said and lifted the plate of bacon. “Should I put this in the oven too?”
“Yes, and grab a mitt. I want to add these pancakes to the others. Then one more round and we’re done.”
We did that, and while the pancakes were cooking, she turned fully to me.
“She likes you, loads and loads, so I think maybe you can tell her, you know, that Prue and I…we’re…” She rolled her head on her neck. “She doesn’t need to baby us anymore. She can have a life.”
Oh yes.
Either she’d done some reflecting, or she just knew what her sister was up to.
“She’s known me two weeks, honey,” I said gently. “Don’t you think it’d be better coming from you?”
“I’ve already said it to her. She doesn’t believe me.”
If Temperance was who I thought she was, she had not missed that Chastity was no longer whisper-talking, so she might be more inclined to hear her and believe her now.
“Maybe try again?” I suggested. “And if it doesn’t work, I’ll…” God, was I going to offer this? I guess I was. “Talk to her.”
“That’d be wicked,” she whispered happily.
I could only hope that Tempie noticed the change in Chassie herself.
Fortunately, not much slipped by Tempie.
“Wanna try your hand at flipping a pancake?” I offered.
“Please?”
I handed her the spatula. “You have to wait until the batter bubbles, then you can flip.”
When the time came, her first go was a disaster. But I tidied it up. The second and third were much better, and the fourth was superb.
“See! You perfected it in four!” I crowed.
A pretty pink blush colored her cheeks.
“Right, grab a mitt and take the bacon up,” I ordered. “I’ll finish these and be right behind you.”
“Will do.”
She was on her way with the bacon when I called, “And you tell them, if there aren’t two rashers waiting for me, I’m not cooking again!”
“Will do that too!” she called back, loud, no wispy whisper attached.
Healing.
Or at least, I fucking hoped so.
* * *
“This is for the birds,” I bitched.
“Use your legs. Let go of the pommel,” Battle instructed.
“You let go of the pommel. I’ll hit the dirt if I do.”
Battle reached out and grabbed the reins of the beautiful gray roan mare who had the unfortunate luck to have me hauled up on her back half an hour ago.
She was a good girl all through Battle giving me a twenty-minute riding lesson before we headed out.
But she got stuck with a dud in me.
With some “whoas,” tightening my reins and his, he stopped us.
“And why don’t you have those sticky-uppy pommels like American saddles do?” I demanded.
“Have you ever seen an American saddle?”
“In Western movies.”
“So, when you said you’d never ridden, you really weren’t joking.”
“Look, Your Grace, not all of us were born with an English riding saddle in the barn.”
He studied me, visibly fighting laughter, and if I thought I could do it without falling off this damned horse, I would have smacked him a good one.
“Can’t we go back, and I’ll ride you?” I offered hopefully.
With that, he burst out laughing.
“I wasn’t being funny,” I said through it.
And I wasn’t!
He then took my life in his hands by nabbing me at the back of my neck, pulling me to him and laying a wet one on me.
I was a little dazed when he was done, but miracle of miracles, I kept my seat.
“I like riding,” he said softly, his hand still warm on the back of my neck.
“Okay,” I replied.
“And I like you,” he went on.
The kiss daze was receding, but at that, it came back.
“Okay,” I repeated.
“And it would mean a lot to me if you learned how to ride so we can do it together.”
Argh!
“However, if you really hate it—” he began.
“No, no, no. I’ll get the hang of it.”
Maybe in ten years.
“We’ll go slow. Find your seat. Trust Noelle. She doesn’t want you to fall off either. And you’ll start to get comfortable.”
I nodded, even if my nod was a total lie.
“Ready?”
I nodded again (and again lie-nodding).
He let go of me and the reins, clicked his teeth and dug in his heels, and I did the same.
We started walking slowly.
How embarrassing.
Well, out of this at least I got a mini-tour of the south side of The Downs, which included mostly parkland, but obviously, the stables along with Chassie’s greenhouse (of course, it was bigger than I expected it would be) and the garage, which was a surprising clip away from the house (Battle had told me to hang on the steps while he went to get the car last night, he was gone a long time, now I knew why).
And on our journey, he pointed out the gamekeeper’s cottage tucked in the edge of the trees in the south forest (no Christian, though), as well as the steward’s cottage, which was opposite the gamekeeper’s, close to the tall stone fence at the front of the property.
Now we were riding in the field that I always saw sheep in.
And today was the same in regard to the sheep keeping us company.
“Things go well, cooking with Chassie?” he asked.
I was oh-so not going to point out she was different and how. If he didn’t notice, and it wasn’t what I thought it was, I didn’t want to give him hope.
So I said, “I taught her how to flip a pancake.”
“Those were delicious, darling.”
Honestly?
It made me feel good to make them all breakfast, and not because I liked to cook.
Because I felt like I was doing something for them after all they’d done for me.
Though, I would never tell Battle that.
Hell no.
I’d hold that to me until I died.
“Glad you liked them.”
We walked, or our horses did.
Then I asked, “Hey, do you know if Tempie is seeing someone?”
He turned his head to me. “Why do you ask?”
“Because Chassie said she’s seeing someone.”
“Chassie knows?”
I guess that rumor was true.
“She is? Tempie, I mean.”
He nodded and turned forward. “She is.”
“So, he’s not a candidate?”
At that, he whipped his head toward me.
“Oh yes, Battle, she used the word,” I shared.
Again, he turned forward, muttering, “I’m seeing the disadvantages of you being close to my sisters.”
“Really? You and Tempie use the word candidate?”
“Tighten the reins, don’t pull, and squeeze her with your full leg, not your thighs,” he instructed.
I did that, and Noelle stopped.
Well, hell.
It worked!
His blood bay, Oberon, stopped too.
“You should know something,” he announced.
Oh boy.
“What?” I asked.
“I will never live anywhere but The Downs or Burleigh House.”
“You are the duke, so I can’t say that’s a surprise.”
“And neither will my sisters.”
“But, Chassie says Tempie has a flat in London.”
“Tempie has a flat in London because I walked in on her blowing a man in the lounge at Burleigh House.”
I grimaced.
“Yes, sweetheart,” he agreed. “Click your teeth, slack the reins, and loosen your legs.”
I’d already done the leg bit, so I did the others, and Noelle and I started walking again.
Oberon and Battle did it beside me.
“She and I decided to give each other space until we settled,” he shared.
“You could have just made a rule that any kind of fornication happened in a bedroom or put a sock on the door to the lounge or something.”
“That would disallow both her and I to get creative.”
Since I’d been the recipient of some of his creativity, I got that.
“Why does settling matter?” I inquired.
“It was simply a pact we made so we could get beyond how mortifying it was for both of us when I walked in on her. However, from that experience, I believe we both learned our lesson.”
I should say.
Tempie was the shit.
But, yuck.
“It was a kneejerk reaction on her part,” he explained. “Tempie has her pride, and a certain reputation she cultivates. If she needed that distance, I wasn’t going to stop her.”
He’d do anything for his sisters, so that was no surprise either.
“But she would also need an excuse to let the flat go and come back,” he continued, “And our pact gave her that.”
“Ah.”
“Did you hear what I said earlier?”
I turned to him. “I heard it all, but which part are you referring to?”
“I’ll always live with my sisters, and they’ll always live with me.”
Their vow.
“It isn’t like you live in a two thousand square foot, three-bedroom, two-bath house, Battle,” I pointed out. “Either residence.”
“That doesn’t bother you?”
“Honey, I walked to the breakfast table all three of your sisters were sitting at after a sex-fest and with a visible love bite. If I can survive that, and do it making pancakes, I think I could handle…”
Oh shit.
“You can handle…what? Living with my sisters?” he prompted.
I did the whole tighten-reins/lightly-squeeze-legs bit, and Noelle stopped.
So did Battle and Oberon.
“Are you saying I’m a candidate?” I asked breathlessly.
“It troubles me you keep emphasizing that word, but I’m seeing you understand the importance of it, so I can confirm you absolutely are. Now, does that trouble you?”
Okay, he’d had to heft me up in that saddle, something he did with ease, but I wasn’t sure he’d be up to doing it again if I got off Noelle and did a dozen cartwheels in the sheep field.
So I focused on something else.
“You know…already, that I’m a candidate?”
“I would hardly walk you to the breakfast table with a love bite I gave you with all my sisters in attendance if you weren’t.”
“Chassie says you warn them about the ones who aren’t the ones.”
His mouth tightened but he loosened it enough to say, “Very much seeing the disadvantages of you being so close to my sisters.”
“Battle,” I called.
His gaze sharpened on me. “I would also hardly keep my sister’s best friend in my bed for thirty-six hours if I didn’t feel deep feelings for you, doing it understanding those feelings will only grow deeper.”
Why was I on a fucking horse?
And…
Would he beg off if he saw me do a dozen cartwheels in a sheep field?
“Oh my God,” I snapped. “Can we get off the horses so I can ride you in a field?”
A slow, very naughty grin formed on his lips. “Sheep shit in this field, darling.”
“Gross.”
“Indeed.” He clicked his tongue and kept going.
So I did too.
“So, these candidates will have to know it’s The Downs, Burleigh House, and the Talyn family forever, and be all the way down with that, correct?” I asked, just to be sure.
“Are you ever going to stop emphasizing the word ‘candidate?’”
“Does it bug you?”
“Yes.”
“Then, no.”
He grunted in annoyance.
It was fucking adorable.
“To answer your question, yes,” he said. “And they lose if they have an issue with it.”
“As in, they get kicked to the curb.”
“Absolutely.”
“I bet Chelsea wasn’t at one with sharing The Downs and Burleigh House,” I muttered.
“The girls were told she wasn’t the one before I even brought her here when I was seeing her.”
“I’ll bet.”
“Then again, I’d known her for years, so she’d been here before.”
“Right.”
“But yes, if it had ever gotten to that point, though it never would have, she would have been ousted because she’s an avaricious, privileged bitch who would want everything to herself, including me evicting my sisters.”
“She sure would,” I agreed.
“Hamish, however, is madly in love with Tempie. She doesn’t give anything away, but they’ve been together for over a year, and I know my sister. She wouldn’t invest that time if her heart wasn’t in it. And he’s an outdoorsman. He’d love The Downs.”
“Hamish?”
“Yes.”
“Please tell me he’s Scottish.”
“I don’t know if I’ve met a more Scottish Scotsman.”
I hoped I got to meet him.
And when I did, I hoped I understood him when he talked. A pronounced Scottish burr was practically indecipherable to me.
Though indecipherable, it was invariably hot.
“She’s going to lose him if she doesn’t quit fucking him about,” Battle stated. “He’s not a man who’d put up with that for long, even from a woman he loves. Maybe especially.”
Shit.
“Maybe, have a word with her?” I suggested.
He looked to me and raised his brows.
“Are you saying you want me to?” I bleated in panic.
That made two Talyns putting the lean on me to interfere in Tempie’s life.
I dug her, she was awesome, but the only reason she didn’t scare the pants off me was because she liked me too.
“Fuck no,” he replied to my deepest depths of gratitude. “No one tells Tempie what to do.”
“You order her around all the time.”
“She ignores me most of that time.”
This was true.
“She’s sticking close to home, and him out in the cold, for Chassie,” I deduced.
“She is.”
Shit again.
“Chassie heard her talking to him yesterday, and apparently, he’s pissed she went to London without seeing him.”
“You and I have had one day and two nights in my bed, and two weeks of teasing, and if you came to London for even an hour without seeing me, I’d be pissed at you.”
Wow.
He really liked me.
I smiled smugly to myself.
“I see you’re coming to understand where I’m at,” he noted.
I looked at him to see him watching me.
“The Duke and The Novelist is a shit title, but I bet some publisher would publish it,” I replied.
He shook his head but did it with his lips curled up.
“How’s this?” I started. “I’ll talk to Prue, and I know she’ll be okay with it, then I’ll talk to Chassie about taking her with us to visit Ravenna.
If that goes well, I’ll find some way to remind Tempie that I’ll be around for a while, I can keep my finger on the pulse, and if she wanted, I don’t know…
I have to find a better word for it, but for now I’ll say… a break, she can take it.”
“Darling, you’re brilliant. That might work.”
I tried not to preen. “I have my uses.”
“You’re also no longer clutching the pommel.”
I glanced down.
“Holy hell!” I cried. “Look at me!”
“Care to try a canter?”
I wasn’t sure.
“Do you think I’m ready? I mean, I’ve only been on this girl for half an hour.”
“You know how to stop, so do that if you’re feeling uneasy.”
I could do that.
“Let’s go for it,” I decided.
“Loose reins, give her your heels, guide her behind me. She’ll follow.”
I nodded.
“Ready?”
Another nod.
He studied me a moment to be sure I was all good (he was so sweet).
Then he took off.
I did as told, and Noelle and I took off after him.
I couldn’t say I wasn’t uneasy. The first few minutes were a little hair-raising.
I could say I didn’t give up, and I kinda got the hang of it.
In the end, though, even if it was a little scary, it was still awesome.