Chapter 4
His wife was nowhere to be found. Not in her own chambers, in any of the drawing rooms, or even the kitchen or servant areas. Hunter searched every part of the house.
“Ah, Mrs. Shepherd!” he called, seeing the housekeeper bustle from one room to the next.
She paused her ample frame to look at him. “Yes, my lord?”
“Have you seen my wife?”
“No, my lord,” she said, but then added, “Have you looked out over the grounds?”
“Outdoors?” he asked, wondering if the housekeeper was confused.
“Yes, my lord,” she said with a nod. “Her ladyship, she likes to ride, enjoys being out in the grotto, even in winter, or riding through the trees just beyond the gardens. You can often find her there. In fact, if you take the stairs and look through one of the upper windows, you might catch a glimpse of her. That’s where I always look for her first.”
Hunter stared after the middle-aged woman in some amusement before shrugging and doing as she said.
He looked out the window to the east and south, and sure enough, there she was, striding toward the stable.
He couldn’t make out her features from here, but certainly no one else with long, unruly chestnut hair billowing in the wind, a cloak stretched out behind her, would be headed toward the stables on this winter day.
She was certainly leading him on a chase. He ran down the stairs, fetching his own cloak before continuing out the front entrance and across the yard, following her footprints in the snow. Where had she been coming from? What was she doing out here?
He entered the barn just as she was mounting her horse.
“Scarlett!” he called. “Hold on a minute. I have to speak to you.”
He came up short when he stood in front of her. He looked up at her in astonishment before turning his face to the groom, whose cheeks burned from more than the cold as he looked away from the two of them to the floor.
“What do you think you are doing? And what are you wearing?”
“A riding habit,” she said, as though he were daft. “And breeches.”
“You cannot ride around like that!”
“Why not?” she asked, leaning over her horse’s head to peer down at him.
“Men ride around in breeches all the time. And when I arrive where I need to be, I simply shake my skirts down over my legs. Hardly anyone sees me ride, and no one knows the difference. Do you know how much faster one can ride astride in comparison to sidesaddle? How less dangerous it is? Why I could never ride alone if I were draped over the side like a sack of potatoes!”
“You shouldn’t be riding alone! I… I…”
He was at a loss for words. He brought his hand to his forehead. “Never mind that for now. There is an urgent matter we must discuss.”
“It seems most things are urgent with you, Lord Oxford.”
“Hunter. Yes, well, will you just come down, please? My neck hurts from looking up at you.”
“I am going on a ride. My horse needs exercise, as do I. We can speak later.”
“We really must speak now. I?—”
But his words were lost in the air that flew by him as she urged her horse into a gallop and swept out of the stable, right past him. He stood there for a moment, staring after her in shock, before turning to his groom.
“Best ready my horse,” he said with resignation.
Scarlett laughed as she eased back on Star’s reins, slowing her horse slightly.
Oh, but teasing Hunter was much more fun than she had expected.
She could tell he had no idea what to do with her, and that was all very well.
She also had a suspicion of what he wanted to speak to her about, seeing as he had been in his study for part of the morning already, meeting with the ghastly Stone.
The man was a nightmare, and in fact, she did want to speak to Hunter about getting rid of him, amongst other things.
She hadn’t lied about needing the exercise, for her or the horse.
Scarlett loved the freedom riding provided her, and she always allowed her hair free of its ties, today flowing from underneath her fur cap.
When she opened her eyes once more, she knew she was not alone, and she looked over at Hunter, who had nearly pulled even with her.
“Impressive, Lord Oxford,” she called out. “I had quite the head start.”
“Yes, well, apparently you slowed,” he responded. “Though why, heaven only knows.”
“You simply have to ask me, Lord Oxford,” she said. “In fact, there are some things I should like to speak with you about as well. I thought we would be better off out here, away from everything and everyone, than in close quarters.”
“Very well,” he said, suspicion in his tone, but before responding to him, Scarlett looked around them to see they had made it to a clearing in the trees.
The evergreens circled them, with one break in the trees that allowed for a view out onto the rest of the land beyond.
The ground was currently snow-covered, the trees in the distance blanketed in the snow that had fallen the night before.
The morning was warm, however, and Scarlett only hoped the snow would remain until after Christmas.
Somehow, it always felt more like a true Christmas when the earth was covered in white.
After dismounting, she turned to find Hunter standing against his horse, arms crossed over his chest as he waited for her to speak. She took a breath. She didn’t enjoy conflict — normally she simply avoided it — but this needed to be said.
“It’s about your tenants, Lord Oxford,” she said, noting his nostrils flare at her words.
“They are not well off, not at all. Many of them are poor and hungry, despite the fact that they seem to be successful in what they are growing and the animals they are raising. You own all this land,” she said, extending her arms in a wide circle around them, “for miles, and yet you do nothing for it. You leave others to do the work for you, while you simply collect their pay. It’s not fair, Lord Oxford, especially when you are making them pay exorbitant figures for rent. ”
His frown deepened as she spoke, his stance as frigid as the air around them.
“Are you questioning the way I treat my people? Do you really think I would be so harsh with them?”
She stepped toward him, finger pointed into his chest. “Yes, I am questioning you, and of course I think that way! I have seen it myself. Over the last few months, while you have been busy with your lords in London, I have been here, visiting them, seeing firsthand how they live and the way they are struggling. You know nothing of it! At least, I hope you are simply ignorant, for if this is purposeful, then I am even more horrified than I ever could have imagined.”
She was breathing hard, and she noted he was doing the same, as she could feel the rise and fall of his chest underneath the tip of her finger, which was now pressed into his cloak.
“Do you have any idea, Scarlett, of what I have been doing in London, to try to make lives better for the very people you are accusing me of sending into dire straits? No, you don’t.
Have I visited my tenants lately? No. But only because you have been here, keeping me away.
Do not accuse me of not caring for them.
I have a very capable steward in place who looks after them while I am away.
And while we are on the subject, I must speak to you about the fact that you seem to be taking matters into your hands, giving these people money that you have no authority to give! ”
“If I could have the money for dresses or furniture for this grand house, then why can I not spend it where I see fit for a much better purpose?”
“Because that is not the way of things!” he burst out, raising his hands into the air. “You’re supposed good deeds will only lead to people feeling like they have been treated unfairly, that you are favoring some of them over others.”
“If that is seriously what you think, Hunter,” she said, not noticing until it rolled off her tongue that she had slipped and used his given name, “then you know nothing at all.”
They stood there in tableau, staring at one another, until finally he sighed, running his gloved hand through his hair as he turned from her to look out onto the land beyond. He placed his hands on his hips and tipped his head back, as though he were deep in thought. He finally turned back to her.
“Fine, Scarlett,” he said, “We will go visit the tenants and determine if it is as you say.”
“Truly?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
“Yes,” he said with a shrug. “I should visit them at Christmastide, anyway.”
“And your steward,” she said, stepping toward him once more. “He has to go.”
Hunter scoffed. “I am not getting rid of Stone. He has been with the family for years and is quite capable.”
“Have you looked at the books lately?”
“No, but?—”
“Do you know what he is charging for rents?”
“Of course.”
“Tell me.”
“I don’t need to tell you anything.”
“See, you have no idea. Just look.”
“Fine, Scarlett,” he said, raising his hands in the air. “I do not know the current rents. Are you happy now?”
“Somewhat,” she replied, turning to walk back to her horse, anger still simmering in her belly. She was frustrated in his inability to see what was right in front of his face, while he put his faith in people who had no business in having it. And yet he questioned her !
As she returned to Star, Scarlett noted the way the snow was crunching under her feet. It had become wet and sticky with the warmer air of the morning. A smile crossed her face as she knelt down and gathered some of it in her gloved hands, packing it together.
She took a quick look behind her to see Hunter standing there, looking off in the distance with a thoughtful expression on his face.
Ah, so maybe some of her words had actually gotten through his thick skull.
Well, if they didn’t, then hopefully this would.
She turned, and, as quickly as she could, launched the ball of snow through the air, before it came down on its mark, hitting him square in the chest.
He let out a shout as he turned to her, his face aghast as though he couldn’t believe what she had just done.
And she laughed. Oh, it felt good to find that release, to be able to send some of her frustration flying toward him through the snow. But then his mouth settled in a firm line and he narrowed his eyes at her, and she took a long swallow. Had she gone too far?
But then, quicker than she could have imagined, he knelt himself, scooped up the snow and launched a ball of it at her, the snow exploding over her cloak and dress beneath. Pieces of it broke off and began to melt on the exposed skin of the top of her chest and neck above her chemisette.
“You … you … scoundrel!” she finally shrieked, but he just laughed at her words. His laugh was loud and booming, and she realized it was the first time she had heard it. Not that she had given him much opportunity to find anything humorous around her.
“Do not give out what you cannot take back in equal measure, Scarlett!” he called out to her, and then with a shout she was balling up the snow again, as was he.
It seemed no sooner did she launch one projectile at him that he was sending one back her way.
She threw with all her might, though she knew he was keeping some force back from her.
She crowed with exhilaration when she saw he took a direct hit to the face, and he let out a holler.
“Careful, now, wife,” he growled, though he wore a smile to go along with it. “You will get yourself into more trouble than you can take.”
“We shall see about that!” she said, and she bent to pick up another.
When she stood, however, he was gone, and she whipped her head one way and the other trying to find him.
But where did he— she let out a piercing scream as suddenly her entire back was wet with icy snow, and she turned to find him behind her, satisfaction on his face as he took in her expression.
“I told you to watch yourself,” he said with a wink and a wicked grin.
She didn’t think then, not of how she was trying to keep her distance nor that he was much stronger than she and this could not end well for her. She simply launched herself at him, taking him off guard and the two of them went flying backward into the snow.
Scarlett tackled him with frustration, but with laughter as well. And then she raised herself up from him and caught his gaze — and suddenly, with his twinkling blue-green eyes staring up at her, losing some of their humor and becoming altogether serious, nothing seemed funny any longer.