Clearly, he hadn’t meant his statement about locking Olivia away until the wedding. He intended to push us together as much as he could to ensure that I would follow through with the wedding.
And would I follow through?
I’d wrestled with that question long into the night, tossing and turning on my bed until my body had been tangled in my coverlet as helplessly as my mind was tangled with how to proceed.
At my approach, my men cast their gazes to the ground. Even so, they couldn’t hide their humor or smother their grins quickly enough.
Olivia appeared busy with the bay dogs circling among the mounts, their tails wagging in frenzied excitement and their wet noses bumping anyone who might pay them heed. I could only pray she’d been too distracted to listen to Pitt’s embarrassing comments.
“My lady,” I said, admiring the gracefulness of her body as she straightened. “Are you ready to commence the hunt?”
“Of course. Very much so.” She peered up at me eagerly, her green eyes innocent and wide and beautiful.
I assisted her into the saddle and a moment later took my place behind her.
“Will you allow me a boar spear of my own?” she asked.
“You’ll have no need.”
“Then you plan to share yours?” She glanced at the special weapon tucked into my sword belt.
There was no way I was letting Olivia get anywhere near a boar. Once the bay hounds chased and cornered the wild pig, the beast would be viciously dangerous. When it began its charge, only the most skilled of the hunters would attempt to make a kill shot. And today, with Olivia on my mount, I had no intention of being in the midst of the fray.
“You must earn the right to use a boar spear,” I said.
“How can I earn the right if I am not allowed to have one?”
I should have guessed Olivia wouldn’t be content merely watching a boar hunt, that she’d want to participate for herself. She’d already proven she was unconventional and saw no need to be like other ladies. While I appreciated her spirit and determination, everything within me resisted the prospect of her being anywhere near harm’s way.
In fact, the more I recollected the way we’d met in her chambers at Ludlow and the realization that I could have killed her, I wasn’t sure I ought to encourage her swordplay any further. Yes, I appreciated that she could defend herself in an emergency. But beyond that, I had no wish for her to engage in combat.
Or in a dangerous hunt.
“You must be content to watch, my lady.”
“You must trust me,” she retorted. “If you teach me, I shall learn the hunt as well as any man.”
I urged my steed toward the gatehouse with a force that caused Olivia to lean back into me. Thankfully after only a few minutes of holding herself stiffly, she settled in and relaxed, and for a while we rode in silence. I suspected she’d put the matter of using my boar sword from her mind—at least for now—and had resigned herself to observing the hunt rather than participating.
“It’s beautiful,” she said taking in the mist, the way the morning sunlight speared the droplets so that bright beams cascaded onto the heathland grass causing the dew to glisten. “Almost as beautiful as the waterfall.”
“I was thinking the same.”
She curled her hand around mine, which was resting lightly at her waist. At the gentle pressure, I released my tension. We might disagree on her participation in the hunt, but she could let it go for now and simply enjoy being together. I marveled at her ability to do so and vowed to do the same.
“So I am like a sister to you.” While the words had the inflection of a statement, I could hear the question within them, the one asking me to clarify our relationship.
How could I clarify what I didn’t understand?
“I was hoping you didn’t hear my conversation with Lord Pitt,” I admitted.
“It was difficult not to.”
“Yes, I suppose so.”
She was silent a moment, as though waiting. “Well? Do you view me as a sister?”
I flipped her hand over and let my fingers slide through hers, closing mine slowly but securely. Then I bent toward her neck and let my nose touch her ear before following with my mouth.
She drew in a sharp breath.
“Would I hold you this way if I viewed you as my sister?” I whispered against her ear, taking too much pleasure in the brush of her flesh against mine.
“Good,” she whispered back. “I have no wish to be your sister.”
I straightened and forced myself to remain in control. On my left flank, Pitt rode his mount, observing me. He would tease me mercilessly this eve during the feasting if I didn’t use extreme caution with Olivia. In fact, even if I behaved admirably with Olivia, he’d still tease me.
Nevertheless, I was in for a long day if I didn’t bridle my feelings for Olivia. I would fare best if I kept our friendship rather than her beauty at the forefront of my mind.
As we rode deeper into the hardwoods and thick brush, the bay hounds caught the scent of their prey, and we picked up our pace to follow them.
They led us on a wild chase that ended where I thought it would, in a marshy area containing overflow from the river. In the heat of the summer, the wild pigs wallowed in the ponds and marshes and springs to keep cool. Soon enough, we located the hounds, baying at a thick hedge. The leader of the pack lunged into the overgrowth every so often.
At the shouts and excitement of the arriving hunters, the hounds dove deeper into the brush. A moment later, the enraged squeals of the boar rose above the barking. The noblemen among the group dismounted, their boar spears at the ready.
Against me, Olivia tensed. Her hand in mine tightened. And she ceased to breathe.
When the boar burst through the brush, she gasped her excitement. A large grayish brown beast with bristly hair that stood on its back, charged at top speed. The hounds fell away, having done their job and no longer needed.
“The creature is much bigger than I imagined.” Olivia’s entire body seemed to quiver with anticipation.
Pitt was at the ready and made the killing blow to the creature, stabbing it through its dense hide and thick bones so that it lay lifeless at his feet.
We dismounted to offer congratulations and sip ale that the servants poured, resting in the cool shade and laughing over tales of past escapades. After the break, we climbed upon our horses and once again meandered through the woodland, letting the bay hounds take us where they would. This time, we rode for a while before the bays caught the scent of another boar and began their wild race.
As we galloped hard in an effort to keep up with the dogs, Olivia tossed a smile back at me, her eyes sparkling with the thrill of the chase. “Someday I shall be among the nobility who dismounts for the kill.”
At her declaration, all I could picture was a boar charging directly at her, maiming her lovely body, or worse—killing her. A slow, thick dread trickled into my blood and pumped through my veins. I shouldn’t have allowed Olivia to come. Once she tasted the blood-pounding thrill of the hunt, she wouldn’t be sated until she participated for herself.
I tugged on the reins and slowed my steed, letting the others in our party rumble past us. Several of my squires likewise began to slow, but I waved them ahead. “Go on!” I shouted. “We’ll be along.”
“What are you doing?” Olivia reached for the reins as though she would take control of the steed and urge it onward again.
But I held the reins fast and brought the steed to a jerking halt.
The braying of the hounds and the galloping of the other hunters began to fade. Olivia turned her excited eyes upon me. “Make haste! Or we shall miss the kill.”
I didn’t move. “I shouldn’t have brought you on the hunt.”
“Whatever do you mean?” She twisted in the saddle to get a better look at me. “You know how much I have longed to participate in such a hunt.”
“It’s too dangerous.” I couldn’t let her continue. “I’m taking you back to Tolleymuth.”
“No. I am perfectly fine and shall finish the hunt.”
“I won’t allow it.”