Heart of the Diamond (20 page)

The carriage soon rounded a curve in the road and Nicki saw a cart in a ditch along the side of the road, mired in sludge. Three men pushed the cart from the rear while one stood at the heads of a pair of sturdy oxen who struggled within the traces, mud splattered over their heaving sides.

Teddy glanced at the spectacle then back to the road, obviously uninterested, though the rain had diminished to a drizzle once again.

One of the men at the back of the cart stood head and shoulders over the other two. Wet mud covered him from foot to the waist and dotted the back of his white shirt, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Nicki recognized that mud bespattered posterior immediately.

Blake.

She flushed at the direction of her thoughts, and attention, then raised her gaze to the wet raven hair. Good Heavens, what was he doing rolling about in the mud?

“Good afternoon, my lord,” she called, waving.

He looked around sharply in apparent surprise. At that moment the cart lurched backward. Nicki watched in horror as Blake slipped and fell on his back. The other two men desperately tried to hold their positions, but without Blake's help were unable to keep the wheels from rolling backward—toward the earl.

“Blake!” Icy fingers of fear clenched Nicki's heart. “Merciful heaven, what have I done! Stop, Teddy. Stop!”

Before the carriage rolled to a halt, Nicki had tossed her muff aside and clasped her skirts away from her feet to leap from the vehicle. The heels of her low-topped kidskin boots sank into the wet earth of the road. Her only thought consisted of getting to Lord Diamond—to make certain he had not been injured as a result of her distracting him.

“Blake!” Nicki startled the two mud-covered farmers standing at the rear of the cart when she stumbled from the road and down the low bank.

The black ooze immediately sucked her down several inches, forcing Nicki to drop her skirts and use her flailing arms to maintain her balance. She dragged her feet from the mud one slow determined step at a time to continue her journey to the earl.

“Where is he? Help him!” she cried, finally reaching the rear of the cart.

The farmers continued to stare at her, still and silent. Pushing past one of the men, Nicki dropped to her knees and half crawled beneath the wagon.

Desperately, she searched the area under the cart, certain she would find Blake's body, broken and bleeding. All her fault. What had she done?

There he was. But instead of being unconscious and badly injured, she saw his mud covered face break into a smile. “How kind of you to join me, my dear, but I assure you it's quite unnecessary.”

With her sudden relief came a distinct feeling of discomfort. Chilling water soaked through her gown where she knelt and she could feel muck fill her fragile boots that were better suited to riding than traversing through muddy ditches. Embarrassment sent heat rising up her neck and past the silk bow tied beneath her chin to come to rest in her cheeks.

“I say, Nick, is he hurt?” At the question Nicki craned around one of the farmers to see Teddy standing up in the carriage.

Blake chuckled and Nicki brought her gaze back to him. “I am thrilled you find this so amusing, my lord.” She had meant to sound daunting, but the words came out peevish.

“On the contrary, my dear. I am flattered.” He reached up and grasped the back of the wagon to rise. He dragged himself toward Nicki, who quickly got to her feet and sidestepped away to avoid being knocked down.

When Blake stood and faced Nicki he more resembled some nightmarish creature from the pages of a child's storybook than a titled earl. The other men, joined by their counterpart who had held the oxen in tow, converged about Blake, obviously concerned for his welfare—though somewhat belatedly, in Nicki's opinion.

He shook mud from his hands and wiped them on his shirt front. The earl laughed away their concerns, and finally turned to Nicki. “These men need to be on their way.”

Feeling out of place, Nicki turned to leave. The hem of her skirts had become saturated and heavy. “Of course. I shall just wait for you on the road.”

She went to take a step, but the mud hung on to her boot and only her stocking foot came free.

Blake bent and tugged her shoe from the mire. Without warning, he swung Nicki into his arms. All she could do was hold on to his strong shoulders as he strode up and out of the ditch, deposited her on the road, then handed over her shoe. Before she could speak, he turned on his heel and returned to the cart.

Dripping footwear in hand, Nicki wondered at her odd behavior. She should be just a little disappointed that the earl had not been squashed flat, as such an occurrence would have freed her from the engagement. But all she felt was relief that he was safe.

Within moments, the men had pushed the wagon free and the oxen lunged back onto the road. Nicki took advantage of the time to pour the muck out of her boot and put it back on. She assessed the damage she had done to her clothing by charging into the ditch like a madwoman—not to mention what had transferred from Blake's clothing and arms to her when he picked her up.

“What were you thinking, jumping out of the carriage like that, Nick? You could have been badly hurt.”

She avoided Teddy's gaze as she swatted ineffectually at the mud caking the front of her skirts. “I suppose I was not thinking at all, Teddy. That is my way, is it not?” Irritation made Nicki's words sharp.

Already she was regretting her impetuous behavior and imagining Angelica's expression when she returned from a harmless carriage ride drenched and looking as though she had been in a stable yard tussle.

“Get in the carriage and let's get you home and into something dry.”

After examining the back of her cloak Nicki looked to the fine leather of the seats. This was the only carriage her family had managed to hold on to, the others having been sold to pay the creditors.

“Perhaps I should walk alongside, Teddy. I've ruined my gown, I should not want to destroy the carriage as well.”

Nicki heard the cart rumble off down the road and turned to see Blake striding toward her leading the handsome bay he had ridden yesterday. Somehow, he had managed to wipe away most of the dirt from his face. A lock of coal hair dropped over his forehead. Despite the chill, he had not redonned the black coat slung across his saddle. He looked devastatingly masculine in his shirtsleeves with his sodden leather pants clinging to his body—and leaving little to the imagination.

He flashed a very pleased grin. “Bartholomew. I had no idea you were here, but there you are, sitting in the carriage. Far from harm's way.” Blake motioned in the direction of the disappearing cart. “Did you not recognize some of the farmers from Rosewood? I should think you might have said hello.”

Unwilling to believe she had just heard Blake's words, Nicki looked at Teddy and the rage she saw in his face assured her that her ears had not deceived her. Before Teddy could speak, she turned to the earl.

“I missed you this morning, my lord. I thought you meant to come for tea.”

His silver gaze flashed to her, intense. “I did not realize my presence would be missed. I shall not be so derelict of my duties in the future.”

That answer was not at all what Nicki had meant to glean, but at least in speaking to her he did not bait Teddy. “I realize you must be busy. I . . . well, I merely wondered. It is not as if I pined away all morning.”

A slight smile turned up one side of his mouth and he placed a hand over his heart. “You wound me, my dear. I had hoped—”

“Stop being difficult, my lord.” She met his gaze. “Are you hurt at all?”

“Only my pride. If I had known you were watching I would have demonstrated my prowess, not landed on my back in the mud.”

She attempted to appear austere, but a smile escaped. “I am devastated that I nearly caused you to come to harm.”

“Then it was well worth the humiliation.”

Nicki thought he did not behave as though he had been embarrassed. In fact, she wondered if there existed anything on the face of the earth that could shake Lord Diamond's imperturbable calm.

“If the two of you are finished, Diamond, I'd like to get Nicki out of the weather.” Teddy's voice held an edge of frustrated fury.

She brushed at a strand of hair that had somehow managed to escape the confines of her bonnet. “Will you come to dinner tonight?”

Blake met Nicki's gaze. “I must decline, much as it pains me to do so. I have made arrangements to go over Rosewood's tenant accounts with Samuel Willis.” He fastened Teddy with a cold stare. “You remember Samuel, Bartholomew? His father used to do the accounts for your father. Nice man. I think I shall enjoy working with him.”

“You bas—” Teddy broke off his words and made to rise, but Nicki lifted her filthy skirts and scurried to the other side of the carriage.

“We should be going.” She made several attempts to climb inside, but the weight of her damp gown and the lack of a stepping stool impeded her progress.

As she felt herself grasped about the waist and lifted from behind, Nicki caught her breath. Quickly, her feet touched the floor of the carriage and Blake released her, but she continued to feel the strength of his hands blazing into her skin through her clothing. Such talented hands, creating heavenly music the night before, then put into service to help those farmers today. Her knees buckled unexpectedly and she collapsed into the seat.

Trying to appear nonchalant, despite the frantic racing of her heart, Nicki met the earl's amused gaze. She opened her mouth to speak, then changed her mind. Any words she might have uttered would surely make no sense with her faculties in such turmoil.

His grin broadened. “I will see you tomorrow. I promise.”

She flushed, feeling as though he had been inside her mind listening to her thoughts. Before she could respond, Teddy slapped the reins smartly and the carriage jolted into motion.

Nicki retrieved her abandoned muff and slipped her cold hands inside. She dared not look back. But then, she did not need to. The earl's image had somehow become burned into her mind.

Fragile drops of rain once again escaped the molten grey skies overhead and Nicki lifted her face to accept their sweetness. She knew if she asked him to, Teddy would keep moving and never stop, thus taking her away from Blake forever. But she could not let that happen. Not yet. What held her was such a tenuous thing, but it held her just the same.

No matter what manner of vile creature Teddy believed Blake to be, Nicki saw something more.

She could not flee without knowing for certain what lay in the depths of the Diamond's heart.

Blake held the reins in his muddied hands and watched the carriage move swiftly out of sight in the rain. His fiancée. Rushing off with another man.

Nicole raised her face to the sky and he imagined her lips curving upward in a secretive smile. So lovely. And she must be extremely happy. After all, she sat next to Teddy.

As the carriage disappeared around a bend in the road, Blake experienced a chill that burrowed deep beneath his skin and turned his insides cold. He pulled his jacket off the saddle and shoved his arms into the sleeves, but the garment did little to warm him.

Best to get back to Rosewood and partake of a glass of brandy while he soaked in a steaming hot bath. Soon it would be time to meet with Samuel. He climbed into the saddle and urged his horse in the opposite direction from Teddy and Nicole.

The wet wind in his face smelled fresh and clean, unlike the black air of London, and the stench on board the ship that had brought him to England. The rolling meadows of Shropshire worked on his nerves like a soothing drought.

Today he had managed to avoid thinking of Bartholomew and Nicole, instead concerning himself with problems he could easily solve. Now he almost wished he had agreed to go to Langley Hall tonight, to remain at Nicole's side every moment so that Teddy would not be free to spill his vile poison into her ears.

But what could Teddy tell her that was not true for the most part? Blake imagined having time enough with Nicole to allow her to know him and he to know her before unveiling the past and all its painful secrets. Already she had learned he had been behind her father's financial ruin and that had resulted in her desperate attempt to fob Mina off on him. That thought brought a smile tugging at his mouth.

Perhaps he should let her go. Obviously she wanted Teddy. Who was he to hold her to a marriage he had trapped her into?

Nicki ran the brush through her hair with long, methodical strokes. She watched the flash of the shining brass against her blond curls in the gold-framed wall mirror.

No extravagant coiffures tonight, no special pains taken with her appearance. She laid the brush next to the comb on her dressing table and flicked open the tarnished clasp on the carved wooden box containing her collection of hair ribbons. Emerald, she thought. Emerald to match the silk trim of the brown dress she had chosen to wear. The velvet caught gently at her hair as she wound it through her curls to pull it tight and tie it in a small bow over her ear.

She attributed her lethargy to the hot bath she had taken after her afternoon outing with Teddy. Then there was the frayed state of her pride every time she remembered leaping from the carriage and throwing herself into the mud without the slightest hesitation.

Those feelings certainly had nothing to do with the fact that Blake Dylan did not intend to come to Langley Hall tonight. As far as Nicki was concerned, he could just hold up inside Rosewood forever.

But his assertion yesterday afternoon that he intended to fight for her doused cold water on that hope. He would return. And once again she would find herself the peacekeeper while the earl baited and Teddy grasped each barb with angry vigor.

Nicki jumped to her feet and stormed to the window. Staring into the darkness beyond the glass she recalled Teddy's desperate plea of the afternoon. Run away with him and let Blake return to the hell of his life. Emotion caught in her chest. What had turned Blake's life into such torment, and what had happened between him and Teddy?