Moonlight Wishes In Time (13 page)

Mattie’s heart raced. A social function? She thought not.

“I can just stay upstairs, Mrs. Sinclair,” Mattie said. “Please don’t go to any trouble.”

“You will do n
o such thing, Miss Crockwell. We cannot have you skulking about above stairs like a wraith in some Gothic novel.” She caught Mattie’s surprised eye. “Yes, I read novels as well.” A slight lift of Mrs. Sinclair’s lips lightened her face, and Mattie thought she could see shades of lighthearted Sylvie in her mother’s expression.

Mattie took a deep breath. “Thank you.
I would be happy to come to the rout tonight,” she acquiesced, unwilling to remove the smile from Mrs. Sinclair’s face.

Mrs. Sinclair called for the maids, and the Sinclairs and Mattie rose from the table in unison
. Mattie, unsure where to go or what to do with herself, opted to return to her room, but Sylvie grabbed her arm.

“Come, Mattie
. Let us take a turn in the garden together. The air is fine, and I long to be out of doors.”

“Do not tire yourself, girls
. I must consult with Mrs. White on the menu for this evening,” Mrs. Sinclair threw over her shoulder as she followed the maids through a door. 

William lingered.
“Do you ride, Miss Crockwell?”

“
Ride? Horses?” Mattie asked. “Um…no, I don’t. Well, not since I was a little girl. And only stable horses. I’m sure I wouldn’t remember how.”

He cocked his head and regarded her thoughtfully
. “Perhaps we can remedy that during your stay here. This afternoon, we shall endeavor to refresh your memory if that is agreeable with you.”

“What? Oh, I don’t know.”
Mattie looked down at the fine muslin of her gown. “In these dresses? How does one…?”

“Do not worry, Mattie,”
Sylvie intervened. “I will lend you my riding habit. It is in excellent condition since I do not like to ride.” She made a face at her brother. “William will select a gentle mount for you. You will be quite safe. A groom shall escort you to act as chaperone.”

“It is settled
, then. Two o’clock at the stables.” He executed a small bow, turned on his heel and left the room.

Mattie watched him walk away, wo
ndering how she’d managed to get herself invited on a horseback ride. She bit her lip. This never happened in her Georgian novels. Where was the chaise and four—whatever that looked like? Could the day be shaping up any worse?

William leaned back in his chair and stretched his
arms overhead. An hour-long examination of the books revealed Mr. Jenkins had taken his usual care with the estate records, and all seemed to be in order. His father’s steward continued to serve with excellence. William closed the books and rose, crossing the study to stand before the floor-to-ceiling windows which faced the front lawn. A check of his pocket watch indicated it was one o’clock. He longed to be outside, trotting across the fields on Ajax, with the strange creature who was Matilda Crockwell at his side. Impatiently, he turned away from the view and left the library, taking the great staircase two steps at a time up to his room.

A ring of the bell brought James, his valet, within moments
.

“My riding clothes, James.”

James, a small, slight man with a well-groomed thatch of sparse gray hair, hurried to the tall mahogany dresser and withdrew several pairs of breeches and a pair of riding boots.

“Which will you wear today
, Master William?” James offered up a dark gray pair of riding breeches and a lighter tan pair.

William cocked h
is head and pointed to the dark gray pair. He shed his beige pantaloons and donned the sturdier clothing. James grabbed the boots, bent down on one thin knee and pushed them up over William’s stockinged feet, adjusting the length of his breeches so that they fit seamlessly.

“The dark blue jacket over the gray waistcoat, I think, Master William
?”

William, somewhat distracted by his upcoming
excursion with Miss Crockwell, gave a vague nod.

“Yes, thank you.”

James, the smaller of the two, reached up to slide a waistcoat over William’s broad shoulders. He whipped around to the front to button the vest, before picking up a finely tailored cutaway coat to ease onto William’s back.

William waved James away when he reached for the buttons.

“That will do. Thank you, James.” William grabbed his pocket watch from the top of the nearby bureau and eyed it for a moment with a sigh. Still only half past one.

He grabbed his top hat
and riding stick from James, nodded and left the room. Taking the stairs two at a time once again, he paused at the landing, listening for the sound of female voices, but heard nothing. Another check of his watch—only one minute had passed since last he checked it.

William turned to make his way to the
stables at the rear of the house when he heard the sound of hooves near the front door. He paused for a moment as John, the footman, hurried to the door.

“Well met, Willi
am!” Thomas Ringwood entered the foyer. “You appear to be dressed for riding. Join me! I am just partaking of the pleasant fall afternoon.”

William eyed his friend with not a small amount of misgiving
. They often rode together, and today should not be any different, but it was. He had already asked Miss Crockwell to join him, and he could not withdraw his invitation. In fact, he had no desire to cancel the outing, and had indeed looked forward to an opportunity of spending more time with her—out of earshot of his mother and Sylvie.

“Thomas
! Good afternoon.” William recollected himself and jumped forward to grasp Thomas’s hand. “Yes, as you see, I was just about to set out. We have a guest staying with us, Miss Matilda Crockwell, and I had already made arrangements to take her on a short ride through the estate. She is an inexperienced rider, and the pace may be too tame for you.”

Thomas cocked an eyebrow and grinned.
“And who might this Miss Crockwell be, William? Am I, as is usual, the last to be informed of some momentous event in the Sinclair household?”

“I understand your insinuations, Thomas, and no, there is no news of any sort
. You begin to sound as hopeful as my mother,” William said with a pointed look. “Miss Crockwell is a distant cousin from America.”

“America?” Thoma
s exclaimed. “How delightful! I must meet this Yankee at once. You will invite me to join you and Miss Crockwell, will you not?”

“If I must, Thomas
.” William turned just then at the sound of voices near the top of the stairs. Mattie and Sylvie descended slowly, Mattie becomingly dressed in a royal blue velvet riding habit of Sylvie’s. The top hat crowning her russet curls was a miniature version of his own.

“Thomas,” Sylvie exclaimed.
“I did not know you were riding today.”

William watched Thomas bow elegantly to the women descending the stairs, his normally tanned face taking on a bronze tinge
. When would his sister and his best friend simply give in and declare themselves, he wondered for the hundredth time?

“Sylvie, how nice to see you,” Thomas murmured as they reached the landing
. He took Sylvie’s hand in his and kissed the tips of her fingers lightly.

William turned away from the childhood friends turned awkward suitors and looked down on the top of Mattie’s hat
. Such a tiny woman. He had long had a penchant for taller women to whom he could speak face to face, but something about the fragile bob of the hat caught at his heart. He cleared his throat. 

“Miss Matilda Crockwell, may I introduce my friend, Mr. Thomas Ringwood
. Mr. Ringwood lives on the estate bordering our property to the east.”

Thomas dropped Sylvie’s hand and bowed smartly.

“Miss Crockwell! I am delighted to make your acquaintance. I understand you have come from America. How exciting! I trust the journey was not overly long. I have every hope of traveling there myself one day soon, and I must ask you all about it.”

Mattie opened and closed her mouth and threw a look at William
, who jumped in to assist.

“Perhaps later
tonight, Thomas. You attend my mother’s rout, do you not?”

Out of the corner of William’s eye,
he noted Sylvie’s cheeks burned brightly. Surely, she was not jealous of Mattie, was she? Then he remembered Thomas’s reference to traveling to America. His friend’s frequent travels and adventures away from England boded little promise of a marriage between them.

“Yes, yes, of course
.” Thomas beamed. “I would not miss it for the world. Your cook serves such exquisite fare, I daily anticipate any invitation to your home if refreshment is being served.”

William grinned
. Mrs. White was a marvel with food, of that there could be no doubt.

“You are always welcome here, Thomas, on your infrequent stays in the area
.” Sylvie’s pointed look in Thomas’s direction served only to heighten the color in his face.

William, deciding
that everyone clearly wore their hearts on their sleeves at this point, offered his arm to Mattie.

“Shall we, Miss Crockwell
? Mr. Ringwood has asked if he might join us this afternoon, and I have no plausible reason with which to deny him.” He threw a pained look across the top of her head toward Thomas, who flashed him a bright smile.

“Indeed not, Miss Crockwell
. And why should he?” He turned to Sylvie. “You do not join us, Sylvie? Never fond of the horses, eh?” His voice held a challenging note.

“No, thank you, Thomas
. I will do well enough here. I have things to see to.” She turned a shoulder on him. “William, please take care of Mattie. Remember…” Sylvie did not finish her sentence.

“I’ll be fine, Sylvie,” Mattie said with a rueful smile.
“As long as the horse is docile, I’ll be all right. I can hang on. If not, I’m sure I can throw myself from the horse and not hurt a single thing through the thickness of this riding habit.”

Sylvie chuckled, but William
sent her a warning look. Mattie followed his eyes to Thomas, who stared at Mattie with widened eyes.

“Miss Crockwell teases us, of course,” William said with forced nonchalance as he offered Mattie his arm
. “They have such interesting speech in America, do they not?”

With his arm dangling uselessly in midair in such an unaccustomed fashion, William reached for Mattie’s hand and placed it on his arm.

“Oh,” she mumbled as she glanced up at him in confusion. “Sorry.”

She turned to Thomas
. “I should watch what I say, Mr. Ringwood. We do speak differently. I hope I don’t offend, but if I do, please write it off to my American ways.” She flashed everyone a smile, and William was pleased to see that Thomas seemed to relax.

“But of course, Miss Crockwell
. I have met several Americans in my travels and never fail to find their speech and mannerisms refreshing.”

William intercepted Sylvie’s warning look and turned away
. There was little he could do, short of stuffing a cloth in Miss Crockwell’s mouth. Even were it possible to do such a thing, he rather thought he might mourn the loss of her eccentric speech.

“We shall see you at the stables, Thomas.”
William guided Mattie away to the back of the house where they descended the stairs and walked across the lawn toward the stables.

“That was awkward,” Mattie murmured
. “I’ve read enough historical novels to know how to speak in some semblance of formal English, but I can’t seem to remember to actually
do
it.”

William chuckled
. “You would be simply another young woman staying at a country manor if you did, Miss Crockwell. I find your modern speech amusing and would not wish you to change it…in private.”

“In private,” she repeated
. “But try to put a lid on it in public, right?”

William laughed outright
. “If I infer the meaning of your expression, then yes, I really think that would be best unless you can remember, as you say, ‘formal English.’”   

“This is going to be a long thirty days,” Mattie sighed, completely unaware
of the pang William felt at her words.

“Surely, you are not ready to return to your own time just yet, are you, Miss Crockwell
?” William stiffened and awaited her response.

She threw him a startled look
. “No, no. I’m fine. Really! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound rude. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. It’s just that…”

“Yes?” he prompted as he bent to look into her face beneath the brim of her hat.

“It’s just that I really love to talk, and I don’t know how I’m going to keep my mouth shut for the whole month.”

The forlorn note in her voice caught at his heart
. She sounded very lonely…and lost.