The Lightkeeper's Ball (14 page)

He joined them. “Good afternoon, ladies. What drives you to such a rough place?”

Lady Devonworth eyed his dog and stayed back. “We found a kitten up a very tall tree. Only a lumberjack could get it down.”

He could only stare at her. She’d come all this way for . . . for a cat? The moment stretched out. She held his attention until he recovered himself.

“I can get it down,” he said before he could help himself. He wouldn’t miss seeing what this was all about. “Let me get climbing hooks and a rope.”

“You can climb a tree that high?”

“I worked every summer of my youth here at the camp. My father thought it important I learned to work. I was a tree topper.” He liked the shock on her face. There was more to him than met the eye as well.

After he fetched the equipment and rejoined them, he pointed to the path. “Lead on, ladies.”

Olivia’s color was still high when she turned and walked back the way she’d come. Katie shot him a quick glance and smiled. There was sympathy in her eyes and he wasn’t quite sure where it had come from. Or why.

Lifting her skirts, Olivia kept her head down and her gaze on the ground. She stumbled over a tree root. Her foot slipped toward the ravine. She screamed and threw out her hands but missed the branch that hung low.

Harrison leaped toward her, but Nealy dived past him. The dog latched onto her skirt. Harrison heard the cloth rip, but it held until he could seize her hand and pull her back to the path.

Her chest heaved as she fought for breath. She glanced past him to Nealy. “The dog saved me.”

“He’s trained to save,” he said, putting his arm around her. He led her to a tree trunk. “Rest here a minute.”

Katie rushed back to where he stood over Lady Devonworth. “Is she all right?”

“I nearly went over the edge.” The lady swatted at a fly with a shaking hand. “Nealy grabbed me.”

“Good boy,” Katie crooned, rubbing the dog’s ears. “See, a dog isn’t so bad. Not all dogs are like the one that bit you, my dear. Pat him. He won’t hurt you.”

Nealy turned his dark eyes on the lady, and Harrison saw her shudder. He didn’t think she would touch the dog, but she reached out her hand. Nealy took a step closer and pushed his long nose against her hand. She snatched her hand back, then moved it to his ears. She gave him a perfunctory pat. He wagged his tail.

She smiled. “I think that means he likes me.”

“He likes everybody,” Harrison said. “Are you strong enough to proceed?”

She nodded, and he helped her up. “Let me go first,” he said when they reached a narrow path that led down. “I can assist you both.” When she stood aside, he brushed past her and clambered down the incline, then turned and extended his hand. Her gloves were looking a bit worse for the wear. “I hope this creature is worth the loss of your gloves,” he said. “I doubt your maid can remove the stains.”

“I have others,” she said, clutching his hand as she half slid, half stepped down the path.

They stood toe to toe, and he saw gold flecks in her dark eyes. Her breath was as sweet as the scent of the camellia blooming along the path. He should step away, but he stood frozen with her hand in his.

She pulled her hand free. “You need to help Katie.”

“Of course.” His face burned as she moved past him. He assisted Katie down the slope. “We are heading to the falls?” he asked her.

“We are. Addie stayed behind so Edward and Gideon could swim.”

“We’re not far now.”

He let the women go ahead of him while he tried to figure out why he was acting such a fool. Was he so discomfited because she had a title? He’d never been one to take note of such inconsequential things. There was something different about Lady Devonworth.

He quickened his step to catch up with the ladies. The roar of the falls sifted through the trees, and he heard the dog bark and a child giggle. Nearly there. He reached the ladies and together they entered the clearing where Addie sat beside the lake. Edward splashed and swam with Gideon while she looked on. Nealy barked and ran past them to join the fun.

“We’re back,” Katie called.

Addie scrambled to her feet and hurried toward them with a smile. “That kitten is nearly hoarse from crying.”

Harrison heard it then—the wail was faint and scratchy but frantic. “Which tree?”

“Here.” Lady Devonworth stepped to the other side of the path and laid her hand on a giant redwood. “Up there.” She pointed and he looked up. A tiny face was visible through the leaves. Three hundred feet up.

He whistled. “How’d that cat get up that high?”

Lady Devonworth raised a brow. “Climbed, I presume.”

“Brilliant deduction, Sherlock,” he said, grinning. She blushed and glanced away.

He dropped the rope from his shoulder, then strapped on the leather belt. After connecting all the hooks, he handed her the strap. “Circle the tree and bring it back to me on the other side.”

He expected her to hold the grimy thing like she might a snake, but she gripped it firmly in her hands and hurried to do his bidding. Moments later she was on his other side.

“Is it big enough?”

He nodded and snapped the ring into his belt. Placing his feet against the rough bark, he began to shimmy up the tree. Though he wasn’t about to admit it to her, it had been a good five years since he’d climbed a tree. And it was a long way up. Inch by inch, he traversed the big tree. The kitten cried all the more as he got closer.

His chest burned and his breath came hard by the time he reached the feline. “You’re fine, cat,” he said when the kitten backed away. Grabbing it by the scruff of its neck to avoid being bitten or scratched, he tucked it inside his shirt. Its claws dug through his undershirt into his skin and he nearly howled himself. “Stupid cat, I’m trying to help you,” he muttered.

The kitten loosened its claws, then snuggled under his armpit. Nothing like making it even more difficult to get down. He tried to reposition it, but it complained and grabbed him again, so he gave up and began to climb down. The muscles in his thighs cramped, and his hands were developing blisters, but he pressed on. The more he hurried, the sooner he could get rid of this cat. He was perspiring by the time he reached the ground. With a last shove, he dropped his booted feet to the soil and stood gasping at the foot of the tree.

“Great fun,” he said, masking his rough breathing.

“Is the cat all right?”

He reached inside his shirt and grabbed the feline. “Youch! You little tiger, let go of me,” he said. He succeeded in unhooking the kitten’s sharp claws from his skin and pulled it out to view.

“Oh you poor darling,” Lady Devonworth said, her voice soft.

The gentle sound of her voice went straight to his gut. He’d like to hear her use that tone with him.

T
HIRTEEN

J
UST WATCHING
H
ARRISON’S
gentleness with the kitten did something to Olivia’s midsection. In his common garb, she noticed the way his biceps bulged under his shirt and the mass of muscle in his thighs as he’d climbed the tree. Averting her eyes as he approached, she reminded herself that it was quite unseemly to notice such things.

“How about some sympathy for me?” he asked. “The wretched beast clawed me all the way down. I risked my life for it with no gratitude.”

“I’m most grateful,” she said. “Do your scratches need attention?” She made sure her tone dripped with impudence.

He grinned. “You’re offering to tend to my wounds? I might take you up on that.”

Her cheeks flamed at the flirtation in his voice. He was smooth, very smooth. “I’m sure you shall live,” she said. “And thanks to you, so will Tiger here.”

“I wouldn’t name the monster if I were you. It’s hard to let go once you name them.”

“I have every intention of keeping Tiger,” she said. “Such an adventurous animal deserves a home.”

“He might not be happy cooped up after he’s been allowed to roam free.”

“You say that as though you have experienced it,” she said. “Do you not enjoy your work?”

He lifted a brow. “A man can be good at something and still long for more.”

“Are your planes what you long for?”

His expression sharpened. “I see the flash of interest every time the subject is brought up, yet you seem perfectly happy in your gilded cage.”

She glanced away, unable to hold the intensity in his eyes. “I’m quite content with my place.”

“What is your place? To be the fashion expert? To arrange flowers so beautifully your friends are astonished? Somehow you seem more ambitious than that. And much more intelligent.”

She tried to hide her shock. “Ambition is more fitting for a man than a woman.”

His grin widened. “A rather old-fashioned view. Your father’s or your own? The times are changing.”

“My father was a disciplinarian who felt women were pretty baubles for a man’s arm. Somehow I think you share that view.”

His lips tightened. “If you knew me at all, you would know how absurd that statement is.”

She smiled, trying to defuse his anger. “My spies tell me every woman in town has her cap set for you.”

His dark eyes flashed. “It’s my money they are interested in.”

She found that hard to believe. He had a magnetism that would draw any woman. Except her, of course. “Then you could have your pick of women to marry.”

“I may never marry. I want a woman who will see me and not my bankroll.” He raised a brow. “I think you are trying to deflect the conversation away from my question. What would you like to do if you could be more than that pretty bauble?”

What if she could be more than a debutante pursued for her title? What would she do with her life? For a long moment she allowed herself to dream of actually flying a plane herself, not just riding in one. But it was quite impossible. Her mother would be scandalized. Not that this man would understand.

“I can see you’re thinking of something you’d like to do. What is it?”

“We have extra sandwiches if you’d like to share our lunch,” she said.

“Coward,” he said softly as she turned away.

She kept her gaze straight ahead and marched away with the kitten in her arms. The man was entirely too attractive. If she were the kind to notice something like that. Which she was most decidedly
not
.

Tiger began to knead her forearm where he lay nestled. She rubbed the kitten’s head and he settled down on her chest.

Harrison fell into step beside her. “What are you ladies doing here in the first place?”

“Taking some fresh air while we plan the Lightkeeper’s Ball.”

“I’m sure you’re most adept at planning such things. I suspect you could plan a ball or organize a suffragette march with equal accomplishment.”

“I’m sure you have little experience with suffragette marches.”

“More than you, I would wager. I’m on the board of the Mercy Falls group. I’ve marched in more events than you can count.”

She stopped and stared. His expression was grave as if daring her to question his statement. “You support the woman’s right to vote?”

“My mother is the smartest person I know. She knows more about the issues than my father does. Why shouldn’t she have the vote? It’s ludicrous it’s not allowed yet.”

He was serious. She closed her open mouth. What did she say to that? She could hardly express how much she admired him for that simple thing.

She stepped toward the pool of water. The clear stream gurgled over the rocks most charmingly. Her leather-bound journal lay on a rock where she’d dropped it. It was open to the list of things she planned for the ball. She stepped forward to grab it, and her foot slipped into an unseen hole and she toppled forward. Sharp pain seized her left wrist as she went down hard. The cat’s claws dug into her arm. Her wrist throbbed in unison with the kitten’s wails.

He knelt beside her with his hand slipping around her waist. “Are you injured?”

“My wrist,” she managed to gasp out as she gripped it with her good hand.

He touched her forearm. “May I?”

Gritting her teeth, she nodded. His fingers probed the flesh of her wrist, already swelling. “I don’t think it’s broken, but it’s a bad sprain. We should have it looked at.”