“Seems they’re used to them—and apparently, there’s never been anyone hurt. Just lots of noise and nasty smoke.”
Rand nodded. A well-run household and contented staff were excellent indicators of the qualities of a house’s master. Or mistress, as the case might be.
He straightened from the sill and turned to look out of the window again.
“Country hours here, so dinner’s at six.” Shields retreated toward the door. “Do you need me for anything else?”
Rand shook his head. “Not today.” His gaze flicked to the stable. “How are the horses?” He’d purchased the pair only two months ago; they were young and still distinctly flighty.
“They didn’t approve of the bang and the smell, but the stable’s well away from the house, and they settled happily enough.”
“Good.” Rand paused, then said, “I doubt I’ll need the horses for the next few days at least. Other than keeping an eye on them, I won’t need you for much, but let me know if you see or hear anything that strikes you as odd.”
“Aye. I’ll do that. I’m off for my tea, then.”
Rand heard the door open and shut. His gaze had already found and refocused on Miss Throgmorton.
She was still attacking the roses.
Rand wavered, prodded by an impulse to go down and speak with her. About what, he wasn’t all that clear. Judging by the energy with which she was clipping, she was still distinctly exercised over what his arrival had revealed.
She’d had no inkling of Rand’s or the syndicate’s existence. More, Rand sensed her antipathy toward inventing—an attitude that had reached him perfectly clearly during their meeting in the drawing room—had a deeper source than mere female disapproval of such endeavors.
Yet her support would be vital in keeping her brother’s nose to the grindstone, and they all needed William John to finish the invention within the next three weeks.
Rand wasn’t sure how much he could actively help William John—that remained to be seen—but at the very least, he could ride rein on the younger man and ensure he remained focused on solving the issues bedeviling his father’s machine. William John had already shown strong signs of the absentminded mental meandering Rand had observed in many other inventors.
In his experience, time was the one dimension to which inventors rarely paid heed.
Yet in this case, time was very definitely of critical importance.
Rand refocused on Miss Throgmorton.
He drew out his fob watch and checked the face, then tucked the watch into his pocket and headed for the door.
He had time for a stroll before dinner.
* * *
In the rose garden, Felicia deadheaded roses with a vengeance. With her left hand, she gripped the next rose hip; with her right hand, she wielded the shears. Snip! She dropped the clipped hip into her basket and reached for the next.
She’d hoped the activity would allow her to release some of the emotions pent up inside her. And, in truth, simply being out of the house and breathing fresher air had eased the volcanic anger, fueled by hurt, that had welled within her on learning of her father’s and brother’s subterfuge.
Snip.
Her father was dead; she couldn’t berate him. As for her brother...while she could berate him, she and the household—not to mention the too-handsome-for-his-own-good Lord Cavanaugh and his syndicated investors—needed William John to keep his mind on his work. Berating him wouldn’t help.
Snip.
Besides, she knew her brother well enough to know he would feel no real remorse; encouraging her to believe that the funds she’d been drawing on to keep the household running had been royalties from previous inventions would have seemed to her father and William John to be the easiest path.
They wouldn’t have wanted her to worry over using money received from others for an invention they hadn’t yet got to work.
Their sleight of mind still hurt.
And she was now quite worried enough, and in that, she wasn’t alone. Even William John was uncertain. Unsure.
He’d been growing steadily more nervous over recent weeks—more nervous than she’d ever known him. She’d wondered why. Now, she knew.