It was very intriguing from his perspective; he had thought she would only care about him because he could bring her pleasure. Caring for him during an illness was quite unexpected and kind. Why Rutherford was not angry about the impropriety made him worry.
“On your way now,” the duke insisted. “My granddaughter rises early with the dawn and she has been waiting for you long enough.”
By the arch of the duke’s brow, Felix suspected he knew there was, or had been, something decidedly more between him and Sally than just the broken engagement. He did not understand why the duke was not keeping them apart though. She was marrying another man. A lord everyone in the family openly approved of.
Or had Rutherford a different opinion entirely?
Felix jammed his hat onto his head, nodded, and strode out to the stables without bothering to question his lack of resistance to Rutherford’s plans. First he was forced to keep a distance from Sally by one Ford, and now the head of the family kept throwing them together.
What did the duke mean for him to do about Sally, if anything, or was this just another test of his character? If it was, he had failed that test days ago to act as a proper gentleman.
Chapter Twenty
Sally glanced over her shoulder as footfalls echoed in the cavernous stables. A tall, broad shape with the rolling gait of a naval hero drew near. She ran to him, wrapped her arms around his chest, and squeezed. “Felix,” she whispered.
He embraced her in return, his fingers cupping the back of her head gently. He spun her away from the open stable doorway and into a dark corner where they would not be noticed. “I am all right, sweetheart. Everything is all right now,” he whispered against her hair.
Sally buried her face in his coat and breathed deep. “You were sick for so long, and they would not let me stay with you.”
“So you were there in the beginning?” He kissed the top of her head when she nodded. “I am glad they sent you away. How would it have looked to your family and future mother-in-law if you were found in my bedchamber? The poor old duck would be scandalized. I was well looked after.”
Sally let out a shuddering breath and ran her hands up and down his sides. His coat pockets bulged with strange, heavy objects she could not identify at first. “How you were looked after by that pirate, Jennings, hardly bears thinking about.”
“He is a good man. He is just not used to being around women anymore.”
She pressed her head harder against him. He might have died, and seeing him standing before her, touching her, was all she wanted right now. Dear God, she had worried for him these past days. She wrapped her arms about his body and released the tension she had carried.
Curiosity got the better of her though, and after a moment of much needed reassurance that he was not a product of her imagination she drew back to toy with one of the strange shapes in his coat pocket, discovering what appeared to be the handle and muzzle of a pistol. “Why are you carrying weapons?”
Felix pushed her off his chest, but she caught his coat and held on. She parted his uniform and discovered a dagger sheathed at his waist that she had not known was there.
He glanced down at the weapon and shrugged. “It is a dangerous part of the world I am told.”
“Who said that? My grandfather?”
Felix neither confirmed nor denied the accusation but did change the subject. “Gabriel Jennings was married, and when his wife died while he was at sea the news changed him. Please make allowances for his bad temper at the injustice of life. She was a very special woman, and he adored her.”
Sally stared up into his face. “I will try, but you did not answer my question.”
“Thank you.” He stepped back out of reach and glanced around as a groom led her dappled gray mare from the rear of the stables. Jester was her favorite mount, but she could not take him with her as he belonged to her eldest brother. “Are you about to leave the estate?”
“Not exactly. I have an errand for the duke at a distant tenant’s home,” she told him. An outing she could not delay just because Felix was on his feet, even if she wished to stay with him. She had responsibilities she could not shirk. In the distance she could see two servants headed their way. “Would you like to see more of the estate with me, if my grandfather does not need to see you, that is?”
“He excused me for the day.” He studied her a moment and then nodded. “I would love nothing better than to see the estate with you as my guide.”
“I can point out my favorite places along the way.” She looked him over, and her heart raced. To look at him now she could not imagine him being so unwell just two evenings ago. If she had not felt his fever, witnessed his condition with her own eyes, she would think he was incapable of change.
There was one thing that had not altered in the intervening years. She could still notice when something weighed heavily on his mind. He was up to something. She was certain of it from the way he shifted his weight from foot to foot. “I will have an extra horse prepared.”
Twenty minutes later they were on their way, and she had figured it out. “I cannot believe my grandfather sent you to guard me.”
Felix sighed and shook the reins. “He was concerned enough to ask for help, and after my illness I owe him a debt of gratitude I can never repay.”
Sally twisted round to view Felix where he sat on the gig. He looked impossibly large on such a small conveyance but seemed happy enough urging the pony along in her wake. She had not expected him to opt for the small carriage when the stable had been so full of horses that required exercise. “Hardly a hero on a noble steed, are you?”
He looked at her, his jaw set firmly. “The gig is all I need to get there and back. The weapons are f
or the intimidation.”