"I was so afraid, Julian."

"Not nearly so afraid as I was when I arrived a few minutes ago to be told your horse had returned late this afternoon without you. The servants have been searching for you all evening. I was preparing to send them out again. Where have you been?"

"It… it was all my own fault, Julian. I was on my way home from Old Bess's cottage. My poor mare was startled by something in the trees and I was not paying attention. She must have tossed me off. I hit my head and quite lost my senses for some time. I do not remember much until a short time ago." Dear God, she was rambling. Talking much too fast. She had to get hold of herself.

"Does your head still pain you?" Julian thrust his fingers gently into her tousled curls, feeling for a wound or bump. "Were there any other injuries?"

Sophy realized she had lost her riding hat somewhere along the way. "Uh, no, no, Julian, I am fine. That is to say, I have a headache but nothing to worry about. And… and the babe is fine," she added quickly, thinking that would take his attention off her nonexistent injuries.

"Ah, yes. The babe. I am glad to hear all is well in that regard. You will not ride again during your pregnancy, Sophy." Julian stepped back, his eyes searching her face in the moonlight. "You are quite certain you are all right?"

Sophy was too relieved that he appeared to believe her to worry just then about arguing for her right to ride again. She tried a reassuring smile and was horrified when she felt her lips quiver. She blinked quickly. "I am really quite all right, my lord. But what are you doing here? I thought you would be in London for a few more days. We had no word you would be returning this soon."

Julian studied her for a long moment and then he took her hand in his and led her back toward the anxious crowd of servants. "I had a change of plans. Come along, Sophy. I will turn you over to your maid who will see to your bath and get you something to eat. When you are yourself again, we will talk."

"About what, my lord?"

"Why, about what really happened to you today, Sophy."

NINETEEN

We were all so worried, my lady. Scared to death some-thin' had happened to you. You have no idea. The stable lads were beside themselves. When your mare comes runnin' back into the yard, they started lookin' for you right off but they couldn't find no sign. Somebody went to see Old Bess and she was as worried as the rest of us when she found out you hadn't come home.

"I am sorry to have caused so much concern, Mary." Sophy was only half-listening to her maid's description of what had happened after she had failed to return that afternoon. Her mind was on the forthcoming interview with Julian. He had not believed her. She ought to have known he would guess immediately that she was lying about having been thrown by the mare. What was she going to tell him now, Sophy wondered frantically.

"And then the head groom, who is always one for predictin' the crack o' doom, shakes his head and says we should start draggin' the pond for your body. Lord, I about collapsed, I did, when I heard that. But all the fuss weren't nothin' compared with what happened when his lordship arrived unexpected like. Even staff who'd been here at the Abbey during the time the first Countess was here said they hadn't ever seen his lordship in such a fury. Threatened to dismiss us one and all, he did."

A knock on the door interrupted Mary's detailed account of the afternoon's events. She went to answer it and found a maid with a tea tray. "Here, I'll take that. Run along now. Her ladyship needs rest." Mary closed the door again and set the tray down on a table. "Oh, look, Cook put some cakes on the tray for you. Have one with your tea, ma'am. It'll give you some strength."

Sophy looked at the teapot and immediately felt slightly queasy. "Thank you, Mary. I'll have the tea in a bit. I am not very hungry at the moment."

"It's the blow on the head that does it," Mary said knowledgeably. "Affects the stomach, it does. But you really should have a cup of tea, at the least, ma'am.

The door opened again and Julian walked into the room without bothering to knock. He was still wearing his riding clothes and he had obviously overheard the maid's last comment. "Run along, Mary. I'll see that she drinks her tea."

Startled by his arrival, Mary dropped a quick curtsy and backed nervously toward the door. "Yes, my lord," she said as she put her hand on the doorknob. She started to leave the room and then paused to say with a small touch of defiance. "We was all very worried about madam."

"I know you were, Mary. But she is home safe and sound now and I think you will all take much better care of her in the future, will you not?"

"Oh, yes, my lord. Won't let her out of our sight."

"Excellent. You may go now, Mary."

Mary fled.

Sophy tightened her fingers in her lap as the door closed behind her maid. "You need not terrorize the staff, Julian. They all mean well and what happened this afternoon was certainly not their fault. I—" She cleared her throat. "I've ridden that path dozens of times during the past few years. There was no reason for me to have a groom along. This is the country, not the city."

"But they did not find your poor, unconscious body lying along the path that leads to Old Bess's cottage, did they?" Julian lowered himself into a chair near the window and glanced around the room. "I see you have made several changes in here and elsewhere, my dear."

The rapid change of subject was disconcerting. "I hope you don't mind, my lord, " Sophy said in a stifled voice. She had a terrible premonition that he had decided on a strategy of toying with her until her nerve broke and she confessed everything.

"No, Sophy. I do not mind in the least. I have not liked this house for some time." Julian's gaze slid back to her anxious face. "Any changes in Ravenwood Abbey will be most welcome, I assure you. How are you feeling?"

"Very well, thank you." The words seemed to stick in her throat.

"I am relieved to hear it." He stretched out his booted feet and lounged back in the chair, his big hands steepled loosely in front of him. "You had us all quite worried, you know."

"I am sorry for that." Sophy took a breath and struggled to recall the small, carefully plotted details of her tale. Her theory was that if she propped up her sagging story with a large number of specifics, she might still salvage it. "I think it was a small animal that startled my mare. A squirrel, perhaps. Normally there would have been no problem. As you know, I am a reasonably skilled rider."

"I have often admired your riding skills," Julian agreed blandly.

Sophy felt herself flushing. "Yes, well, as it happened, I had just been returning from Old Bess's and I had purchased a large quantity of herbs from her and I had the packets arranged in my skirts. I was busy adjusting them, the packets, that is, as we went along because I was afraid some of the herbs might slip out enroute, you see."

"I see."

Sophy stared at him for a few seconds, feeling mesmerized by the steady, waiting expression in his eyes. He appeared so serene and patient but she knew it was a hunter's patience she saw in him. The knowledge rattled her. "And… and I am afraid my attention was not on my riding as it should have been. I was fumbling with a packet of…of dried rhubarb, I believe it was, when the mare shied. I never quite got my balance after that."

"That was the point at which you fell to the ground and struck your head?"

They had not found her lying unconscious along the path, Sophy reminded herself. "Not quite, my lord. I started to slip from the saddle at that point but, uh, I believe the mare carried me for some distance into the woods before I finally lost my seat altogether."