Wedding Wagers(44)

"You may go now," Sherborne said authoritatively, deciding that even if  the interloper was his old friend, it would not do to allow him to  address a member of the peerage in such a manner.

"Not until she's cooled down and I've groomed her-or did you want to do  that? You know, actually take care of your own animal?" The man walked  past a speechless Sherborne and entered the stables. Sherborne started  to go after him, then decided he'd deal with the man later-perhaps he  could bring this poor behavior up with Baron Montgomery this afternoon.  In the meantime, he was already close to being late.

Sherborne reached Sage's side just as the groom returned, a curry comb and hoof pick in his outstretched hands.

Sherborne shook his head. "I ride. You groom."

"I supposed as much." The groom started to remove Sage's bridle.

"Leave it," Sherborne said. "I'll be taking her."

"Not now, you won't," the beard said. "She needs to cool off. She's been  out nearly two hours. Had I known you were coming, I would not have  ridden her. No need to punish the horse for it, though."

Sherborne opened his mouth to argue, but managed to hold his tongue. He  didn't care for this dressing down but realized it would be foolish to  mistreat the animal. He could ill afford another right now. He swallowed  his pride and sucked in a breath. "Eli?"

"Mmmhmm." The bridle was off now, set aside as his old friend started to unfasten the saddle.

"It really is you." Though the statement came out sounding more like a  question, Sherborne wondered suddenly how he hadn't noticed at once. The  mere way Eli answered him, in clipped sentences and a tone suggesting  he was an equal and not a servant, all the while he continued his work,  should have identified him right away.

Anyone else of this station Sherborne would have taken to task for  speaking to him so, but Eli was no longer his father's servant, and he  was-or had at one time been-a friend.

Sherborne turned from Eli and walked the few dozen steps to the  stablehand himself. "Raymond, I'll need the Golden saddled. Be quick  about it. I'm already late."         

     



 

"The Golden has been gone since last fall," Eli called. "I believe you authorized such-as payment for a debt."

"Devil take it," Sherborne muttered. He'd forgotten about that. His best  stallion. "Another one then, Raymond," Sherborne said, hoping he'd  something left other than the old bone-setters his father kept.

This was not a good way to begin, being late and making a poor  impression upon his hopefully, soon-to-be father-in-law. Baron  Montgomery and his wife had invited Sherborne to stop by for tea, the  perfect opportunity for him to become reacquainted with them and their  daughter, Emily. Rumor had it that her dowry was substantial and her  father was looking to improve their family's status through her  marriage.

Enter the earl, Sherborne thought smugly as he retraced his steps toward  Eli. Really, the situation could not be any easier. He and Emily were  practically betrothed already. They'd been neighbors their entire lives,  and everyone knew that the earl's title had once come through a  Montgomery. Theirs was a match that had been hinted at by both sets of  parents since they were children.

He'd heard Emily'd had a brief season in London, but her more reserved  personality had not been a good fit with the ton, and she'd returned  home early. That was five years ago, and there probably hadn't been  anyone at all interested in asking for her hand since.

Sherborne's gaze slid suddenly to Eli. Anyone suitable.

"You want to help, you can put this away." Eli thrust the saddle squarely at Sherborne's chest.

Unprepared, Sherborne staggered backward, nearly falling in the muck of the yard.

"We are no longer children, Eli." Sherborne righted himself with as much  dignity as possible-not much at all, considering the saddle was still  slipping and he was being pulled forward with it to keep it from falling  in the spring mud. "You-can-not-treat-me like this." He clutched the  blasted contraption to his chest and noted its foul smell of sweaty  horse. Fiend seize it! He'd have to change before going over to the  Montgomerys. If he wasn't going to be quite late before, he definitely  would be now.

"I was only trying to include you," Eli said, a definite twitch to his  mouth, barely visible behind the beard. "I seem to recall you always  found great interest in whatever I was doing."

"As did you, in what I was doing," Sherborne huffed, recalling the long  summer afternoons of being badgered about everything to do with boarding  school. "The truth was, then and now, that I could not be you, and you  could not be me." Sherborne said this with honest regret. Of all his  friends, Eli had been the one he could most be himself around. He'd  wished, more than once, that circumstances were different, that Eli's  father hadn't disappeared before Eli was even born, or that he would  reappear now-a member of the ton-and claim Eli as his own. It would have  been good to be able to consider him an equal. But that was not to be.

"Our differences have never been more apparent or true than now. Look at  you-" Sherborne waved a hand at Eli. "Have you made use of a razor even  once in the past six months? I've never seen such a face."

"Oh, I think you probably have," Eli said, a slight curve to his lips this time, as if something Sherborne had said amused him.

The response only annoyed Sherborne. "Don't you understand? I am  Sherborne Alexander Rowley III, the Earl of Shrewsbury, whereas you are  merely Eli Alex Linfield-"

"-The first," Eli said. "Believe me, I've never forgotten. You are an  earl. I am a stable master. It's quite clear. Common I may be, but  simpleminded I am not."

Stable master? If that was true, Eli had moved up in the ranks  considerably. Sherborne balanced the saddle on top of the fence. "Why  are you here, Eli?"

"To exercise and care for your horse." Eli turned his back on Sherborne  and took up the curry comb. "I thought we'd established that."

"I mean here." Sherborne shifted his gaze toward the Montgomery land once more. "I know you work for the Montgomerys."

There was a visible stiffening in Eli's posture. His neck tensed first,  then his back, noticeable beneath the sweat-soaked shirt in the  straightening of every notch of his spine. After a moment, during which  Sherborne guessed his old friend was struggling with something, Eli  turned to face him.

"I've worked for Baron Montgomery the past five years. He treats me  fairly, and in return I meet or exceed his expectations-so much so that  he has allowed me to come see to your horses several times a week. Baron  Montgomery and I have a good working relationship. That is all."         

     



 

"And his daughter, Emily?" Sherborne asked, deciding there was no point  in hinting at the topic when he needed to hurry and Eli was a potential  flaw in his plan. "What is your relationship with her?"

Eli's eyes narrowed as he took a step forward. His knuckles whitened with his grip on the comb.

"Miss Montgomery and I do not have a relationship. The only interaction I  have with all three ladies of the household, Lady Montgomery, Miss  Montgomery, and her older sister, Lady Grayson, are limited to their  requests regarding their horses. If you should so much as insinuate  otherwise-ever again-I shall be forced to call you out for it."

Sherborne barked out a laugh filled with both relief and amusement. She  is untarnished. She can still be mine. The baron was not looking to  marry his daughter off for other reasons. "You would call me out like  any gentleman?" It seemed the audacity of Eli's youth had only grown  more profound with age.

"Like any gentleman." Eli gave a curt nod. "I have answered your  question, but you have not answered mine. Why are you here? Have you  come home to court Miss Montgomery?"

"I have," Sherborne answered, though this entire conversation was  beneath him. The word court was also somewhat disturbing. He hadn't  thought much on that, but likely both Miss Montgomery and her parents  would expect some sort of effort from him in that respect. He supposed  at least a few months of carriage rides, socials, and the like awaited  him.

"When is the last time you saw her?" Eli asked in a tone far too demanding for Sherborne's liking.

"I am uncertain," he admitted. "Perhaps three or four years ago. I  cannot recall. I met her sister a few months past at an event in London,  and she apprised me of Emily's-of Miss Montgomery's-" he hastily  amended at Eli's fierce look, "availability. Since then I have been  corresponding with her father, who is in favor of the match,  particularly since the Earl of Shrewsbury's title originally came  through-"

"-a Montgomery." Eli waved his hand dismissively. "I am familiar with the family history."