My Fake Rake

Rotherby scowled, evidently displeased that he was to see to the servants’ refreshments, but other than a grumble, he didn’t object.

Grace guided Seb out of the ballroom and down a set of stairs that led to a salon facing the garden. She opened French doors, letting in the soft spring air, and they both stepped onto the terrace. Espaliered trees lined the brick walls surrounding a wide lawn, with hedges containing beds of sweet-scented flowers peppering the expanse in a neat pattern. At the very back of the garden was a glass house. Without his spectacles, Seb couldn’t be quite certain if anyone was inside, but he hoped it was currently unoccupied.

She nodded toward a path covered with crushed shells. “Will that suit?”

“Reasonably.” He tugged off his coat, and she gathered it in her arms. Grudgingly, he admitted, “Feel a bit foolish.”

“You look fine,” she murmured, her gaze on his shoulders.

The sight of her holding his coat hit him deep in his chest. It was a primal, instinctive gratification, a window into an intimacy that he hadn’t realized he craved until that moment.

He shook himself. She needed him to secure Fredericks’s attentions. The less he permitted himself to take pleasure in her, the better.

“Off to pretend lions are chasing me.” He gave her a small salute before trotting down the steps of the terrace. His boots hit the shell-strewn path, which crunched as he took his first strides. At first, running with no purpose felt ridiculous. But after jogging several paces, his body recognized the movement, and within minutes, he’d completed one lap around the garden.

Three times he made a circuit. Three times he passed Grace watching him from the terrace. He could admit to himself that when he passed her, he made certain to lengthen his stride. It was a timeless—shameless—display of masculine prowess, as if he said to her, Yes, Fredericks is wealthy and charming and learned, but can he do this?

After the third lap, he stopped at the foot of the terrace steps. He set his hands on his hips as he looked up at her.

“You don’t seem very winded,” she said with a raised brow.

A small gloss of sweat slicked his forehead, and he dragged the side of his hand over it. “The lions have been too indulged from their life in the Tower. Regular servings of beefsteak can take the fight out of a creature.”

“How are you feeling?”

“I feel . . .” He searched the jagged peaks of his anxiety—and was startled to find they’d been worn down into softer hillocks. It wasn’t as though he felt no unease at the prospect of speaking to strangers, but it seemed more manageable than before. As he climbed the stairs to her, he confessed, “Rather good, in truth.”

Her eyes sparkled as she handed him his coat. “The lions served their purpose, after all.”

Yet as they returned to the ballroom, and he heard the servants chatting over their tea, his jaw grew tighter and tighter. Before entering the large chamber, she stopped in the hallway and motioned for him to bend closer to her.

“Occasionally,” she said on a whisper, “when I get nervous, like when I have to go to a dinner and I’m certain all the other guests will be so much more sophisticated than me, I think about something that’s steady and constant, something that never varies. And I realize that my breathing is always there. So I just think about taking a long, slow breath. Then another. Then another. Try it with me?”

This seemed another strange, almost silly exercise—but she’d been correct about getting the energy out of his body. Straightening, Seb closed his eyes and breathed in, then let it out in a deep exhalation. He did it two more times

Peace settled over him.

He opened his eyes to find Grace gazing at him thoughtfully “Did you learn all this from studying amphibians and reptiles?”

“It’s quite amazing what one can learn from paying attention,” she said with a cheeky grin.

“Ah, there you are.” Rotherby strode toward them. He peered at Seb, but when he spoke, his voice was gentler. “Ready for your next task?” When Seb nodded, Rotherby said, “I’m going to break the servants into two groups so you’ll have more opportunity to practice.”