The mare gave the stableboy an affectionate nudge with her head before blowing out her nostrils again.
Lily smiled and gave the mare another stroke. ‘She’s gorgeous.’
‘Do you ride?’ the boy asked.
Lily dropped her hand from the horse’s forehead, her smiling fading. ‘Not in ages. I used to ride at a friend’s country estate just about every weekend or during the holidays but we...we sort of lost touch over the years. I’m not sure I’d be very confident now.’
For months after her birthday party she had tried to keep her friendship with Georgina Yalesforth going but in the end the prospect of running into Georgie’s older brother Heath had been too upsetting. One of the worst things about it was Heath had seemed to have no memory of what had occurred that night. When she’d next seen him, a few weeks after her birthday, he’d acted as he had always acted towards her—teasing and friendly in a big-brotherly way. All she could conclude was that he had been so heavily inebriated that night that—like so many other binge drinkers—he had no memory of what he’d done or who he’d done it to.
Lily had decided it was easier to sacrifice the friendship than destroy the Yalesforths’ good name and reputation. After all, what hope did a working-class girl have over an upper-class moneyed family with a pedigree that went back two hundred years?
She would have been laughed out of court.
‘You should get back in the saddle,’ the stableboy said. ‘Mardi’s quiet as a mouse. You’d be lucky to get a canter out of her.’
Lily gave him another brief smile. ‘I’ll think about it.’
‘How long are you here?’
‘A week.’
The boy glanced up at the château, his forehead heavily creased when his gaze came back to hers. ‘Monsieur Caffarelli hasn’t been down to the stables since he came home from the rehab centre. I don’t think he’s even come out of the château, not even out to the gardens. He used to spend all of his time out here with his horses. They are his passion. His life. But he refuses to come down because of the chair. He is very stubborn, no?’
‘It’s a very difficult adjustment for him,’ Lily said.
‘Is he going to walk again?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘You must help him, mademoiselle,’ he insisted. ‘He is like a father to me, a mentor, oui? He got me off the streets of Paris and gave me this job. He’s a good man—the very best of men. I trust him with my life. I would not have a life without him. You must make him get better. Monsieur Rafe thinks you can do it. So does Dominique.’
‘Their confidence and yours is very flattering but I’m not sure what I can do in a week,’ Lily said.
‘Then you must change his mind so you can stay longer. I, Etienne, will talk to him, oui? I will tell him he is to keep you here for as long as it takes.’
Good luck with that, Lily thought as she walked back to the château gardens. Raoul Caffarelli might be a good man but he was one hell of an obstinate one.
* * *
An hour or so before dinner Lily went to speak to Dominique who was collecting herbs from the herb garden. ‘Can I have a quick word, Dominique?’ she asked.
‘Oui, mademoiselle.’ The housekeeper straightened from where she had been picking some tarragon.
‘I was talking to Etienne down at the stables earlier,’ Lily said. ‘He said Monsieur Raoul has not been outside the château since he came home after the accident.’
Dominique gave a heartfelt sigh. ‘It is sad but true. He won’t go out until he can walk out. He is very stubborn when he puts his mind to things.’
‘I have an idea,’ Lily said. ‘What if we set out dinner on the terrace overlooking the lake this evening? It’s a lovely warm night, far too nice to be indoors. It will be a way of getting Monsieur Raoul out of the house without going too far. The fresh air will do him good and perhaps make him want to come out more.’
The housekeeper’s black button eyes shone in mutual conspiracy. ‘I have the perfect menu for alfresco dining. But how will you get him to come out?’
‘I don’t know...’ Lily chewed at her lower lip for a moment. ‘But I’ll think of something.’
* * *
Raoul was in his study going through some accounts from one of his feed suppliers half an hour before dinner when he heard a soft knock on the door. ‘Come.’
The door opened and Lily Archer stepped into the room. ‘Is this a good time for a quick chat?’