A Reckless Beauty

“Jupiter? But isn’t that a—Oh, my stars, you don’t mean a planet, do you? And not some ancient God, either, I’d imagine.”

“Lucie, please?” Fanny said as the carriage moved on along the roadway. “I really want to stop here.”

Lucie called an order to the coachman and then looked at her reprovingly. “High-strung, aren’t you, my dear? But I can see the grass, Fanny, and it’s still wet from last night’s rain, so I’ll just sit here and you can take Frances with you to—Oh, my stars! Fanny, you should wait for the coachman to put down the stairs.”

But Fanny had seen Rian striding toward Jupiter, and she wanted to reach him before he could mount and ride off. She’d fussed with the handle of the low door for a moment, ready to vault over it if the latch wouldn’t budge, and then jumped down to the ground, almost immediately feeling the squish of water running into her brand-new black patent slippers. She lifted her skirts and headed up the hill.

“Rian, wait!” she called out when she was halfway there and a Private was holding Jupiter for him to mount. At first she thought he didn’t hear her, or was going to ignore her as the Marquess of Daventry had ignored Lucie. But then he turned her way, his fists jammed on his hips, and impatiently waited for her to climb all the way to the top of the hill.

“Well, look at you,” he said, his tone not all that welcoming. “Does his lordship know you’re off the leash?”

“I don’t care what his lordship knows,” Fanny said, still holding up her skirts, as the hill was not only wet, but covered in horse manure. “Don’t let Jupiter get any of this mess stuck beneath his shoes or he’ll—”

“Fanny, I know how to take care of my own horse,” Rian interrupted, and then looked past her, toward the carriage. “How’s Lady Oh-my-stars? Are you behaving yourself?”

“She’s still breathing, isn’t she? Although, I’ll admit it, yesterday in the shops, and again this morning, it was a pretty close-run thing,” Fanny grumbled, and then smiled when Rian laughed out loud. “Have you seen the Duke yet, Rian? Did you talk to him? Are you going to be a courier, or whatever?”

“I’ll be taking messages, orders, to our commanders, yes,” Rian said, visibly preening. “I spent all day yesterday doing as the Earl said, riding out with Jupiter, all the way to Ligny, as a matter of fact. I’d like to be in the thick of things, smack in the battle, but this is important, Fanny. Deadly important. If only Blücher’s army would show itself before Boney does. We’re outmanned, Fanny. We may be the better men, but there aren’t enough of us. Not with the news the Earl brought this morning.”

Fanny felt her stomach do a small flip. “He’s here? He’s back?”

“That he is. Rode in here an hour ago, his horse all lathered, and nearly fell out of the saddle. He saw them, Fanny. At least a small party, probably out looking for us. And he got too close, if you ask me. I saw a hole from a ball in his cloak. He’s with the Duke now.”

“They shot at him?” Fanny turned toward the tents, suddenly feeling slightly sick in her stomach. “How do you know he wasn’t hit?”

“Because he told me,” Rian said, grinning. “Right before he cordially told me to go to hell, asking asinine questions, because he was still walking, wasn’t he? I like him, Fanny, so don’t pest him out of his mind the way you do the rest of us. He wrote to Jack yesterday, told him you’re all right and that he’ll act as your guardian until he can get you home again. So you’re his ward now, I think it’s called, and that means he’s in charge of you.”

“Oh, he is not,” Fanny protested, wishing she felt as confident about that as she sounded. “You’re here. You’ll act as my guardian.”

Rian pushed his spread fingers through his dark hair. “But you see, Fanny, the thing is, I don’t want to. I already know you’d drive a monk to drink, but the Earl doesn’t. Let him find out for himself.”

“And that’s fine with you?” Fanny asked him, looking at him narrowly, and in some disappointment. “You’ll just hand me over to him, a stranger, and wash your hands of me?”

“I washed my hands of you—no, let me start over before you launch yourself at me. I said goodbye to you at Becket Hall, Fanny. I’m here now, where I want to be, and it’s not my fault you got it into your head that we…that we…”

“That I love you,” Fanny whispered, as three soldiers walked by, on their way to their horses. “That you love me. That you’d want to see me as much as I needed to see you. Rian, I’ve been having strange—” She clamped her mouth shut, realizing she’d almost blurted out some nonsense about her frightening dreams, had almost added to his worries. “Please, Rian, understand….”

Rian’s hair took another raking from his stabbing fingers. “Oh, Christ, Fanny-panny. I do love you. You’re my sis—My best friend,” he corrected quickly. “My very best friend, Fanny. But you’re young, and you’ve never seen the world.”

“And you have?” she asked him, blinking back tears as she looked into his beautiful face. His kind eyes. Didn’t he know that he was her world?