Gentleman's Guide 01 - His Impetuous Debutante (22 page)

“
They are the best around.
Not quite ripe yet, but they make a nice tart pie,” one of the
women stated with pride.

“
Did these come from the
orchard?”

“
Where else?” the cook
chuckled.

Phoebe’s eyes widened with delight.
“Where might the orchard be?”

“
It is only on the other
side of the stables,” the cook indicated.

“
If my husband should look
for me, tell him that is where I have gone.” Phoebe knew full well
it would only be a matter of minutes before Taylor came for her,
which he often did as soon as her music was silent for too
long.

She rounded the stables and came to
the orchard, at least what she would call an orchard. An area,
surrounded by fields, contained about twenty trees, all just
beginning to ripen with apples. Beneath, there were patches of
grass, as not much grew within the shady environment. Small animals
scurried about, pilfering a few of the green apples that had
already fallen from the tree. Birds sang above, and bees went about
their business, landing on rotting fruit. She walked into the
center of the orchard and looked up into a tree. The limbs appeared
strong and sturdy. With an eager smile, Phoebe kicked off her
shoes, unhooked her stockings from the garters, and rolled them
down her legs. Folding the items neatly on her shoes and hiking her
skirts, she put her mind to climbing the tree. Though her hands
suffered a few minor scrapes, she finally made it to the first limb
she thought would hold her weight. Standing, she braced one hand on
the tree and looked around before plucking a green, not nearly ripe
apple, and bit into the tart fruit. As she finished her first bite,
she heard Taylor enter the area.

She stayed as quiet as she could and
observed him walk deeper and deeper, stopping just under the tree.
Hands on his hips, appearing a bit irritated, he scanned the area,
neither looking up, where he would find her, nor down, where he
would find her discarded clothing. She caught a glimpse of his
profile, his worry, and it took some of the fun away. Leaning
slightly, she dropped the apple she had been eating. It landed
directly in front of him.

He looked down and picked it up and
must have noted the bite. His head tilted up and met her
eyes.

“
What do you think you are
doing?” Taylor shouted at her.

“
Climbing a tree. Care to
join me?” She shouted back.

“
No, I do not. Do you have
any idea how dangerous this is?”

“
Don’t tell me you have
never climbed a tree before,” she teased back.

“
Of course I did. When I
was a boy. You are a lady.”

“
Ladies can’t have
fun?”

“
Not when they could break
their neck.”

“
Oh, Taylor, you really
are too stiff. Come up here with me,” she beckoned
sweetly.

“
I will not. You get down
here.” He pointed to the ground while looking up at her.

“
I don’t want to.” Phoebe
pouted. “You really do need to learn to have some fun.”

“
You cannot expect me to
enjoy myself when I expect you to fall at any moment.”

“
I am not going to fall. I
have done this for years.”

“
Well you should have
stopped doing this years ago,” he shouted up.

She sat down on the limb and began to
swing her legs. “Now, are you going to join me or not?”

Hands on hips, lips pursed together,
he studied her. “Please come down.”

Phoebe rolled her eyes to the sky.
“Oh, very well.” Leaning over, she grasped the limb with both hands
and let her body fall, hanging for a few moments before she let
herself drop to the ground. She brushed off her hands and faced her
husband. “Feel better?” She gave him a mocking grin, then turned to
retrieve her stockings.

“
Yes. I do.”

She stood and faced him, not trying
very hard to hide her irritation. “Taylor, it is a tree. I have
been climbing trees for as long as I can remember and haven’t been
injured since I was ten.” Bending, she retrieved the apple she had
dropped and brushed it off with her skirt. “Even that wasn’t my
fault. If the snake hadn’t startled me, I wouldn’t have fallen and
broken my arm,” she told him before she took another
bite.

“
I suppose you think I
have overreacted?” He raised eyebrows.

“
Again,” she
retorted.

“
What brought you out here
in the first place?”

“
I wanted an apple.” She
shrugged her shoulders.

“
One of the servants could
have retrieved an apple, not to mention there are plenty in the
kitchen.” He gestured back to the house.

Sighing deeply, Phoebe admitted, “If
you must know, I wanted to stroll without your constant
guard.”

His face dropped. “You don’t want my
company?”

“
No. You misunderstand.”
She gave him a smile. “I love being with you. But, when we are away
from the house, you hover, afraid I may be hurt. It is getting to
be as stifling as watching what I do and say in London.”

“
I didn’t realize I was
suffocating you,” Taylor bit out.

“
You are not.” Throwing up
her hands she turned away from him. This wasn’t going well at all.
She hadn’t meant to hurt him. He did have her best interest at
heart. “Taylor, being careful is one thing. Being afraid to do
anything is another. I understand your fear and you have good
reason. But I can’t live under constant guard. We haven’t even
ridden since the horse reared and I wonder if you will allow me to
ride again.”

“
I am sorry. I can’t help
myself.”

“
I can’t help being
myself,” she returned with a loving smile.

He sighed and his shoulders relaxed.
“I’ll try not to be so confining if you let me know what you are up
to.”

“
Can we have some fun?”
she asked with a tilt of her head and mischievous smile.

He returned with a wicked
grin.

She slapped at his arm. “When is the
last time you climbed a tree?”

Taylor studied her, then he looked at
the tree. “I suppose it has been years.”

Her grin widened. “Care to give it a
try?” she challenged him.

He continued to study the tree. “Very
well.” He removed his jacket and pulled himself up. When he lifted
his leg up on the limb, there was the unmistakable sound of ripping
trousers.

When his pants split at the seam, she
couldn’t control her laughter. At least her husband was laughing as
well when he dropped from the tree.

It was some time before they sobered
and made their way to the house. Phoebe stayed behind him, blocking
from the staff what was now revealed. Taylor had a sheepish
expression as they made their way through the kitchen, past the
staff and finally up the stairs to their chamber.

*

He was in the garden again and he knew
if he kept looking he would find her. Turning in every direction,
he finally found Heather sitting peacefully on a bench, surrounded
by pink roses. His breath caught at her loveliness. She smiled
warmly at him. “It is good to see you as well, Taylor.”

“
I am glad you came back.”
He was. She offered a comfort he couldn’t define.

“
She is good for
you.”

“
I am not sure I agree,”
he grumbled, well aware they were talking of his wife.

“
She is bringing life to
you once again. You stopped worrying about the will.”

A slow smile came to his lips. Yes, he
had.

“
Still you
fear.”

“
She is so
reckless.”

“
She is full of life. More
life than I have ever seen.”

“
It is dangerous,” Taylor
argued.

“
No. Phoebe is not a
danger to herself. Never has been, nor ever will be. She has been
hurt before and she will be again. She takes reasonable risks and
enjoys life. If you pay close attention to her body, you’ll see a
number of scars.”

Taylor only groaned.

“
Let her be herself and be
free. Join her and enjoy as well. The danger is from outside as I
told you before. She is not as reckless as you believe and would
never do anything she thought could harm her seriously.”

“
How am I to protect
her?”

“
Look around her. The
outside sources. Not at her and what she may be doing at the
moment. Be aware, but alert for her.”

“
I have tried.”

“
You have suffocated
her.”

He studied her intently. “Have
I?”

“
Have you noticed the
change in music?”

He stopped, taken aback. A few days
ago she had switched to Vivaldi, but he hadn’t thought much of it
at the time.

“
That is the music for her
restless spirit. Let her be herself. There are more mishaps to come
and you need to understand there will be no real harm
done.”

He thought about what she said. “It
isn’t so easy.”

Smiling warmly at him once again, she
approached. “I know. Trust with your heart in her, but not in
others.”

“
Who?”

“
I cannot say.” Finishing
with a sad smile, she faded from his sight.

Taylor came awake suddenly with Phoebe
watching him closely.

“
What isn’t easy?” she
asked.

He just looked at her, not seeing at
first, slowly returning to reality. “Letting you be free,” he
unconsciously answered.

Phoebe gave him a queer look. “Taylor,
what were you dreaming about?”

His mind was beginning to clear and he
saw Phoebe. What had he said? What had she heard? Did she know he
had talked to Heather again? Was he losing his mind? No. It didn’t
feel as if he were. “It was just a strange dream.” Taylor pulled
her into his arms. “I have been overprotective. I will try not to
be so in the future.” He squeezed her tight and wondered who wanted
to harm her?

As much as they hated the idea, Taylor
knew they needed to return to London for the remainder of the
Season. A pile of invitations waited. Sifting through, they picked
the ones they would accept, and unanimously agreed to avoid the
opera. Taylor agreed to take her to the Gardens at night, promising
she would not end up on the floor of his carriage this
time.

He also waited patiently for her to
realize what he already knew. They had been married over six weeks
when Taylor learned Phoebe was with child and remembered what
Heather had told him in the first dream. But Phoebe hadn’t said a
word and he wondered if she had any idea. Though he wanted a child,
needed an heir and knew Phoebe would be a wonderful mother, it was
also a time of fear. He prayed daily that this wife lived a long
life and was able to bring this child into the world.

For two weeks Taylor pretended he knew
nothing and escorted his wife to constant functions, letting her
sleep late into the morning.

*

Tonight would be the last ball they
would attend and it was to be a masquerade. Phoebe bubbled with
anticipation. She had been unable to decide on a costume when they
first read the invitation two weeks earlier. It took her another
two days to make up her mind. It seemed everyone was choosing a
Greek theme but she wanted to be different. Taylor had actually
suggested the costume idea she decided on, though at the time, he
had only been teasing her.

Noah met them at their home before
accompanying them to the party.

“
Aren’t you wearing a
costume?”

Taylor grinned. “Of course I am.” He
studied his brother-in-law. “A domino isn’t very
creative.”

“
You are lucky I wore
this. Victoria insisted.”

Taylor glanced to the doorway. “Ah
there is my lovely wife now.”

She appeared with her dark hair
flowing down her back, as a young girl would wear it, dressed in
pure, virginal white. In her hands she carried a small
basket.

Noah took the basket from her hands to
look through it. “We have a cake, a pot of butter and a book.” He
glanced up at his sister. “I don’t understand.”

The butler came forward and placed a
red cape on her shoulders. Phoebe pulled the red hood
up.

Noah laughed. “I can
assume the book in your basket is
Stories
or Tales from Times Past, with Morales, Tales of Mother
Goose.
”

Phoebe smiled back at him.

“
Now I understand
completely.” Noah turned to Taylor. “You wouldn’t by chance be
portraying the wolf innocent young women are warned of in
Le petit chaperon rouge
?”

Taylor only gave him a wicked grin and
proceeded to attach his mask. Noah reached into the basket and
withdrew the book. “Now let me see, how did that warning go?” He
thumbed through the pages until he came to the one previously
marked by Phoebe and began reading.