Rand grimaced. “If I have my way, you’ll never meet him at all.”
Lily rose and moved close to him. “Rand…” Much as she loved and admired him, his attitude toward his family was one area she thought could see improvement. Especially now that his father was the only family he had left.
Glancing at her own dear parents, her heart ached for him. “Of course I want to meet your father,” she told him. “He’s part of what made you the man I love.”
“Whatever I’ve made of myself, it was despite him, not because of him.” Rand’s eyes were hard as steel. “Trust me, Lily. The farther you stay from Hawkridge, the better.”
“Gemini,” Rose sneered, “is your father such a troll you fear he’ll send your bride packing?”
“Rose!” Mum admonished. “That’s quite enough from you.”
Lily was so angry, she couldn’t even look at her sister.
Rand reclaimed her hand. “I’ll only be gone a few nights,” he said in a consoling tone. “Come, let’s enjoy the rest of the day. Did I not promise you all a tour of the town?”
Lily gave him a pointed look. “Isn’t your father awaiting your arrival?”
“The letter was written early last week; he can wait another day.”
Searching his eyes, she saw the steel in them soften. She turned to her mother. “Mum, may I please go?”
Mum’s mouth pinched with regret. “I wish I could give my consent. But you two are not married yet, and it would be highly improper for you, Lily, to stay at Hawkridge unchaperoned, much less travel all alone with a single man.” She nodded to Rand. “I know your betrothed is a gentleman, but I’ve your reputation to think of, too.”
“Then come with us,” Lily begged. “Chaperone us if you must.”
Mum glanced from Lily to Rand to her husband, looking thoughtful. Lily’s heart swelled with hope—then lurched when sounds of a crash reached them from below. Knowing her brother, Lily looked about the room in panic. “Where’s Rowan?”
Mum lead the charge downstairs, but Lily, nearly as frantic and more nimble, outpaced her. She flew out the front door and found Rowan sprawled on the ground, splattered with white paint from a bucket lying nearby, its contents splashed all over the bare dirt yard. Above him, the scaffolding tilted at a crazy angle.
He pushed to his feet—or rather, he tried to. “Ouch!” he hollered and collapsed back to the dirt.
She rushed to kneel beside him. “Is it your ankle? Rand told you the scaffolds weren’t safe!” She tugged off his boot.
“Ouch, it hurts!“ Tears sprang to his eyes. “This is God’s reckoning for my stupid mistake; I just know it.”
Gently she probed his ankle, looking for indications of a break. “Yes, you really should have listened to Rand,” she said sympathetically.
“No—ouch!” he wailed. “I’m talking about the barn! I told you about the joke going wrong, but I didn’t have Mr. Boyle’s fire-making things. It was a mistake,” he finished weakly.
“A mistake? You set it? You set the fire?” Anger made her voice shrill. They’d talked about mistakes, but she’d never realized…but she should have realized. She liked to think she was smart enough to put two and two together. She’d been too focused on her own problems, her own mistakes, her love for Rand and her promise to Rose.
“Rowan!” Mum called as she raced outside. “What happened? You’re covered in paint!”
Rowan just stared at his sister, tears leaking out of his eyes. Eyes that silently willed her to keep his secret.
When he didn’t say anything, Mum shifted her attention to Lily. “Is he hurt? Or is it something else?”
Lily watched Rowan swallow hard. Inside her, a sense of duty battled with sibling loyalty. By not telling Mum, was she as good as a party to the crime? The fire was a serious thing, not some minor offense like straying too far from home on a fishing outing with a friend. Rand and her animals could have perished in that fire. Or someone else.
But in the end she held her tongue. Rowan knew he had done wrong, and he was sorry. And he was certainly paying for his mistakes now. She nodded to let him know his secret was safe.
“It’s his ankle, Mum.” Lily’s voice held no anger now; only sympathy. Once the shock wore off, she suspected, her little brother would be in a good deal more pain. “I think his ankle may be broken.”
THIRTY-ONE
AFTER A ROUND of hysterics from Lily’s mother—which her future son-in-law found rather gratifying, for he was relieved to discover the formidable woman did occasionally suffer from bouts of human weakness—Lord and Lady Trentingham gratefully accepted Rand’s offer to send for one of his colleagues, a Wadham College lecturer and physician.
Rand scribbled a note while Kit and Lord Trentingham brought the sniffling boy inside to the master bedroom. Almost as sore as his ankle was Rowan’s disappointment at missing the tour of Oxford and not getting to climb any towers. His parents both decided to stay behind and see to the patient, and so it happened that the two young men and two Ashcroft sisters set out as a foursome to explore the town. They left the others playing a game of draughts in the huge oak bed.
Rand shook his head at Lily. “I thought you said he was a monkey.”
“I should have said he’s an accident-prone monkey. He’s done worse to himself, though. He’ll be back on his feet in no time.”
“King me!” Lily heard Rowan yell as they quit the house, much later than they’d originally planned. She imagined her family’s raised voices echoing through the home on top of the construction noise, and was thankful she would be elsewhere for the next few hours.
Their walking tour started at Wadham, where Rand had begun his years here at Oxford. The college was on Parks Road, around the corner and down one street from his house. “You
