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“Did you have business with them?” Polk asked.
“I just have a few questions about what’s going on with our current water rights,” Thomas said. “Nothing you need to concern your pretty head about.”
Polk laughed at that one. “Pretty head? I’ll take that as a compliment. I must say, being the third son does give one a bit of freedom. I may never have a title of my own, but my coffers are always filled, and I have none of the responsibilities.”
“Same for me,” Jonathan agreed. “My father wasn’t titled either, and we made a mint in the Americas investing in gemstone mines. I can live on those royalties for the next three lifetimes.”
“Good on both of you.” Thomas turned and then looked over his shoulder. “I shall see you both at dinner.”
Then he walked off.
Back to the main estate, where servants were still cleaning up after the lawn party.
Instead of heading straight for his study, he decided to go upstairs and check on his mother.
But as he turned the corner to hit the stairwell, he collided with a young lady.
“Goodness, please accept my apologies.”
But then he looked into her sapphire-blue eyes.
15
Tricia gasped. “Thomas!” Then she clamped her hand over her mouth. “Pardon me. I should have said ‘my lord.’”
“What are you doing about?” Thomas asked. “Shouldn’t most of you ladies be retiring after the lawn party?”
Tricia frowned. “I don’t require a nap, my lord.”
“I see.”
“You’re forgetting that I wasn’t raised this way. There was no time for napping as a tenant on the Lybrook land. Mummy and I worked from dawn until dusk, and so did Cam. Even little Kat put in a full day. We did what we had to. The privilege of lying down after a meal just seems…all wrong to me.”
Thomas simply stared at her, his gaze meeting hers.
“My lord?” she questioned.
“I’m sorry. I should have been watching where I was going. I’m afraid my mind was…elsewhere.”
Tricia shook her head. “No need for apologies. I tend to be a bit clumsy. Seems I’m always in peril one way or another. Thank goodness you were there last night to save me from falling off the parapet.”
His gaze darkened. “I don’t know what I would have done if something happened to you.”
Patricia widened her eyes. “Oh?”
“I simply mean…” Thomas dropped his gaze to the ground for a moment before meeting hers once more. “You’re a guest of my estate. If anything happened to you, it would have been my responsibility.”
Now it was Tricia’s turn to drop her gaze. “So I’m simply a responsibility to you, am I?”
Thomas raised a hand in front of him. “Patricia, all the guests on this estate are my responsibility. Your safety is my priority.”
Tricia’s heart broke a little. Thomas was clearly attracted to her. He had nearly taken her last night, and she would have allowed it. But that was all there was between them in his eyes.
She was simply a guest—albeit a guest he found extremely attractive and wanted to bed.
“If you’ll excuse me, my lord, I should like to take a stroll about the estate.”
“Without a chaperone?”
