Page 85 of An Inconvenient Vow

He did not answer at once. “By tomorrow eve,” he admitted at last, grudgingly.

“So soon?”

He nodded. “This pleases you?”

“Of course! It is always good to arrive home.” She wondered at his expression. “You do not agree?”

He shrugged. “I am used to travel.”

The way his eyes dwelt on her face made her feel strangely shy. Usually, in her frumpy headdress, she felt impervious to the scrutiny of others. With Jeffree, she almost felt like he could see beneath it now. She touched the crisp linen folds distractedly to assure herself it was still in place. “I suppose you must be,” she murmured, avoiding his eyes.

*

Hearing Osborn’s cough close by, Jeffree swiveled in his saddle. His servant had passed by Sabina and drawn his horse alongside Jeffree’s own which rode in front.

“If I might be permitted a word, sir?” Osborn said dolefully, spearing him with a reproachful eye.

“Yes? What is it Osborn?”

“I thought the other morn, I heard tell of you taking on a couple of squires, Sir Jeffree, but maybe my ears deceived me,” Osborn began, sounding injured.

“They did not deceive you,” Jeffree answered briskly. “I will be taking on both of my brothers as squires, may the gods help me.” Osborn looked so disapproving that Jeffree felt stung into further speech. “Not immediately, though some time in the next year.”

Osborn sniffed. “Lot of changes,” he muttered, shaking his head. “Always served households with bachelors, I have, not with womenfolk nor children neither.”

Jeffree gave him a hard stare. “You are not bound to me, Osborn,” he said stiffly. “If the position no longer suits, then you must feel free to explore pastures new.”

Osborn’s look of wounded dignity grew more marked. “I wasn’t saying of that, Sir Jeffree. Not after these past five years of faithful service I have given thee.”

“Then what were you saying?”

“Just pointing out how circumstances has changed,” said Osborn mournfully, rolling his eyes.

Jeffree, who knew himself to pay a generous wage, sighed irritably. As if he did not know his own circumstances had changed of late. Drastically. “Very well, now you have pointed it out. Consider yourself heard.”

Osborn sniffed again but let his horse fall back so he was once again bringing up the rear.

Unable to help himself, Jeffree followed suit so he dropped back to ride abreast with Sabina.

“Is aught amiss?” she asked.

“Naught. Just Osborn thinking he deserves recompense for serving an expanding household.” That bought a reluctant smile to her lips, he thought irritably, if nothing else did.

“And will you? Raise his wages I mean.”

Jeffree shrugged. “Possibly. It would be a vast inconvenience to train up a new man.”

“Don’t forget we have Penny and Lancer back at Morecotte,” she reminded him. “It is not as though we are expecting him to chop firewood and tend to the hens.”

“Do we have hens?”

Sabina laughed and he felt it right down to his toes. “Not presently,” she admitted, “but back in my day, we did. They are good for fresh eggs.”

“You should get more then,” he heard himself assert. “Now you are mistress of Morecotte once more.”

She smiled at that and Jeffree examined his reaction. There was no denying that her smile gave him a warm feeling in the pit of his stomach. He wanted to see more of it. He wanted to see more of her. “Have you always…?” He gestured first toward his face, then his whole head.

“Worn a wimple?” she asked after a moment’s hesitation.