Husband Wanted (HC #1)

13: A confidante for the Lady

"The gardens."

Beth caught her skirts and ran to catch up.

"Do you come out here often?" John asked as he passed beneath the arch.

She felt the blood rush to her cheeks. Though he could have no way of knowing it, she'd spent more time in the gardens this last week with Lord Pendrake than she had since they were constructed. She swallowed and decided not to mention that.

"I try to." Even if her breath hitched on the words, John didn't notice. He was looking around in awe.

"This is beautiful!"

Pride bubbled in Beth's chest. Each garden in this area was encircled by a low hedge which acted as a fence to keep the flowers within from overflowing. The multitude of colours was bright – almost too much, but somehow not.

"Thank you."

There was something in her tone, some level of ownership, that made him look at her more closely. "Did you do this?"

Beth frowned delicately. "Do you doubt I could?"

John just smiled at her and moved further along the path. The stones were a difficult surface for the crutch to balance on, and he moved even more carefully than before. After a long silence, he turned back to her. "I don't doubt it for a moment."

Beth suddenly felt as if she were taking too much credit. "I hardly did it alone! In truth, I played the smallest role; just talking and listening and putting the right people together. It's difficult to explain..." She remembered the exact same conversation she'd had with Lord Pendrake, and her mouth moved before she had time to stop it. "I guess it sounds silly when I say it aloud."

"Hey!" The reprimand was soft, but Beth still looked up at him abruptly. John was frowning at her. "People believe that stone or glass are the hardest materials to work with, but they're wrong. People are the most challenging. Don't talk your accomplishment down just because someone else might not understand it!"

The warmth made a sudden reappearance in her chest. John tossed his head at the garden again, encouraging her to catch up to him. "Come and show me your favourite part."

Her daily routine adapted now that John was mobile. In the mornings, Beth walked the gardens with Lord Pendrake, and in the afternoons, she and John meandered out to the swing to read. Every time he emerged from the house was like the first time again, and he basked in the soft glow of the sun. Beth had offered to move him to a room with windows, they had plenty of guest rooms to spare, but he declined. Those rooms were all on the second floor, and as he found the three steps at the front of the house challenging enough, he didn't want to traipse the grand staircase every day as well.

Truth be told, Beth quite liked these days. They were very pleasant.

What she didn't like was having no one to speak to about them! Her cousins were in the throes of wedding planning and she didn't dare tell her aunts about her... friendship... with John. And as for all of her so-called friends! They were all newlyweds or were pregnant or had newborns. Beth couldn't bring herself to intrude on their happiness with her petty... feelings.

She made the mistake of complaining about it one too many times to Matt, who eventually snapped. "If you have need of a new friend, go and make one then!" he threw back the last of his brandy, slamming the glass down with a little too much force. "I'm going to town. I'll find some of my own friends at the club."

Beth ignored his outburst. "Is this the club you share with Thomas Thorne?" she asked curiously.

Her younger brother paused in the doorway. "No. Why do you ask?" He was looking over his shoulder with a frown. He almost looked... concerned? It was a foreign emotion on his face.