The Arrangement by Joan Wolf

very well what I had seen in the Earl of Savile’s face.
    It wasn’t Savile who was worrying me, however. I was perfectly capable of handling unwelcome male ardor. What worried me was the response I had felt in myself. That was something altogether new.
    Don’t be a fool, Gail! I thought. Just because the man looks like some kind of a god doesn’t mean you have to play the role of a smitten Greek maiden.
    I gripped my hands together under my ancient warm wool blanket.
    Just because the man painted a few walls for you doesn’t mean he is entitled to jump into your bed.
    I breathed deeply, drawing the cold, damp air of the bedroom into my lungs.
    Just because the man has a smile that could melt ice in the arctic doesn’t mean you have to fall into his arms like a love-starved widow.
    I had never felt like a love-starved widow before.
    I shut my eyes and rocked the chair back and forth.
    Perhaps I had imagined it all, I thought. Perhaps nothing had happened between us. Perhaps he was wondering what in the name of heaven had caused me to bolt from the room like that.
    I rocked back and forth, back and forth, until gradually the rhythm soothed my jangled nerves. I let my head rest against the back of the chair and closed my eyes. I would just sit here for a few more minutes, I thought, and then…
    “Mama!”
    I opened my eyes and sat up abruptly, feeling the chill in my bones, the stiffness in my neck.
    “Mama, you fell asleep!”
    I blinked and looked into Nicky’s blue eyes, which were but inches from mine.
    “I must have,” I said in surprise.
    “It has stopped snowing,” Nicky said, straightening away from me. “Lord Savile put his chestnuts out in the paddock an hour ago, Mama, and he is bringing them in now. He wanted to know if you wished him to put Elijah and Noah out for a while.”
    I unwound myself from my blanket. “What in God’s name is Savile doing in the stable?” I asked. “Where is Grove?”
    “Mr. Grove rode Sampson into the village to see if he could get any news of the Brighton Mail.”
    I had said that I would ride into the village, but then I had fallen asleep. I was furious with myself.
    I struggled to my feet. “What time is it, Nicky?”
    “It is after four o’clock, Mama.”
    I had been asleep for almost an hour! I never slept in the afternoon. Perhaps that was why my brain felt so fuzzy.
    “Certainly Elijah and Noah may go out for a while,” I said, “but I will do it. His lordship does not have to attend to our horses, Nicky.”
    “Oh, he doesn’t mind,” my son assured me blithely. “He’s a great gun, Mama. Do you know he has two nephews who are my age and a niece who is still a baby?”
    “Does he?”
    “Yes. Charles and Theodore are the ones my age. They are up at Eton at present.”
    “Fortunate boys,” I said lightly. I had more chance of flying to the moon than I had of sending Nicky to Eton.
    “I don’t think they’re fortunate, Mama,” Nicky said. “I would hate to go to school away from home. It is much nicer studying with Mr. Ludgate.”
    I hugged him and said, “Go tell his lordship that I will be down to the stable in a trice.”
    Nicky raced from the room, and I went to fetch Tommy’s old coat.
    * * * *
    Mrs. Macintosh caught me as I was going out the door, and by the time I reached the stable the geldings were already out in the front paddock. The day was growing dark but the wind had ceased along with the snow. Savile had left the stable door open to let in some fresh air, and the first thing I heard as I stepped inside was Nicky’s delightful peel of merriment.
    “Cleverest horse I ever knew,” the earl said with a chuckle.
    He emerged from one of his horses’ stalls with a pitchfork full of manure. “Ah, here you are, Mrs. Saunders,” he said cheerfully.
    He was wearing his extremely expensive caped driving coat, which made him look enormous. I decided not to apologize for my absence; I most certainly did not want him to know that I had