“I have grown too used to despair.I don’t know if I am capable of happiness anymore.”
Sunny had not thought that he could be an able farmhand, but he was managing rather well.“You’d be surprised how much you can change if you try.”
“And what would you change about me?”
Sunny had always wanted his mother to be more like Lady Hampford, who was openly affectionate with her children.She hugged and kissed them.She teased them and gently corrected her progeny when they drifted off course.Wick complained when they were younger that his mother was a tyrant, and Sunny had always been jealous that she cared enough to get involved in the minutia of her children’s lives.It would be impossible for his own mother to change so much in only one conversation—but maybe that was what it took.One conversation and then another and then so on.
He swallowed, his throat dry.“Would you like to stay for dinner?I can clean up and meet you in forty-five minutes, and you can tell me all about the dower house and any changes that you have made to it.”
“I should like that very much.”His mother’s tone was cold, but her eyes were full of unshed tears.He’d misjudged her for years, believing that she was heartless.Perhaps she didn’t know how to articulate her feelings either.
Instinctively, Sunny pecked a kiss on his mother’s cheek before jogging up the stairs and calling for his valet.As he washed himself in the copper tub, he wished that all aspects of his life could be so easily changed with hot water and a great deal of soap.Smiling, he thought about Mantheria and how he’d “cleaned up” his life for her.He hoped that she would notice the differences.
23
Wooden sword in hand, Mantheria crouched behind the stables at Hampford Castle, ready to strike.Andrew told her that Roman soldiers would often use the tactic of surprise on their enemies.They would march quietly, and when they were close enough to attack, unleash their battle cry.She took a deep breath and then jumped out from behind the door, giving a guttural battle cry that she and Andrew had practiced their entire carriage ride to Hampford Castle.Her loud noise died on her lips when she saw that the man who stood before her was not Andrew, but Sunny.
Blushing, she dropped her sword but managed to cling to her shield.Mantheria used it to cover her body.She felt a prickling at the back of her neck and gave a strangled-sounding laugh.Her dress was liberally streaked with dirt and bits of hay.Her long hair was down and had at least a few twigs in it from an earlier battle that day.A bush had been involved.
Becca’s wedding was tomorrow, and she should have realized that Sunny would arrive before it began.
Holding up both hands, Sunny smiled at her.“I surrender, fiercely shielded maiden.”
“I thought ...I thought that you were Andrew.”
Sunny stooped down and picked up her wooden sword from the ground of the stable.He swung it a couple of times, as if testing its weight, before he handed it back to her.“You’d better keep hold of this in case you are ambushed.”
“You look well.”
Mantheria couldn’t help but notice that Sunny appeared slimmer around his middle and broader in the shoulders.It was strange to think that his form had altered so much in only a little over a month.Forty-three days to be exact since they’d last seen each other.Not that she was counting.And her own form had also undergone subtle transformations from her daily soldier training.Her arms and legs were more muscular.There was definition rather than softness.Although, thanks to eating the occasional dessert, her frame had not grown thinner.
Sunny smiled at her, and Mantheria’s heart beat faster.He stepped closer and pulled out a small branch from her tangled hair with leaves in it.“As do you.”
Her mortification made it almost impossible to speak.Her throat felt thicker than cream churned into butter.“Gu-guests don’t usually come to the stables.I didn’t expect to see anyone, or I would have—you know, dressed appropriately.”
“You look like Camilla, the Amazon warrior.She helped Aeneas fight for control of Rome.Virgil himself would be impressed by your appearance.”
Mantheria had never before been compared to an Amazon, and it struck her funny bone.She snorted before she laughed, unable to keep her mirth inside.
A deadly error.
Andrew ran toward her, wooden sword at the ready, and knocked her shield out of her hands.Mantheria was not about to lose this battle so quickly, so she got into her attack stance, with one foot in front of the other and her wooden sword held high against her cheek.She was ready for Andrew’s next blow and parried it easily.
“Who is Camilla?”Andrew asked.
Sunny smiled at her son.“She was a fierce Amazon warrior who helped Aeneas fight the other Roman tribes in Virgil’sAeneid.”
“What happened to her?”
“During the battle, she became distracted for only a moment, but it was enough for an arrow to pierce her.”
Andrew shook his head and raised his shield higher.“She should have known not to get distracted during a battle.”
“And perhaps practiced her archery more,” Mantheria quipped.
Her son circled Mantheria.“I already told you that Sunny promised to teach me archery, and Uncle Wick says that he’s even better than Aunt Frederica.”
“Beating your Aunt Frederica with the bow and arrow is probably the greatest accomplishment of my life,” Sunny quipped, his lips twitching.