To Beguile a Beast (Legend of the Four Soldiers #3)(42)

Sir Alistair grinned. “The fishing poles are in the stables. I can fetch them with the children. I’ve asked Mrs. McCleod for a picnic basket. Perhaps you ladies can see if it’s ready.”

He was already turning toward the stables without waiting for a reply, so Abigail ran to catch up with him.

Jamie picked up the puppy in his arms. “I’ve never been fishing before.”

Sir Alistair glanced down at him. “Haven’t you?”

Jamie shook his head.

“Ah, but this is the sport of elegant gentlemen everywhere, my lad. Did you know that King George himself fishes?”

“No, I didn’t.” Jamie skipped a step to keep up with Sir Alistair’s long strides.

Sir Alistair nodded. “He told me so himself when I took tea with him.”

“Do dukes fish, too?” Jamie asked.

“Dukes?” Sir Alistair peered curiously down at Jamie.

Abigail’s heart froze.

Then Sir Alistair said, “Dukes fish as well, I have no doubt. A good thing I’m here to teach you. And your sister.” He smiled at Abigail.

Abigail felt her chest swell, and a smile seemed to take over her face; she couldn’t stop it if she wanted to.

They entered the dim stables and tramped to a door in the corner. Sir Alistair wrenched it open and rummaged about inside.

“Here we are,” he grunted, and brought out a pole longer than he was tall. He leaned it against the wall and bent to the little room again. “I think… Yes, these will do.” Four more poles appeared.

He backed from the storage room and held out an old basket with a leather handle and hinges. “Can you carry this, Abigail?”

“Yes,” she said stoutly, though the basket was heavier than it looked. She wrapped both hands around the handle and lifted it against her chest.

Sir Alistair nodded. “Good lass. And this one for Jamie.” He handed a smaller basket to her brother to carry. “All right, then.”

He shouldered the poles, and they tramped back toward the castle where Mama and Miss Munroe were waiting for them.

“Mama, did you know that King George fishes?” Jamie asked. He held the puppy under one arm and grasped the basket in the other hand.

“Does he?” Mama looked rather suspiciously at Sir Alistair.

“Indeed he does.” Sir Alistair took Mama’s arm with his free hand. “Every day and twice on Mondays.”

“Hmm,” was all Mama said, but she looked happy.

Happy for the first time since they’d left London, Abigail thought as she skipped her way across the dewy grass.

FISHING APPEARED TO be a pastime that involved a lot of waiting around, Helen mused a half hour later. One attached a small hook, cleverly disguised in feathers, to the end of a string and then pitched it into the water, hoping to trick a fish into biting the hook. One would not think that fish were so silly as to confuse feathers and a hook for a fly alighting on the water, but apparently fish were foolish creatures. Or perhaps they were simply very nearsighted.

“Think of your wrist,” Sir Alistair was saying. “Let it flick like the tail of a fish.”

Helen arched an eyebrow and looked over her shoulder at him. He stood farther up the bank, watching her critically, apparently quite serious in his instruction. She sighed, faced forward, and thought of her wrist as she flicked the tall pole in her hand. The end of her line bobbed up in the air, doubled back on itself, and became entangled in a branch overhead.

“Damn,” she muttered under her breath.

Abigail, who’d successfully cast her line thrice already, giggled. Miss Munroe politely didn’t say anything, although Helen thought she saw the woman roll her eyes. And Jamie, who’d already lost interest in learning to “flick” and was now hunting dragonflies with the puppy, didn’t even notice.

“Here.” Sir Alistair was suddenly right beside her, his long arms reaching over her head.

His breath was warm against her cheek as he worked the line free of the branch. Helen stood very still. She was trembling inside, but he seemed not at all affected by their nearness.

“There,” he said as the fly came undone from the branch. He stood behind her and reached forward and around her to demonstrate how to hold the pole. The light touch of his hands was devastating as he positioned her to his liking.

Keep your mind on the task, Helen scolded herself, and tried to look intent. She’d realized very early on that whilst she didn’t mind standing on a stream bank for long moments on end, she would never be a great fisherwoman.

Abigail, surprisingly, was another story. She had listened to Sir Alistair’s instructions with all the gravity of an apprentice learning an ancient and mystical art. And when she had correctly flicked the line to the middle of the stream for the first time, her pale little face lit up with proud joy. That, if nothing else, was well worth rising before the crack of dawn and tramping about in the wet grass.

“Do you have it now?” Sir Alistair rasped in her ear.

“Yes, uh, quite.” Helen cleared her throat.

He turned his head slightly, and his good eye met hers from only inches away. “I can instruct you further, if you wish, on how to properly manipulate the pole.”

Her cheeks flamed even though his voice had been too low for anyone else to overhear. “I think I have a sufficient grasp of the concept.”