He sucked in a shuddering breath suddenly and blinked up at her. His eyes narrowed. “I’ve told you not to use that name.”
Matilda dragged him into her embrace. “I’ve been calling your name for so long. Why didn’t you answer me?”
He put his arms around her and squeezed her. Then he shifted to lean against the wall. He glanced around, blinking at his surroundings in the weak moonlight. “I don’t know.”
“Is he all right now, Mrs. Ford?” Lord Deacon whispered with a nervous glance for their surroundings. “Is there anything more I can do to help?”
Matilda was grateful Deacon wasn’t the sort to draw attention to them right now. She didn’t want anyone to see William like this. She did not know how to explain his behavior. She stood and faced the man. “No, I think we’ll be fine now.”
Deacon checked the lane and then came back. “Are you sure?”
William clutched her gown and tugged.
“Thank you for all you’ve done, but I can manage him now.” She kneeled down and pressed her hand to William’s brow. She discovered him warm but not fevered. He caught her fingers and held them lightly in his but said nothing more. “Would you mind leaving us and returning to the ball, my lord? We will rejoin the party shortly.”
Deacon glanced around, eyeing the shabby surroundings with distaste. “I’m not sure I should leave you both out here. We are very far from the ball. It could be dangerous.”
Matilda had grown up in such a place. For now they were perfectly safe. She could hear nothing but the occas
ional rat or mouse shuffling through the straw to the left.
“I remember the path back.” The last thing William would want was a fuss or for a friend to see him so unlike his usual self. “Everything will be fine now. We will be along in a little while. I promise. Please.”
William clutched Matilda’s wrist as soon as Deacon left them. “I’m sorry.”
Matilda crouched down at his side and cupped his face, drawing his gaze up to hers. He seemed so bewildered that her heart was moved. “It is all right, I’m just glad I found you. Lord Deacon saw you go and stayed with me until we discovered you hiding here.”
“He’s a good friend.” William’s fingers slipped slowly from her skin. “I hate to imagine what he thinks of this.”
“Don’t worry about Deacon.” She listened to his breathing, which thankfully had slowed down quite a bit since she’d roused him. “I’m just glad you came to no harm out here in the dark.”
William studied the darkness around them. “Where are we?”
“I’m not entirely sure. You fled the ballroom and the garden too and traveled a distance along the rear lane. We are outside someone’s abandoned stables.”
He stood quickly, mopping his brow with a snowy white handkerchief. Matilda stood too so she could brush his hair back from his face. His skin was damp, as if he’d been running for hours. Quite frankly, she was baffled by his behavior tonight. She had thought nothing but the idea of making a match with Miss Chudleigh had ever bothered him.
He held out his hand. Matilda placed her wrist across his palm, smiling as his fingers folded around her limb. His fingers drummed over her pulse a moment, then tightened.
“We should go before we are seen,” he said softly.
The discomfort in his voice stilled her tongue from asking any more questions about his flight from the ball for the time being.
“Of course.” Matilda brushed at her skirts feebly and then tugged him along. If she was dusty from the straw-lined floor, then hopefully by the time they returned to the ball it would have fallen away. “Perhaps a slow stroll back to the ball to cool you down.”
He said nothing to that but adjusted his grip so their palms crossed. “I am sorry I broke my promise. I left you alone with Deacon at the ball.”
Matilda threaded her fingers with his and squeezed. She couldn’t quite believe he was apologizing for leaving her. If not for Deacon’s greater height, she wouldn’t have found William at all until he returned on his own. She had once imagined how awful being abandoned among the ton would have been. Seeing William whimper had been ten times worse. “I did not mind. He had nothing but good to say about you, I assure you.”
A bitter grunt left his mouth. “He always did have a way of buttering up the ladies.”
“So you are two of a kind.” She smiled warmly, determined to set him at ease. In the weeks he’d been her husband, she had discovered William Ford had qualities she’d not expected. He was kind, thoughtful—bossy every other moment though. She occasionally wanted to laugh at his dry humor and self-deprecating comments. “I recognized him as soon as I saw him tonight, so I wasn’t worried. He used to call at the town house and was a great source of amusement for your sisters, but he acts like he doesn’t remember meeting me. He has a kind heart, and it shows.”
William wrapped her arm about his. “He’s not the type to embarrass anyone.”
“Well, even so I will be on my best behavior around the earl.” She glanced at her husband, more than a little worried about him. “You have more to lose after the separation than I do. Ah, here we are. We are back at the ball already.”
She stepped up to the open gate and glanced ahead, scanning the path for other people. The gardens were thankfully very quiet. The Hamersleys’ guests must be inside, still soaking up champagne and making merry in the house. Anyone who saw them would think they’d come outside for peace and a quiet stroll together.