Winning the Gentleman (Hearts on the Heath #2) - Kristi Ann Hunter Page 0,80

training to do. As she readied herself and the horse to go through the paces, her mind was only half on the task at hand. The rest was pondering what she could do to bring back the if not almost-friendly man, at least the one who seemed to care.

WHEN GOD MADE man, He’d said it wasn’t good for man to be alone.

Aaron was ready to debate Him on that topic.

In his experience, inviting people into your life only made it complicated. If a person didn’t ask anyone for anything, they never had to suffer the pain of being denied. As far as safe strategies went, it was a good one. It also prevented him from having to deal with someone doing things in a way he didn’t like or feeling like an obligation to anyone, especially those he considered friends.

He’d grown up knowing that the man who’d provided everything from his shoes to his blanket to his morning toast saw him as nothing but an obligation. It would do him just fine to never thrust himself upon someone like that again.

But Aaron finally had to admit he couldn’t solve this on his own, and he had to go to someone other than Graham or Oliver to get assistance. Well, he could have gone to Graham, had he been in the area, but his friend’s nomadic existence did not help with the question of where to put Sophia.

There were a lot of angry men in Newmarket at the moment, and while he didn’t think any of them intended to do her bodily harm—yet—she needed a place that was safe, secure, and above reproach. Going through his options had been just one of the things keeping him up all night.

Sophia couldn’t continue staying in his house. Not even if he publicly moved himself into a hotel in the center of town could he protect her reputation if those lodgings came to light.

Lodging her at Trenton Hall would be even worse. Hudson’s house was likewise not an option. Bianca would probably welcome the visitor, but Aaron would have moved her out of the same house as her vile stepmother long ago, had he had the ability. He certainly wasn’t putting another woman there.

No matter how many times he ran through his available options, he could only come up with one solution.

He didn’t want to do it, but for Sophia, he was going to swallow his pride and discomfort. He had to. He wasn’t asking for a large favor, but that didn’t make it any easier to ride south to see a man he didn’t know well enough to trust fully.

“Ahoy there,” called a blond man with a wide smile. He stood outside a large greenhouse, eyes shielded from the sun, as Aaron and Shadow crossed the remaining expanse of lawn between them. “Quite a bit of excitement yesterday.”

Aaron dismounted with a nod, gave Shadow a comforting pat on the neck, and then turned. His throat was tight, and he had to swallow twice before he felt like he could talk in a normal voice. “Lord Trent, I’m afraid I need a favor.”

Twenty-Five

Aaron braced himself for the smugness of a man who had something someone else needed or the wince of someone who didn’t want to be bothered.

He got neither.

Trent clapped a hand on Aaron’s shoulder and started walking toward the stable. “What do you need?”

“Uh.” Aaron paused to clear his throat. “A room.”

“For you?”

“For my jockey.”

“Ah.” Trent nodded. “Come along. Adelaide usually has a tea set up about now. We’ll make arrangements over biscuits.”

Even though Aaron had been inside the house several times in the past few weeks, he still hesitated before walking in the door. Trent had been something of a business associate for a couple of years, but in the last month he’d decided Aaron was part of his chosen social circle. Or perhaps Trent had decided Hudson was going to be a close friend and Aaron had simply got caught in the net. The association had then extended to Oliver.

It had all happened at a speed that made Aaron’s head spin and his wariness rise. Until Trent did something to negate the fledgling connection, though, Aaron had to accept it for what it appeared to be. That didn’t make it easier to follow the man into the casual family sitting room.

“Adelaide, my love,” Trent said as he greeted his wife with a squeeze of her shoulder before moving to a wingback chair and waving Aaron forward. “How do you feel