Deciding there was no point in going further away from the house and even less point in striking back out over the exposed hillside until the rain had passed over, Selina sat on the ground at the foot of an oak that provided some shelter, resting her back against the trunk. For a while she sat, watching the thundering rain become thicker and thicker, the cloud coverage becoming a uniform expanse of gray from horizon to horizon.
She hugged her knees, resting her chin upon them. It all seemed so hopeless. Forcing Arthur into marriage. What had she been thinking? How could that ever work? But there was no other hope for her.
“Carry on looking that miserable and the rain will never stop,” said a voice in a broad Welsh accent.
She turned to see a man shuffling out of the woods. He wore a threadbare assortment of clothes, heavy boots, and a threadbare tweed coat. A flat cap sat atop a mass of white hair and his face was lined, covered in a white, grizzled beard. Dark eyes regarded her from behind a wind-swept squint. She felt a moment of alarm, beginning to struggle to her feet. He put out a hand to her.
“No, no, blodwyn. I’m no harm. I’m Dai. The Duke knows me, so he does. Lets me roam over these lands and feed myself from his stock. I does no harm to no one. In fact, I’m the one who saw you safely to Valebridge a few nights ago. What’s the matter, you like the rain or something?”
CHAPTER15
Selina found herself laughing. Dai grinned a lopsided smile and sat himself under the tree Selina had chosen, his face shadowed by the trunk. She sat down next to him, and he produced a bag from inside a pocket of his jacket.
“Tobacco?” he offered, holding up a thick wad of foul-smelling brown substance.
Selina wrinkled her nose. “No, thank you. I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you. I don’t remember much of my arrival at Valebridge. I have a vague memory of a light floating in the dark but…that’s all until I awoke in the Castle.”
Dai produced a clay pipe and stuffed the wad of tobacco into it, then produced a tin with a flint in it. He struck a spark and lit his pipe, drawing deeply on it to light its contents. Selina tried to ignore the odor that arose from it as he sighed contentedly.
“Aye, probably me that was. I was carrying a lantern see. I had been out checking my traps and got caught in the rain. The difference between us is that I was close to shelter. You…god knows where you was heading when I found you.”
“I was trying to find Valebridge,” Selina said.
“Well, you’ve found it now, haven’t you? Unless you haven’t. Unless you is out on these hills in the rain because you’re running away again?”
Selina looked at him pointedly, about to make a remark about his prying manner. But he fixed her with a shrewd, coal-black stare and she found herself disarmed.
“How do you know I am running away?” she asked instead.
“Now as then, you is out in the worst of God’s weather with nothing but the clothes on your back. Not even a mare this time. What are you running from this time then?”
“The Duke,” Selina said.
She marveled at her candor with this man. This poacher. Probably a vagrant who slept in the woods.
Why am I telling him anything at all? I do not know him. He could be anybody!
One thing Dai certainly wasn’t though, was a spy for the Dowager Countess or any other member of the ton. The very idea made Selina smile. Glancing at Dai, she saw round eyes and an offended expression.
“I was not laughing at you, Dai. Just thinking how unlikely it would be that you are allied with any of the people I or Arthur would consider an…enemy shall we say.”
“Aye, it is unlikely. Arthur, is it? Well, he be the Duke to me. And why would you be running from him? Brute, is he?”
“No, he is the perfect gentleman. I am the brute, so to speak. My actions have forced him into proposing to me.”
Dai burst into laughter as he inhaled on his pipe. The result was a choking, wheezing cough that had him doubled over. Selina helpfully patted his back. When he looked up, his eyes were wide and watering.
“Forced a man like him to propose, did you?” he spluttered, “put a gun to his head, did you?”
“Obviously not. But I left him no choice. My father was attempting to marry me to a man I did not wish to marry. By agreeing to marry me, Arthur will prevent that from happening.”
“Good for you then. And for him too.”
“I don’t see what he stands to gain. That’s the problem. I’ve forced his hand and now he resents me.”
“Don’t see what he stands to gain?! You’re a beautiful gal! And unless he’s gone blind since I last saw him, he knows it. Nothing to gain!”
Dai scoffed, raising his eyes heavenward. Selina looked at him askance. “I am not naive, Mr….”
