Perhaps, if she miraculously regained her memories, she could simply go home as if nothing had happened. He wouldn’t need to know that he’d been tricked. And maybe…maybe she could contrive to invite him to Amblewood. If he felt anythingfor her after this week together, perhaps he would propose marriage without her needing to reveal anything…
"Are you quite well?" the Duke was asking, and she realised she had been staring into space, unable to focus as she thought through her possible next steps.
She nodded and broke into a bread roll in order to have something to do. "Quite well, thank you."
She had discovered from the staff, after some discreet questioning, just how far they were from Amblewood. They weren’t so far over the border, but since she had travelled by sea and not by land, the distance on a map looked much greater. If the Duke were to ask around, how far would he go? And would he travel by horse or think about where it was feasible for her to have hailed from, considering she had been washed up on his shores in a boat?
She tried to imagine her parents’ reactions to her arrival at home as the footman cleared away the plates. She was sure they’d be pleased at her safe return, although if they found out she had been alone with the Duke of Dunloch for several nights, she rather thought they might also be pushing for marriage.
And they might be rather surprised to find that she was not against such a marriage – but she did not want the Duke to be forced into it. No, just as she had wanted a man to be interested in her for her personality and not her title or dowry, she also did not want to be wed without the groom having any choice at all.
And so her initial plan still seemed a sound one: when she ‘regained’ her memories, she would return home and be vague about the details of where she had been. She could surely pretend not to remember, or at least simply state that the Duke had helped her on her way, rather than housing her and feeding her and making her feel things she had never felt before…
She had certainly woven a tangled web of lies when she had decided not to be honest with the Duke of Dunloch about her identity.
Since it was to be her last day at the castle, with the Duke, she intended to make the most of it. She knocked on his study door and interrupted his work – something she had tried to avoid doing for the rest of the week.
"Since I am to be leaving you soon," she began. "I mean, here," she corrected, hoping he had not noticed her slip of the tongue, "I thought I might take a ride through the woods."
"Are you sure that is wise?" the Duke said, a frown on his face.
"I will ride very carefully," she promised. "And I intend to ask the groom for a more stable mount."
"A sensible plan," the Duke agreed.
"But I thought, since you spend so much time working, perhaps you might like a break. To join me."
"I have rather a lot of work to complete, you see, and–"
"I know you are very busy," she interrupted him. "But I think sometimes it’s good to remember that there are other things in life than work and duty." She smiled at him, hoping it took some of the sting out of her words, which she realised sounded rather like a rebuke. Well, she supposed they were – she did not believe he was living life to the fullest. It wasn’t entirely his fault; it was how he had been raised.
But she thought, before she left, that she should show him it was not the only way to live.
Chapter Sixteen
James couldn’t remember the last time he had gone for a ride without having a purpose, just simply to enjoy the outing.
He liked to make sure that everything he did had a purpose, and simple enjoyment was never really enough to spend an afternoon on.
But she had asked him. And somehow, he found her peculiarly hard to say no to.
They trotted gently through the woods, with the lady on an older, more stable mare. Perhaps she had not had much experience riding before, he thought – but she did not sit like someone who didn’t know how to ride a horse.
Sunlight had broken through the clouds, and the air was warm and full of birdsong. The woods really were beautiful, with shafts of light filtering through, and he found himself noticing things he didn’t normally when he came this way, like a tree with a bough perfect for climbing, and a birds’ nest high up in another.
"Is this something you do often?" he asked, before realising that she wouldn’t know. "I mean, do you think it is?"
She turned to him and frowned. "What, riding?"
"Riding aimlessly…"
"I walk–" she began, then corrected herself. "I seem to remember that I like walking more. But yes, without purpose. Can the purpose not be simply to enjoy nature?"
"I suppose," James said. "But when there is so much to be done in a day… It seems rather wasteful to spend time without purpose."
"One cannot work all day, every day," she said in her sing-song voice. "You have a beautiful estate, Your Grace. You should enjoy it, not just work to preserve it endlessly."
They reached a clearing, and she turned to him with a smile. "Can we sit, for a moment? Cook was just getting some shortbread from the oven before we left, so I brought some with me."
