“You may,” replied Elinor’s mother. “But be warned, because I think she also got my temper.”
They all laughed at that, then Elinor turned to Caleb. “May I assume that your visit indicates some success with that unusual volume?”
Facing him, with her back to her parents, she widened her eyes and raised her eyebrows, clearly somewhat disturbed at his presence.
He nodded. “Indeed it does. And it’s quite fascinating—I think you might be surprised when you learn what I have discovered.”
“Papa, Mama,” Elinor turned back to her parents. “With your permission, may I take Sir Caleb into our library? He has been kind enough to allow me the use of his, from time to time, since I’ve been indulging my curiosity about the history of the area, especially that of Tylwyth Teg. It has so many legends attached to it…”
“Indeed yes,” endorsed Caleb. “It is a fascinating topic. Lady Elinor has introduced me to many stories and legends about my home that I would never have imagined.”
“Your family has owned it for generations, though, has it not, Sir Caleb?” asked Lady Molliney.
“Indeed yes, Ma’am. But the Howell family line that has primarily been in residence is only distantly related to mine.” He smiled a little. “Sadly, time has winnowed the branches of the Howell family tree down to a few remaining stubs. One of which, of course, is me.”
“Well, you’re lucky to have it, lad,” said Lord Molliney cheerfully. “Plenty of land, probably good hunting…tell me, do you have a stable?”
“Papa, before you continue your inquisition, you must let me have a few moments with Sir Caleb so that we can discuss the matter that brought him here.” Elinor admonished.
Her father simply rolled his eyes and shrugged. “Very well. Go and talk books or whatever. I’ll catch the lad later.”
“This way, sir,” Elinor walked firmly across the hall, and Caleb followed after inclining his head politely to her parents.
She whisked him into a small room, and gestured to the two chairs set on either side of a lovely table, which had been settled into a window nook.
“Now. What the devil are you doing here, Caleb?”
He was pleased to see that she kept her voice low. “I wondered if you’d read the paper that fell out of the book, Elinor.”
“Oh.” She quite failed to meet his eyes. “About that…”
He shook his head. “It’s all right. I think you were correct when you said it might be a bookmark, because unless it has something to do with a lot of mythological Welsh figures, it won’t be relevant to this conversation.”
“I’m still not sure what it’s about, to be honest,” she replied. “And with my parents back home, I’m not going to have as much time as I’d like to research it. But I will, I promise.”
“I understand.” He nodded. “However, for me, it’s been quite the reverse. After draining the bogs that my cellars turned into this week, I had time on my hands to settle with the book.”
“And?” She leant forward, excitement lighting her eyes. “What did you learn?”
He stared at her, losing himself in her gaze, feeling his body tighten at the sight of her, the light scent of flowers she always wore. He wanted nothing more than to seize her and drag her over the table in order to kiss her until they were both lost for breath.
“Caleb?” She blinked.
“What? Oh, sorry.” He sighed and dragged his errant thoughts back into line. “Well, you see…”
Chapter Sixteen
“It will sound like a fanciful fairy tale for children, Elinor. At least it did to me once I started reading…”
“But youcouldread it, then…”
“Yes, I could. It took a while to get used not only to the writing, but to the language style, and of course the illustrations.”
“It sounds like a mediaeval manuscript I saw once,” she said thoughtfully. “And from what I recall, it looks like one as well?”
“Exactly,” he nodded. “The one advantage was that many of the pages were so ornamented that the actual text wasn’t as long as one might have expected, given the size of the book itself.”
“So…” She fidgeted, and he knew she was as eager to hear the tale as he’d been when first reading it.
