Lucy peeped at him through her eyelashes. He was tall and muscular. No doubt that came from all the garden work. He radiated solidity, strength, and warmth. Like an oven that one would want to snuggle up against. The man also seemed somewhat morose. He hadn’t stopped frowning since the river. Losing his plants and carriage must have hit him hard.
“Before this continues, we need to get one thing clear.” He set down the piece of bread he'd been eating.
“Before what continues?” Lucy said in between two bites.
“This entire situation. It's entirely improper. You are a lady. No, don't argue. If they discover we spent the night her—together—what do you think will happen?”
“I don't know. What?”
“You can't be that naïve.” He got up and strode up and down the length of the hut. His head nearly touched the roof beam.
“What's to happen?” Lucy shrugged. “We got caught in a storm. We had to seek shelter. End of story.”
Henry pulled his hand through the tousled hair that kept falling over his eyes. “They will have found the carriage and horses by now. And someone must miss you because you didn’t arrive. With or without a companion. They will enquire and find us. It’ll be a deuced scandal. You’ll be completely and utterly ruined, and that, my girl, will be for life.”
Lucy licked her fingers and cut off another piece of cheese. She wondered whether it was possible to lose a reputation where there was none, and whether it seemed to matter to begin with. She decided it didn’t.
“You have nothing to say to that?” He stood in front of her, his hands on his hips.
“Well. That sounds rather worrisome, the way you put it. I'd rather not be ruined for life. So, I suppose what we must do is to be cleverer than the rest and make sure they don't find us together.”
Lucy watched, fascinated, how he lifted one of his eyebrows. She found that she liked his eyebrows. They expressed strength. As did his nose and his jaw. His entire face, in fact. Clean, strong, masculine. And his hands were gardener's hands. Rough working hands, strong, reliable hands that would never let one down...
“How do you plan on doing that?”
“Wha—what?” she swallowed, and their eyes met. She looked away quickly.
“Being cleverer than the rest.”
“Easy. I get off the cart a mile before we reach Ashmore Hall. No one will know we even met.”
“The cart is gone, if I may remind you.”
“We'll hire one from the farmer.”
“With whose money?”
Lucy wrapped a curl around her finger as she thought. “Lady Arabella's. We’ll tell the woman here Lady Arabella will send a pouch with the money as soon as we've reached Ashmore Hall. Don’t worry. Arabella won't breathe a word. Neither will the woman here, if we pay her enough.”
“You think the bribe will prevent her from talking?”
“Of course it will. Money solves all problems.”
“Does it, now? And you think she would do that for you? Lady Arabella, I mean.”
Lucy’s eyes widened. “Of course she would! As I would for her. We’re like sisters, Arabella and I.”
“Hm. You trust her very much, don't you?” He clasped his hands behind his back as he stood in front of her.
“With my life. As she would trust me.” Lucy took a sip of milk and started coughing as she remembered the last time Arabella had trusted her. It hadn't ended well. Arabella had nearly drowned in a well. Lucy pushed the unpleasant memory away. “Let's find out tomorrow. I suppose that haystack over there is for sleeping.” She draped a blanket over the hay.
She heardhim sigh as she dropped on the hay and lay on her side, propping her head in her hand.
She looked up at him. “You can either go outside andwait there in the rain until morning, or you can decide it doesn’t matter, lie down over there and tell me a story.”
He visibly struggled with himself. Then, as if resigning himself to the inevitable, he dropped down, pulled off his water-logged boots and laid back with his arms under his head, staring at the roof beams.
“I am waiting.”
