“It’s possible.”
Yet, just as with all the other places they’d searched, the ruby was not found.
“This is becoming quite frustrating,” Vanessa complained as Crisp escorted her to the terrace and then remembered something that a maid had said to her. “Lady Osbourne likes to stroll around the lake.”
“She calls that body of water a lake?” Crisp laughed.
“I know of no other body of water on the property,” Vanessa added.
“I would consider it a pond, but at least it is somewhere we’ve not searched.”
It was such a delightful stroll. Even though the grasses grew tall, and they were surrounded by wildflowers, there was a well-worn path that Vanessa assumed Lady Osbourne often used. But because the gardener did not tend the lawn on this part of the property, she and Crisp needed to search through the vegetation in the event the ruby had fallen and hidden within.
“I should search the lakeside of the path, and you the field,” Crisp suggested.
“Why is that?” she demanded.
“Because I am certain that you will trip at least once, and I don’t wish to ruin a set of clothes by fishing you out of the water.”
Vanessa planted her fists on her hips. “I am not so clumsy. At least not as much as I used to be.”
“You fell out of the carriage just yesterday,” he reminded with a quirk of a brow and that aggravating half smile of his.
To think she had missed him.
“I have learned to slow and proceed with caution as I outgrew youthful exuberance.”
He snorted. “That is why you tripped so often?”
“Yes! And if you don’t cease, I will push you in the lake and I won’t be helping you out.”
“I rather liked your exuberance and tendency to fall into me. Otherwise, you would have been too perfect.”
Her heart stilled for a moment as she searched his eyes for a deeper meaning behind his words, but there was not one that she could see. “I was far from perfect and still am.”
He reached over, took her hand, and gave it a squeeze. “You were always perfect to me, Vanessa.”
Perfect how? As a friend? Love? Future partner?
Oh, she wished to ask, but Crisp had turned away and was using his booted foot to move the tall grass out of the way as they walked along.
She turned away and did the same, even though her heart pounded, and she wanted to ask if there would be more for them after this house party.
“What does everyone do after supper?” he asked.
“If you wouldn’t absent yourself, then you would know.”
“I don’t enjoy card parties, or listening to misses sing and play to impress, nor idle conversation without meaning.”
“Instead, you’d rather go off on your own without a thought that perhaps I may have wished you to save me from the boredom.”
Crisp slowly turned and looked at her. “I hadn’t considered such. How very selfish of me.”
“I don’t think you truly feel bad,” she huffed. “But I will suffer as we’ve only a few days left.”
Except, she had wanted him to sit with her in the evenings.
“Mr. Percer has turned out to be unexpectedly entertaining,” she said, not truly expecting Crisp to react, though just even a hint of jealousy would please her.
