Indeed, if she did not have to speak with him again, that would probably be for everyone’s benefit. After all, if he could not talk to her, he could not repeat his desire to have her married off as soon as possible.
“I believe he’s been outside since very early this morning,” the cook replied. “Out near the paddocks. That’s where he had his breakfast and, as far as I know, he’s still out there.”
Anna furrowed her brow. What would he be doing out there? Ruining the growth of new grass in the nearest paddocks with the horses he had brought with him? Destroying her wildflower meadows, so there would be nowhere for the butterflies and the bees to frequent as the season turned warmer?
“I shall take a couple of scones for my breakfast,” she said, picking up a second. “I fear I must see what is afoot.”
Mrs. Wilton seemed perturbed by that. “You can’t have scones for breakfast, Your Grace. You’ll be hungry again by mid-morning.”
“Then, I shall come and bother you at mid-morning,” Anna replied with a cheerier smile, as she took her stolen delicacies and headed back out into the bracing morning air.
The day was overcast, lacking any of that bright spring sunshine to lift her spirits. It actually suited her well for the weather to mirror her inner turmoil, as she moved around the back of the manor toward where the paddocks spread out in vibrant green squares.
She paused at a strange sound, coming from the hay barn: a steadythwack-thwackas if someone were partaking in some early morning tree-felling.
Puzzled, she followed the sound to the open barn doors and pressed herself flat against the side of the building. There, she cautiously craned her neck and looked into the gloom, unsure of what she might find.
What on earth…
If she had been granted a thousand guesses, she would not have been able to come up with the scene before her.
“Excuse me,” Jeremy chided, flashing a hard look down at the small, white-and-gray goat that had just rammed him in the shin. “How am I supposed to build ye a manor of yer own if ye keep trying to knock me off me feet, eh?”
Am I still sleeping?Anna gaped as Jeremy leaned down and scratched between the baby goat’s ears, the precious little creature bleating in triumph.
“Is that what ye wanted, eh?” Jeremy chuckled in the back of his throat: a gruff, almost reluctant sound.
The goat’s tail wagged emphatically as it nuzzled into Jeremy’s hand.
“Aye, well, ye’ll have to wait for more scratches, or I will never be done,” he said, as he resumed his work.
Stripped to the waist, his back and shoulders flexing, Jeremy swung a large mallet with all his might. It struck a post with impressive accuracy, sinking deeper into the soft dirt of the barn floor, on which a notch was cut to hold planks that would eventually form a sturdy fence—the kind a mischievous little goat would not be able to escape through. In fact, half of it was already built, along with a small wooden shelter for the runt of the litter.
The goat jumped up and butted him again.
“Och, Sprightly, would ye cease that?” Jeremy scolded. “I know ye liked it in me bedchambers, but ye can’t stay there. Ye ought to be outside, where ye can grow big and strong. Ye can’t be a coddled wee goat, or the other goats will tease ye, and ye’ll never make friends.”
Anna covered her mouth with her hand to stop the laugh that threatened to escape. It was the sweetest thing she had ever seen, not just the effort he put into creating a cozy space for the goat, but his lack of embarrassment in talking to the animal.
She had never in a million years expected that he would actually befriend the creature, much less give it a name: Sprightly. It was the perfect name for such a charming soul, so full of vigor and mischief despite his tiny size and wobbly, clumsy legs.
Her smile faded behind her hand as her stomach fluttered strangely, in a manner that she did not trust. What was she doing, laughing and admiring this man? She could not allow any softness to pierce through her armor. She needed to hate him and stay hating him: the man who had claimed her home, claimed her first kiss, claimed her propriety, claimed her goats!
I cannot be led astray again. I shall not.
She had to protect herself against the maddening spells that Jeremy seemed to cast upon her, making her take temporary leave of her senses. What happened in the library could not happen again, and that meant never allowing herself to be alone with this man again.
You kissed me, then threatened my peace, and then walked away from me as if you were already the victor.
With that firmly in her mind, she tiptoed away from the open barn doors and walked off without saying a word to him, either. Not least because she had no idea what shewouldsay to him after the events of last night.
Jeremy paused to wipe the sweat from his brow, leaning on the long shaft of the mallet as he squinted toward the barn doors. Sprightly the goat paused with him, unleashing a pitiful bleat.
“Aye, that was rude of her, wandering off without so much as a ‘good morning’ to ye,” Jeremy said.
His muscles were pleasantly sore, the ache of hard work, but all the necessary distraction of the morning’s endeavors had been undone in a moment. He had known Anna was there, watching him. She might have thought herself stealthy, but her footfalls were loud enough to alert someone who suffered the hardest of hearing.
“Do ye think she liked yer new home?” he asked Sprightly, who stared up at him with his blank, goat eyes.
