“And you never found any more artifacts?” He was leaning forward in the saddle now, a hungry desperation in his eyes.
Something about all these questions unnerved her. She studied him, distrusting his motive. “That stone you found and dropped before you left was the most valuable thing ever discovered here.” The memory of that day was still painful. “We ought to be going. I granted you one favor. Am I discharged of my duty?”
He laughed as he shook his head. “Are you to be some kind of genie, granting my request just so you can be rid of me?”
“No.” She frowned.
“Oh, there it is.” His amusement was infuriating. “I had forgotten what a becoming pout you possess, but it appears you have perfected the expression in the last nine years. That is an accomplishment.”
Drat. He’d always been too adept at reading her emotions. She must change the subject. “You have a keen interest in what our land holds.” She couldn’t quite keep the acid out of her tone.
He swallowed and let out a tight gust of air. “Well, yes—I mean, no.” He scratched at the back of his neck. “You mentioned the stone I found. I wondered if any more jewels were ever discovered.”
“Not besides the one you dropped.” She fingered her necklace again.
“I didn’t dr—” He froze, studying her face and then the necklace, a pensive look washing over him. When he spoke, his voice came out in a tight, altered whisper. “I... I lost a great deal that day.”
His tone stung with defeat, and his eyes turned so distant that her anger lessened a shade. The cold, stony countenance she’d seen all those years ago washed across his face, and a bit of compassion for him wriggled to the surface.
“Since then, what has happened?” she asked quietly.
His dark eyes turned even darker. “Far too much.”
“You will say nothing of it?”
“I will not.” He looked away.
“You can tell me, Alex. I won’t hold your past against you.”
“I think you ought not to be so certain.” His gaze held hers for a long moment, and then he shook his head, his jaw set in a resolute line. “I’ve spent the last nine years in the mining trade. You know nothing about what that does to someone, what I’ve been through and how I’ve changed. You could not possibly understand. I’ve recently made a way for myself, and I am proud of where I am now. That is all you need to know.”
The switch in his demeanor was so immediate, so condescending, that she instantly wanted to challenge him. He did not trust her, and she absolutely could not trust him.
Pulling Penny’s reins tight, Charlotte stiffened. “I am not a child anymore, and you ought not to treat me so. I earnestly wish to understand. I took a risk in meeting with you and extending a hand of friendship.”
His proud shoulders turned toward her atop his horse, his countenance deliberately distant, his eyes avoiding her own, but she continued in a rush. “I thought you came back in goodwill, to try to restore the friendship between our families, but now I see your motive. You came here to pry about our land and assets. Now I see why Christopher was angry with you. You show far too much interest in what we possess.”
Alex’s face clouded and he heaved a sigh. “Miss Roylance.”
She stared at him and tried to discern the truth from his eyes. “Can you deny your intentions to spy on us? To study our property? That is why you are here, is it not?”
He swallowed, crestfallen. “You will never understand.”
“I am tired of you deciding my intellectual level, Alex.” She glared at him. “Explain yourself.”
His chest heaved up and down, his proud gaze fixed somewhere above her head, his mouth unyielding.
“You don’t deny your deceit.” That alone made it clear. This man was as untrustworthy as Christopher had always insinuated. “It is apparent you are not who I thought you were. I must be on my way.”
Charlotte left Alex and stormed through the woods, urging Penny to her fastest pace. Ellen must have noticed her abrupt movement from her place several yards away and followed at a distance. No amount of space between Charlotte and Alex would change her anger or her resolve.
Once she’d hastily thanked Ellen for accompanying her and deposited her horse at the stables, she rushed inside the house and started to ascend the main staircase toward her room.
“Well, a good morning to you too,” Christopher called as he appeared suddenly in the corridor, his voice laced with his signature sarcasm. The irritating scrape of his boots grated her already frayed nerves.
She swallowed, quickly wiping away a tear. “You—you have returned early.”
He gestured to himself. “It would appear that way.”
