Eliza smiled, her eyes glittering with amusement as they held mine. “That’s one way to put it.”
“I was actually looking for you,” I said. “I wanted to see the grounds and I thought I’d catch you before you came inside.”
Eliza’s eyebrows lifted slightly, but the look on Miriam’s face said she believed approximately none of my story. She probably thought I’d been about to plunder their cellar like an invading army. To be fair, if I really had been Jesse, she probably wouldn’t have been wrong. She just gave a firm nod. “I’ll call Aaron. He can take you round the property properly.”
Before she could leave, Eliza suddenly spoke up. “That won’t be necessary.”
Miriam paused, but Eliza was already glancing toward the windows where gray light filtered through the glass. “I could use the fresh air after spending a week in the city, and Holly and Maeve will be pleased to go another walk, won’t you, girls?”
She glanced down at the dogs, who’d both perked up at the sound of the W-word, smiled, and then looked back at me. “I hope you brought a raincoat and some boots, Jesse. You’re going to need them out there.”
CHAPTER 12
ELIZA
Thankfully, Jesse was from a city with weather, which meant that he’d brought along a sturdy enough raincoat, but unfortunately, his boots were lacking. Those city-slicker, hand-stitched leather creations were wonderfully stylish, but there was no way they’d hold up to this mud.
As a result, our first stop was the stables. Jesse sat in the tack room, being fitted for a pair of wellies that had probably belonged to a visiting dignitary sometime well before either of us had been born, but at least his own shoes would live to see another day.
If he decided to take my advice and actually wear the rubber rain boots, that was. But he was currently looking down at them skeptically, seemingly not at all convinced they were a good idea.
“These are hideous,” he said, deadpan as he glanced up at me with conflict flickering in those bright blue eyes. “I’m serious. No one can pull them off.”
“They’re practical.” I extended one of my own wellie-clad feet toward him. “Look at that, coated in mud, but as soon as you stick them under a tap, they’re perfectly fine again.”
“Yeah, but mine are green.”
I folded my arms and leaned against the stall door while Holly and Maeve sat nearby like they were supervising the situation, their tails wagging happily at the prospect of a second walk in one morning.
“You’re going to be trudging across farmland. You’ll survive green boots.”
He planted his feet on the floor and shifted his weight, testing them before he stood. “They’re surprisingly comfortable.”
“That’s because they’re meant for walking, not looking pretty.”
He nodded thoughtfully, then glanced back over at me with a slight smile tugging at his lips. “Miriam is one of the scariest women I’ve ever come across, and considering that my beloved sister-in-law is the CEO of a massive manufacturing company, that’s really saying something.”
“It is?” I asked. “How are those two facts related?”
He grinned outright. “Jane terrifies entire boardrooms filled with titans of industry, but Miriam could take her. I’m sure of it.”
Smug satisfaction warmed my chest as I looked back at him, feeling a genuine smile curve on my lips. “That woman could face down anyone and win. I’ve often thought that she should’ve worked for a peacekeeping organization. There would be no squabbles in the world if we could send her in. She’d simply tell political leaders what was going to happen, and they’d listen.”
To my surprise, Jesse didn’t laugh in my face or remind me that she was merely the help. Instead, he slid his hands into his coat pockets and looked at me with sincere warmth in his gaze. “You respect her.”
“I do,” I agreed immediately. “She’s been around my entire life. If anything, she’s more of a mother figure to us than the head of housekeeping. She takes care of us, you know?”
He raised an eyebrow as we strolled along the center aisle of the stables. “That explains the ambush in the wine cellar. Sheappeared out of thin air and very quickly made it clear that I wasn’t supposed to be there.”
I chuckled. “She doesn’t like lurkers.”
Jesse’s eyes widened. “I wasn’t lurking.”
“No, but you were snooping and she doesn’t like that much either.”
He hesitated for a beat before sighing. “That’s probably fair.”
I glanced up at his strong profile, the sharp lines of it softened by the foggy mist of the morning as we stepped outside. “Next time you want to walk the castle at length, find Miriam first.”
