‘She sounds posh.’
‘She is.’
It’s a reminder, as if I need one, that while he might sound like the Ash I remember, he’s still Ashton Berkeley, son of a viscount, heir to Berkeley Hall. He’s from another world, a different class, and even if I could step into Beca’s recently vacated shoes, I wouldn’t want to.
The sudden reminder of his all-too-recent ex makes me feel a little ill.
‘So why did you agree to sneak off?’ he asks and his tone is lighter than when we first came out here, more playful. ‘Didyouhave something to say?’
‘No, I just hate that everyone else got to give you a hug and I couldn’t,’ I admit sulkily, trying to ignore the voice in my head telling me that he’s not for me.
‘Aw,’ he says gently. ‘Do you want one now?’
When I don’t immediately answer, he lets go of the tree and pulls me towards him. My stomach feels as though it’s full of daisies lifting their heads to the sun as his arms circle my waist. I loop mine around his neck and hegathers me close until our chests are completely flush to each other.
‘How’s this?’ he whispers as my body melts against his.
‘Mmm’ is all I manage in reply.
I really don’t want him to let me go, but after a few more seconds he releases me, leaving me bereft.
‘I always wanted to climb these trees when I was younger,’ he murmurs, looking up at the branches.
‘Why didn’t you?’
‘I wasn’t allowed. Some of them are so old.’
‘What was it like to have the run of this place once the visitors had left?’ I ask as we venture further into the walled garden.
‘It used to frighten me,’ he admits. ‘I was scared of the dark.’
‘But you love space,’ I say, flummoxed.
‘It’s weird. I wasn’t scared when I was up at the cabin or out in the woods with Taran. Only here. And in the house,’ he adds, and there’s something about his tone that makes me think he’s confiding something to me that he doesn’t often talk about.
‘Why did the house scare you?’ I ask tentatively as we come to a stop.
The air is thickly perfumed by the lilac growing in the nearby central circle.
‘Have you been inside?’ he asks.
‘Only in the Great Hall, and Evan took me through the gatehouse, the day I arrived,’ I reply.
‘I’ll take you inside sometime, show you properly.’
I don’t know when he plans to do that. In the hours whenit’s not open to visitors, surely his parents will be around, or any number of staff.
I feel a tickle beginning behind my nose. And then I’m off.
One sneeze.
Ash chuckles.
Two sneezes.
‘Oh my fucking God,’ he says.
Three sneezes.
