Abigail slid her arm through his before he even remembered to offer it, pressing close against his side. She looked the direction he had come from. “You went into the forest with her? Was that wise?”
Did she sound gleeful at the thought? Nicholas hid a frown. “I assure you, despite what happened yesterday, the forest is safe.”
Abigail shuddered and clung tighter to his arm. “If you say so. Still, I wouldn’t want to walk there.”
Yes, well, Sadie isn’t you. Thank the spirits.“We’ll stay well away from the trees, then. There is plenty enough space for us to walk.”
“How large is Marstede?”
“It encompasses two-thirds of the Gloaming Forest as well as the land around the manor and the villages of Valway and Lamsdel.” Nicholas allowed a hint of self-deprecation to color his voice. “Nothing compared to Kinseran, your grandfather’s estate, of course.”
Marstede was actually quite large for only being a barony, but the superstitions about the Gloaming Forest had existed for hundreds of years—it had never been considered valuable land.
Abigail preened, as if the size of Kinseran was a direct result of her efforts. “A tie to Kinseran would be beneficial to you and Marstede, wouldn’t it?”
Not really. Marstede’s trade with the various parts of the kingdom were well established. The only thing the Duke of Kinseran could offer Nicholas would be connections at court. Connections he neither needed, nor wanted. And if Abigail were really that well connected to her grandfather, she wouldn’t be at Nicholas’s estate trying to marry a mere baron.
There had to be something more to her decision to accept his mother’s invitation. Another woman with a secret, but while he was curious what her true reasons for coming to Marstede were, Nicholas didn’t feel the same compulsion to unravel the mystery she represented that he did with Sadie. Spirits, he just wanted to unravel Sadie.
“Nicholas?” Abigail prompted, squeezing his arm as she said his name.
He wrenched his thoughts back to the present conversation, and realized he hadn’t answered her. “Kinseran holds a lot of influence,” he said, and she accepted it as agreement.
Abigail beamed, but her smile dimmed as she looked around at the overgrown gardens. “I’m surprised Lady Marstede allows this space to be so unkempt.”
“My mother has no interest in gardens.” An understatement. Madeleine Huxley detested everything related to gardening, though she enjoyed cut flowers in vases. Nicholas suspected she actually took pleasure in the state of Marstede’s grounds. She certainly had never scolded him for not hiring a new groundskeeper after the old one retired.
“What? But wasn’t she admired for her garden designs during her debut? It was such a unique talent to showcase.”
It was a talent her father had insisted on alongside the usual art and musical endeavors specifically because the crown princehad been known to be a lover of gardens. Her family had aims of her becoming a princess and eventual queen, not a mere baroness. It was probably why she had such sympathy for Jane, another young woman pushed to ignore her own preferences in favor of securing a husband.
But while Nicholas was happy to give Jane access to his brewing room during her stay, he would not be marrying her to secure her freedom to pursue her own hobbies.
“What talent did you debut?” he asked Abigail. It was a ridiculous custom, in his opinion, underscoring the fact that marriages were more of a transaction between grooms and the brides’ fathers than a union between man and woman. Also, he truly didn’t understand how being able to sing or paint translated to being a good wife, and so didn’t understand how men could make a decision based on that.
He didn’t care what Abigail’s talent was. But he did trust that the question would allow her to boast about herself for the rest of their walk. He could nod and let his thoughts focus on more important matters. Matters like how he’d apologize to Sadie.
And whether he wanted to kiss her again.
If she’d let him.
Thirteen
???
Sadie wasn’t hidingin the brewing room, offering to look through the grimoires for useful recipes for Jane. It simply made sense for her to spend her afternoon there, where Nicholas wouldn’t show up.
And if, for the first hour, her thoughts focused more on the amethyst in her bodice and the confusing lord of the manor than the grimoires, then at least Jane didn’t notice.
Sadie wasn’t sure what had happened out in the Gloaming Forest. It seemed she and Nicholas had both forgotten themselves. But where he had pulled back and decided the kiss was a mistake, Sadie had been thinking that maybe it was a worthwhile risk.
If she planned ahead and strengthened the charm from her grandmother as much as possible right before, a tryst with a baron could be the memory she clung to in the future when her days looked bleak. It fit her determination to make the most of this month.
But not if Nicholas thought she was a social-climbing schemer who only wanted him for his title.
The worst of it was, he didn’t really think that. But so long as he behaved as if he did, Sadie wouldn’t put herself in such a situation with him again. She meant what she had said. He had to decide.
Either he could accept her secrets as a part of her and enjoy what she chose to share, or he could distrust her and she’d stay at arm’s distance. It wasn’t exactly fair, she knew, but it was all she could offer.
