“Do we get to eat it now?” Nicholas asked when Sadie pulled the cake from the oven.
“No. It needs to cool, then we frost it, and only after that do we taste our efforts.”
He grinned, “So you are saying we still have plenty of time remaining before this activity is finished?”
If Sadie had been thinking clearly when she chose her activity, she wouldn’t have picked a cake to bake. Something like scones would have only required her to be with Nicholas for an hour or so. But while she would have said she wanted to avoid him if Pippa had asked, the truth was, Sadie enjoyed being with him. A truth her subconscious knew even as her conscious mind shouted that this was dangerous.
But only if she started hoping for a future with him.
Sadie wasn’t thinking about the future, though. Not now. So she gave herself permission to ignore the warning bells and smile back. “Exactly.”
Mrs. Benson marched over a moment later and inspected their cake, sniffing appreciatively. “It looks good, but it will be a while before you can finish it. So, off with you both. I have chicken to roast and peas to shuck, and all manner of things to get done before luncheon, and you two are in the way. You can come back this afternoon to frost your cake.”
“Of course, Mrs. Benson,” Nicholas said meekly. “We’ll get out of your hair.”
Grabbing Sadie’s wrist, he tugged her toward the door that led from the kitchen to the outside. The same door she had knocked on her first night at Marstede. She tried not to notice the speculation in the cook’s thoughts as she let herself be towed away. They weren’t being booted from the kitchen because making chicken and peas required all the counters, but because Mrs. Benson’s helpers were too busy sneaking glances at how cozy the baron was with Miss Sadie to pay proper attention to their tasks.
Once they were outside, Sadie laughed. “I think your cook will lay the blame entirely on us if the peas end up overcooked and mushy.”
???
The mention ofpeas reminded Nicholas that Sadie would sleep in his room that night. Unlike Jane, she would certainly take full advantage to snoop. Would she find the peas his mother had him hide? The entire situation was ridiculous, and yet he found himself reevaluating where he’d put them. Would Sadie root through his bowl of stones if he left one in the bottom?
He wasn’t sure exactly what his mother hoped to learn from seeing if the women found the peas. Was Jane’s polite indifference the goal? It probably should be. But Nicholas rather liked the idea of Sadie being curious enough about him to sift through his belongings. If their roles were reversed, he’d certainly be thorough in his inspection. Not that he would invade her privacy without invitation.
But if she invited him in? He wouldn’t let manners get in the way of learning everything he could about her. For today, though, he had to push the curiosity aside. He had promised to pretend nothing had happened the other night andthen purposefully shifted away from asking Sadie more about brewing. The difference in her demeanor afterward had been stark. For today, he’d enjoy whatever parts of herself Sadie chose to share with him without pushing for more.
Maybe that’s what he should have been doing all along. Except he couldn’t convince himself that she only needed time. If he didn’t push, she’d never open up. But he could build her trust in him more slowly. He had time. Even if she didn’t open up before the month was out, Lamsdel was a short trip away.
“Where are we going?” Sadie asked.
He realized he still had her wrist in his grasp and altered his hold, sliding his hand down to hers and lacing their fingers together. She eyed their clasped hands but didn’t try to free herself. She felt the same pull he did, and it was more than physical attraction.
“I want to show you something.” That was an overstatement. He wanted to be with her, but there were several spots in the forest that made for a good excuse.
He showed her the clearing that always contained some sort of cute, fluffy animal when he visited—this time, it was both a fawn and a rabbit. He showed her the stream that he didn’t visit as often as the spring, but which had a similar calming effect when he felt overwhelmed. And then, he forgot to show her anything else, choosing paths at random as they simply enjoyed the woods together.
They lapsed into a comfortable silence around the time that they both knew they should suggest heading back to the manor. It was taut with unspoken things, yet also comfortable.
Until, suddenly, it wasn’t.
Nicholas fought the urge to place a ward around himself and Sadie, not sure what was triggering the instinctive reaction. If he could have constructed a ward that moved with them, he probably would have.
Then Sadie shuddered.
He stopped and cast the ward. “What is it?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. The forest just feels…” She bit her lip and wouldn’t quite look at him.
He finished the sentence for her. “Haunted. It feels haunted suddenly.”
She nodded. “The last time I was here, it felt like this for a little bit, but then the feeling went away. I assumed it had to do with the fact that Abigail was with me, since the sensation disappeared the same time she left.”
“Why was Abigail with you?” he asked, distracted from the creeping sensation that had the hairs on the back of his neck rising.
“She didn’t appreciate that I won the connections game and thought I had cheated. She wanted proof that I knew about the spring and hadn’t just copied the answer from your slate.”
He looked around, taking in which part of the forest they had ended up in. “We aren’t particularly close to the spring.”
