Page 23 of The Earl's Secret
She looked up at him then, her eyes instantly lighting as she quickly realized just what he was referencing.
“The ruins. Of course. How could I be such a fool to not have thought of them?”
“I would never call you a fool, Cassandra.”
“No, but it makes perfect sense. Gideon missed it too. They have been there longer than anything else upon the estate and no one ever goes within them, only perhaps to walk by them. They were, at one point, where people laid their heads.”
“I am just unsure if we should explore them today,” he said, wishing now that he had searched them himself first.
“Why ever not?”
“How are we to know if they are safe?” he asked. “No one has likely walked among them for years. I know Gideon and I used to explore them as children, and I recall there being loose rock and pieces of the ruins apt to fall around us. We are lucky we didn’t get ourselves killed at the time. If I were to take you there and something were to happen to you, Gideon would never forgive me.”
She fixed him with a look, and he instantly realized that he had made two mistakes – the first, to suggest that he would just be upset because of Gideon’s reaction, the second in placing a challenge before her.
“I can assure you that I am equally adept at handling my footing as you would be,” she said. “In fact, I would wager I am even more so based on all of the training I had to go through over the years on the proper way to walk, to dance, to carry myself.”
“I never suggested that you wouldn’t have the ability,” he said, trying to take back the words. “Only that, perhaps, I should make sure all is safe first.”
“We go now,” she said decisively, and he looked down, ensuring, at least, that she was wearing appropriate boots. “If anything should happen, I shall take full responsibility,” she added.
“That is hardly comforting.”
They were, however, already walking toward the ruins, and Devon knew that he had no choice now. He was all too aware that once Cassandra made up her mind about something, there was no stopping her.
“Very well,” he said, accepting his defeat, as they walked away from the grounds toward where the terrain became less manicured, where nature had been allowed to return. There was still a worn path through the trees, one that was more often used by horses – most likely the duke’s, for he still ventured out of doors along with Anderson, as far as Devon was aware – but it was not completely ideal for walking, and Devon kept a close eye on Cassandra, although it seemed that she had been correct and was able to navigate the terrain as well as he.
“You know I used to follow you out here,” she finally said after some silence, and he turned to her with surprise.
“You did?”
“I did,” she said with a nod, a reflective smile crossing her face. “I was so bored with the needlepoint and lessons that Mother tried to force upon me. Instead, I would sneak out and follow you and Gideon. You had such fun out here, playing hide and seek and pretending that you were living among the ruins. I envied you.”
“Why didn’t you tell us that you were there?” he asked. “You could have joined us.”
“You would never have allowed it,” she scoffed. “I’m sure you would have played some elaborate trick on me had you known. In fact, do you remember the time I became lost, when Mother and Father couldn’t find me?”
Devon did, in fact. His family had been visiting, as they often did in the summer months, and he recalled her parents becoming distraught when the governess had alerted them that Cassandra was nowhere to be found. He and Gideon had been blamed at first, until they made it clear that they had been out playing and had no idea to where Cassandra could have gone.
One of the grooms had finally found her, out of doors as she had returned soaked from the rain that had begun while she had been out, but he hadn’t known where she had been.
“You were in the ruins that entire time?” he asked.
“I was,” she nodded. “I had followed you, but you had nearly caught me, so I hid and my foot became wedged in a crack behind some broken wall. My foot was stuck, and I couldn’t get it out. I tried everything. I wondered if anyone was ever going to find me. Then the rain began, and I became certain that was where everything would end for me.” She paused for a moment. “I still don’t like thunderstorms.”
“I can imagine,” he said, additional guilt beginning to creep in. “I’m sorry.”
She laughed wryly. “Thiscircumstance was not your fault at all,” she said. “It was my own. I allowed my pride to get in the way. When I saw you and Gideon leave, I was stuck. I could have called out to you for help, but I didn’t want you to know what I had done. I could have saved myself a lot of trouble and fear. I was lucky I was found.”
“That you were,” he said, but the truth was, so was he. He couldn’t imagine his world without Cassandra in it. “Have you returned to the ruins since?”
“I’ve walked or ridden by them a few times,” she mused as they stopped in front of the ruins, looking up at them. “But I’ve never had reason to go within.”
“I never thought to ask Gideon just what these ruins used to be,” he said. “Do you know?”
“I believe this was once the main house,” she said. “But that must have been at least a couple of hundred years ago. I’m sure if something was hidden here, the building would have already been in ruin.”
“Well, then, it should be much easier to find.” He held his hand out to her. “Shall we?”
