Page 38 of The Earl's Secret
He still held her within the water, even as she shivered and attempted to move them back toward shore.
“Stay for a moment,” he said in her ear. “I know that it’s cold, but we’re hidden by the rushes around us. If someonewasshooting at us, best we keep hidden.”
“But why on earth would someone be shooting atus?” she asked. “Surely it was someone out hunting, was it not?”
“You do not think the timing and aim would be too much of a coincidence?” he asked. “I think I was right – we were being watched.”
“But why—” She realized it then. “Someone else wants the treasure.”
“Perhaps,” he acknowledged. “Who else knows about it?”
“As far as I am aware, my friends and yours,” she said. “But none of them would do us any harm.” She scrunched up her nose and leaned back away from him so she could look him in the eye. “Would they?”
“I doubt it, although sometimes we don’t know people as well as we believe we do.”
Wasn’t that the truth?
Cassandra nodded slowly, even as her teeth began to chatter and her body shivered in the cold. “H-how much longer do you think we must stay in here?”
“We should be able to rise now,” he said, not completely releasing her but keeping a hand on the small of her back as they began to wade back in toward shore. They stayed low and somewhat crouched beside the bushes that ran along this part of the lake once they reached the shore. Cassandra realized that her pale pink gown likely stood out among the natural landscape, but there wasn’t much she could do about it now.
She looked down at the gown as though it was its fault, which was when she realized that it wasn’t just her whereabouts the material was giving away. As the rain had done the other day, the water from the lake had molded the dress against her body – and this time there was no hiding anything that was underneath.
“I cannot return like this,” she said to Devon as she crossed her arms over her chest to cover what she had always decided was a rather imperfect bosom. As it was, Devon couldn’t seem to look at her at the moment.
“No, you really cannot,” he said, slipping the jacket off his body and wrapping it around her shoulders. “Come, let us see if we can dry out a bit in one of the cottages.”
They entered the second one this time – Cassandra figured it made sense, might as well search another place while they were at it – and it appeared to be much the same as the first.
Devon had already crossed the room, his hand running over the mantel above the fireplace until he came up with a tinderbox.
“Here we are,” he said, bending over the fireplace and working at it for a few moments until the fire leapt in the grate.
“Been awhile since you lit a fire yourself, has it?” Cassandra couldn’t help but tease, and he looked back at her with smouldering eyes.
“You would be so adept at it, would you?”
“I could be. You never gave me the chance to prove myself.”
“Next time, then.”
“Do you plan to be trapped in a cottage alone with me a second time?” she asked, looking up at him from beneath her lashes.
“That remains to be seen,” he said, before turning from her and crossing to the window, looking out at the landscape beyond. “I don’t see anyone out there anymore,” he said. “Hopefully we can spend an hour or so drying off and then return.”
“Do you think anyone will come looking for us?” she asked, and he shrugged.
“Not for me, unless you think your mother will send out a search party.”
“Only if any of the servants alert her that I have been out of doors for this long,” she said. “Although sometimes I return through the library, and they wouldn’t have any idea of my whereabouts unless they have need to find me. I think we shall be fine until dinner. Mother was going to spend the afternoon with Father, so she wouldn’t have any reason to seek me out.”
“That’s good,” he said, before looking around, walking to the bed and stripping it of its two blankets. “I am unsure exactly how clean these are, but they appear to have been kept in relatively good condition. If you… remove your dress, you could hang it by the fire and try to dry it some while wrapping this around you.”
She nodded. “Very well.”
He turned around and faced the wall. “I will not look.”
He held his shoulders so stiffly, his body so straight and tight that it took everything within Cassandra not to laugh.
