Page 17 of The Duke's Treasure
She shot him a look that told him he was right, although she wasn’t entirely happy about it herself.
“How are your boots holding up?” he asked her, quirking a brow, and she lifted her chin.
“Just fine. And yours?”
“Wonderfully,” he said jovially. “I always did appreciate a good walk. This one time, through the jungle of the?—”
She held up a hand, effectively stopping him. “I have no wish to hear your tales of past heroics. Experience has taught me that tales are just that – tales.”
“Tales can be true.”
“Or an utter lie,” she said, bitterness in her tone, telling him just how much she had been hurt in the past. He doubted he would ever earn her trust, as in the time it could take for him to do so he would likely be far gone from here.
“What’s the fastest way to get to the hills?”
“It would likely be best to ride,” she said after thinking for a moment.
“You ride?”
“Of course.”
“What are you doing tomorrow?”
Mariana pacedthe foyer the next day as she waited for the duke to arrive. It was an odd relationship they had begun to build.Were they friends? She wasn’t entirely sure, but what she did know was that she looked forward to their time together, even though she knew she should be distancing herself from him.
It was not that she didn’t have time for him – no, she had far too much time on her hands. But instead, it was the fact that he was from a country that most of her people hated, and if her brother-in-law found out about the time she was spending with the duke, it would give him far too much reason to return to San Sebastian and take back the house he had allowed her to live in unquestioned for so long.
It was time she made a plan for her future. But at the moment, the only option she had was to find another husband – which was completely opposed to her vow to never marry again.
She was at a crossroads. She had some decisions to make, decisions that would change her path forward forever.
But first, she was going on a ridiculous treasure hunt that she knew would result in nothing more than a nice day of riding.
“Ah, there you are,” she said in relief when the duke knocked on the front door. He appeared surprised to find her waiting for him, but she had grown so sick of her own thoughts that she welcomed his.
“Eager, are we?” he said with a sly smile, and she ignored him as she pushed past him out the door, leading him toward the stables.
She had told him yesterday that she could lend him a horse, and she debated between sending him out with either the feistiest of the bunch or the slowest.
She paused in the doorway of the stable, hands on her hips as she looked down the stalls, but he took the decision out of her hands when he started wandering down the aisle, stopping when he came to the beautiful brown Galician. He was one of the two horses that Mariana often rode, and the choice was surprising given its small stature compared to some of the others.
“I’ll takehim,” the duke said, pointing to the stall. At the conviction in his tone, Mariana chose not to question him, instead finding her usual mare who possessed both speed and patience.
Mariana signalled to the stablemaster to saddle the horses, as a maid emerged from the house with the lunch Mariana had requested be packed for them.
“If you would like, I can ask one of the local men to show us around the hills,” Mariana offered, and the duke eyed her.
“How well do you know the hills?”
“I would like to think as well as any other guide.”
“Then you can show me,” he said, and she nodded as her horse was brought out. He eyed it with confusion.
“You do not ride side-saddle?”
“I do – when required,” she said, pausing before continuing, hoping he would understand the importance of what she was about to tell him. “But when I am with certain people, who I know will not share the secret, I prefer to ride astride – even if my riding habit prevents it from being completely desirable.”
Understanding dawned on his face as he nodded, accepting the trust, and then they started out.
