Page 94 of If the Slipper Fits
Her legs trembled like jelly as she descended.
Here she stood outside Chissington Hall, about to enter the forbidding walls for the first time in her life. She wrapped her arms around herself and waited in silence as Caden and the coachman carted their luggage to the wide front steps of the castle’s entrance.
He returned to her side, neither speaking as the travel coach set off in the direction of the stables.
Their eyes met.
Suddenly she found it hard to breath. “Caden, I’m not sure you—we—thought this through properly. What if the earl—”
“—Shh.” He shifted to face her, his back to the castle.
Gripping her shoulders with gentle hands, he gave her a reassuring smile. But it was his guileless blue eyes boring into hers that somehow calmed the hysteria trying to well up inside her.
“What’s this? My bold girl who single-handedly thwarted a mad woman, fought off a villain, and braved the streets of London now trembles in fear of meeting the gentlest of men?”
“Gentle or not, he is the Earl of Claybourne,” she muttered. “What if he sends me back to Bolton?”
“That, my darling, will never happen.”
“And what of your sanctimonious brother?”
He looked over his shoulder and squinted at the solid stone walls as if he could see through to the man himself. “You need not concern yourself, Anna. My brother may possess an overinflated view of his own judgement in all matters, but his loyalty to family knows no bounds.”
“Family being the key word.”
He shifted his attention back to her. One corner of his mouth crooked upward. An odd expression lit his sky blue eyes. He seemed on the verge of speaking when one of the massive front doors swung open wide.
Brows arched, Caden turned. “Ah.”
He tucked her fingers into the crook of his arm and, led her, unhurried, toward the broad front steps.
Looming in the open doorway, a tall, powerfully built man with the bearing of a demigod stared down at them—Lord Ezekiel Thurgood in the flesh. The similarities in his appearance to Caden would mark him as none other, even if she had never met him.
A bemused, pleased, and still somehow arrogant expression animated his ruggedly handsome face.
“This is a surprise, brother. I had the impression we’d not see you…” he broke off, arching his brows meaningfully. He cast a quick glance at Anna before finishing with, “anytime soon.”
He trotted down the flight of stairs, then reached his arm to squeeze Caden’s shoulder. “Welcome home.”
Caden frowned in evident confusion. “I’m gratified by your warm reception, but my arrival is hardly unexpected. You did send a messenger to Femsworth Manor, did you not? About the earl?”
“Messenger? What about the earl?”
Caden shot Anna a perplexed look before returning his attention to Zeke. “His recent illness? The messenger claimed I needed to return to Chissington Hall post-haste.”
Zeke gave a slow nod of understanding. His eyes lit on Anna and their combined luggage, before returning to Caden. “It’s just the two of you, then?”
Caden frowned. “Yes. But the earl. Is he…?”
Zeke sent his brother a reassuring grin. “Thanks to Kitty, the earl is fitter than you or I. You’re under a misapprehension, brother.”
Caden opened his mouth to speak, but Zeke forestalled him with a hand raised, palm out. “Let us continue our discussion indoors. Kitty won’t thank me for leaving her out of an exchange which promises tobe, at the very least, interesting, not to mention she’ll be delighted to see you.”
Zeke’s gaze traveled once more to Anna. “You can introduce your friend to both of us at once, as well.”
His casual suggestion seemed to Anna more of a command.
Lifting her chin, she determined not to budge an inch until Caden gave his assent. She slid her gaze toward him.
