Page 34 of A Fearless Heart
“Well, of course there are many plants here that no one should be near,” she said in response to one. “I’ve said that before, have I not? But you know that rats and mice don’t actually like to try new things to eat? They avoid what they don’t know. Not unlike me.”
The last was uttered with a sort of dark humor that seemed out of character. He glanced down and saw lines at the corners of her eyes and mouth, suggesting prolonged distress.
By then, they reached the glasshouse door, which Gabe couldn’t open with her in his arms.
He put her down, but Cady clung to him for a moment, her hands curling around his arms as if she were uncertain her own feet would support her.
She said in a low voice, “We’re not going to ever mention this.”
“Mention what?”
“Thank you,” she breathed. “It’s bad enough that you had to see me. I think I’d die if anyone else knew you had to carry me back.”
She turned and opened the door to the glasshouse before he could reply.
Inside the bright, sunny space once more, Cady’s shoulders sagged down. He followed her in, closing the door again carefully.
“Where’s that poison? Do you keep all your dangerous substances safe?”
“Yes, they’re in a locked case in my locked workroom in my locked garden. Why, do you think I’m such a fool that I keep them in the kitchen pantry?”
Now he wanted to see the inside of that case. Aloud he said, “I don’t think you’re a fool.”
“You ought to, considering what you’ve seen about me. I didn’t used to be like this.”
Before Gabe could figure out what she meant by that, they heard Mr Rundle shouting from somewhere. Cady immediately straightened up and smoothed out the wrinkles in her gown.
“I’d best see what’s the matter,” she muttered. She ran the back of her hand across her eyes.
“Shouldn’t you rest?” he asked. “After having an…incident?”
“That?” Cady actually laughed. “That was nothing back there, Mr Court. I was doing very well in keeping my panic at bay. When I actually do have an incident, as you so kindly call it, I go completely to pieces, I terrify everyone who sees me, and I can barely sit upright for hours afterward. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must see what Mr Rundle needs.”
Finally, an opportunity, he thought.Leave me alone in the glasshouse where you grow your poisonous plants.
In a rush, Cady turned to the doorway that eventually headed to the house. Just as she was about to go through, however, she turned back.
“Oh, my Lord, I nearly locked you in here! How terrible would that have been? Some of these plants are dangerous even to touch. Quickly, come with me, Mr Court.”
Wordlessly, he did, cursing how careful she was.
“Maybe another time you’ll give me a tour.”
“Whyever would you want that?” she asked, eyes wide.
And of course, that was one thing he couldn’t tell her.
Chapter 14
The next day, Cady encounteredGabe working diligently in the rose allée in the front of the great house. He had carted wheelbarrows of mulch to put around the roots, and was carefully moving bits to each plant, just as Cady had instructed.
“How many of these infernal things do you have?” he asked with a rueful grin as he saw her approach.
“Two hundred in the front here,” she said with an apologetic shrug. “More in the other gardens, of course.”
“Of course. And I’ve done…thirty so far. Fuck me,” he added in a low tone.
Cady happened to have very sharp hearing, and she couldn’t quite stop her reaction to that.
