Page 43 of A Fearless Heart
“Cady, there’s something I ought to tell you.”
“Yes?” She started to walk back toward him. But just as she reached him and lifted her hand to touch his face, a booming voice interrupted.
“What exactly is going on here?”
Chapter 16
Gabe saw the figure ofVernon atop one of the riding horses. He looked furious.
“I’ve been looking for you all over, my lady!” Vernon said. “And only to find you here, alone with…this man!”
“She had plans for the icehouse,” Gabe said smoothly. “She was just giving me instructions for cleaning it out. Right, my lady?” He gave her foot a nudge with his.
“What? Oh, yes! Um, tuber storage!”
Vernon looked as perplexed as Gabe felt. “Tuber storage?”
“Yes!” Cady responded. “I had the idea to grow more potatoes and other nightshades and we’ll need storage for that, won’t we? So I thought of the icehouse and I wanted to show Mr Court what to do to prepare the building. To store the tubers. Obviously.”
Her explanation made a little sense…maybe. But Gabe could sense the animosity rolling off the footman as he took in the sight of her ladyship standing practically in the arms of the gardener.
The old guard of servants were all fanatically loyal to the family, and in particular the late Lord Calder. Naturally they’d be livid at any hint of impropriety that would threaten Cady’s reputation.
Gabe moved subtly to put a bit of distance between himself and Cady. Uncharacteristically, he resented that he had to. Who was Vernon to tell him what to do?
He’s doing his job of protecting the mistress, Gabe told himself. Just as Gabe should be doing the job of extracting information from the mistress. Not thinking about how incredibly soft and smooth her lips were.
Idiot.
Aloud, he said, “Go back with Vernon, my lady. It sounds like there’s an important matter for you to address at the house. I’ll get to work here, as you instructed.”
Cady nodded, with a hint of uncertainty in her face. But she turned and went to Vernon, who had dismounted and bent to help her up on the horse (never mind that she’d walked here on her own two feet). Why did all the servants treat her like glass? Was it part of the unreasoning fear she dealt with? Or was it just the overprotectiveness for a sheltered lady?
He waited a good twenty minutes before walking slowly back to the main house, putting together a more plausible story should Rundle or the others question him at length about this afternoon.
Tuber storage.
Gabe laughed out loud, and then just kept laughing. It felt good to do that. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been so…surprised. And not just surprised, but delighted.
Was Cady always so funny? Was her constant fear stifling that sudden, flashing absurdity? Gabe found himself wanting to see more of that side of Cady. When she smiled it was like sun coming through clouds.
Wait. Did I really just think that?Gabe shook his head. This assignment was getting to him. Not once had Gabe ever fallen for a mark. He couldn’t start now.
It was just that Cady was so different from what he expected. Vulnerable in some ways, yes, but also clearly able to think her way through most problems and motivated to pursue what she loved. And someone eager to master new things…as shown by her stunning progress in the icehouse. Given a few more minutes, she’d have Gabe begging for her.
He had to finish his work here before he did something incredibly stupid.
That night, he decided he couldn’t wait any longer. After learning about the passageways that were part of the odd heating system in the glasshouses that Cady had called hot walls, Gabe now had a way inside the forbidden space where he knew the deadliest poisons had to be.
He broke into one of the other glasshouses that had a hot wall, smashing a pane in a corner behind a shrub, where the damage wouldn’t be seen. Then he picked the lock on the door that led into those dark passageways fronting the hollow walls holding the conduits meant for heating.
Unlike Cady, Gabe long ago conquered his fear of darkness. He loved darkness. It hid him from prying eyes and allowed him to get closer to his enemies. He learned to love the dark while fighting in the army, working as an assassin behind the curtains rather than an ordinary piece on the battlefield. The darkness was his ally. So he didn’t need a lantern to navigate the narrow passage. He trailed one hand along the walls to his right, using memory to tell him where to go. He’d carried Cady this same way—he wasn’t going to forget that.
As he walked, he sensed he wasn’t alone. Little squeaks and rustling noises told him that the rats were there too, alerted by his presence yet not scared. Because they knew their own. At the end of the day, this was where he belonged. Gabe was a rat too.
Finally, he got to the door that led to Cady’s forbidden glasshouse. The lock on this door was simple. Why should anyone bother trying to make it complex? It only led to the hidden passages that so few people even knew about.
He picked the lock, and eased the door open, holding it firm against any sudden push thanks to a change in air pressure, or the screech of ungreased hinges.
