“Yes.”
“And me beating you in archery.”
“You cannot beat me, Alice.”
“Can’t I?”
“You cannot. You have been told by Lord Greencliff himself that the lady most ready to laugh will perform best, and I will now confess to you that I was the one who told Lord Greencliff to say that because it has been true of you since the day I met you, and I had hoped to use it against you.”
“That is not fair.”
“It is entirely fair, Alice.”
“Your Grace?”
“Yes.”
“I shall race you back.”
She did not wait for his answer. She hiked up her wet skirts with both hands and ran.
She ran along the small landing, up onto the gravel, across the meadow, and toward the far end where Joanna stood with a shawl. Behind her, she could hear very clearly the steady tread of Cassian walking, not running.
He let her win.
He let her win the way a man let a woman he had decided was his win a small, unimportant race in his own meadow on a Wednesday morning in May with no particular hurry about it.
Alice reached Joanna and the shawl perhaps thirty seconds ahead of him. “I have won, Joanna.”
“You are also drenched, Alice.”
“Yes.”
“You are drenched, and my brother, who is approximately thirty paces behind you, is also drenched. And there is a small, entirelyunnecessary smile on his face which has not been there in approximately fifteen years. I shall pretend not to have noticed.” Joanna put the shawl around Alice’s shoulders.
Cassian joined them a moment later. He was wet to the knee and only the knee, as though he had gone into the lake exactly as far as he had meant to and no farther.
He greeted Joanna with a small, easy bow. Lord Greencliff, who had walked up from his judging post with his cane under his arm, observed both of them with a very particular, measuring one-eyed attention.
“Lady Alice.”
“My Lord.”
“You have won.”
“I have, My Lord.”
“Through a great deal of cheating.”
“Through a moderate amount of cheating, My Lord.”
“Lady Alice.”
“Yes, My Lord.”
“Young people in love,” Lord Greencliff said very gravely to Joanna, who was standing beside him, “have two settings. They are either very quiet or they are wet to the knee. There is nothing in between. I have been observing this for forty years, and I have not yet found the exception.”
Joanna laughed.
