“And the ledgers?”
“I didn’t say you wouldn’t have to do some work, but you can spend your time amongst your tenants.”
“For what purpose?”
“Do you even know your tenants?” she asked.
He shook his head. “I own too much land to know all of my tenants.”
“You should change that.”
“That is why I employ a steward.”
“Have you attempted to get to know any of them?”
“I attend the meetings, and I have listened to their many complaints,” Colin responded. “It is exhausting to hear about all that needs to be tended to.”
Arabella gave him a knowing look. “Why did you join the Royal Army?”
“That’s simple,” he replied. “I wanted to fight for my country.”
She put her hands out and asked, “You fought for this, did you not?”
“It’s not that simple.”
“I do not wish to presume to know the great responsibility that you have been given, but I envy you.”
Colin looked at her curiously. “Envy me? Why?”
“You have the freedom to do as you please.”
“And you don’t?”
Arabella shook her head. “My options are limited, I’m afraid,” she sighed. “I am sad to admit that my future looks rather bleak.”
“I don’t believe that to be true.”
Arabella shifted her gaze away from his. “My own father doesn’t want me around.”
“He said that to you?”
“No, but he sent me away for Christmas,” she said dejectedly. “He wanted to spend the holiday with his new wife.”
“That doesn’t sound like the man I knew growing up.”
Arabella walked over to a fallen tree and sat down. “He changed after my mother died,” she responded. “I feel as if I have lost both of my parents.”
“Grief can change people.”
“Perhaps, but his new wife is just awful,” Arabella said. “She is my nemesis.”
“You have a nemesis?” Colin lifted his brow, amusement in his voice.
“I do,” she replied. “Augusta does everything in her power to drive a wedge between my father and I.”
“If I recall correctly, isn’t she rather young?”
Arabella bobbed her head. “She is only five years older than me,” she responded. “I know my father only married her so he could get the precious heir that he always wanted.”
