Delphine laughed. “It would appear that Hercules wants more apples from me.”
“I think we should adjourn for breakfast before my mother comes in search of us,” Bennett suggested.
“I am rather famished,” she admitted.
Bennett offered his arm. “Have any more of your memories returned?”
“No, I’m afraid not,” Delphine said as she accepted his arm. “I may not ever know why I was running in the woodlands.”
“Do you know of anyone that meant you harm?”
Delphine considered his question before saying, “I would suppose it would have been awfully convenient for my cousin if I hadn’t survived. But he has never given me a reason to think he might hurt me.”
“Can you think of no one else? An angry suitor, perhaps? Or a vindictive tenant?” Bennett pressed.
“I cannot think of one,” she replied. “I consider myself to be a fair landlord and I do hope no one is angry enough at me to try to kill me.”
Bennett patted her hand. “Of course not, but with your permission, I was hoping to hire a Bow Street Runner to make some inquiries on your behalf.”
“What kind of inquiries?” Delphine asked.
“The kind that would explain why you were found unconscious, and missing a shoe in the woodlands,” Bennett said. “It could be nothing, but I just want to ensure you are safe when you eventually return home.”
Home.
Why did that word seem so misplaced?
As they approached the manor, Bennett glanced over at her with a concerned look on his face. “I hope I did not upset you.”
“No, I was just woolgathering.”
“Anything you wish to share?” Bennett asked.
No.
How could she tell him that she was beginning to feel more at home with him than she had ever felt at her country estate?
Knowing he was still waiting for a response, she replied, “Iwas just thinking about how relieved my staff will be when I return home.”
“And your goats,” Bennett said, his voice laced with amusement.
She grinned. “You may mock me, but my goats adore me.”
“Why wouldn’t they?” he asked. “You are a remarkable person.”
A blush tinged her cheeks at his compliment, though she tried to maintain her composure. “I do hope there will be some haggis left over for breakfast.”
“You might have to fight Elodie for it.”
“I do not think it would be much of a fight,” Delphine quipped. “I remember that haggis was served the first time I was able to dine with my father.”
Bennett’s eyes crinkled around the edges. “My family is rather odd in the fact that we have eaten together as a family for as long as I could remember.”
“I am envious of that,” Delphine admitted. “My father would sit on one end of the table and my mother on the other. I sat in the middle of the two and we would each speak of our day. At least until we ran out of things to say. Then I would just stare at my food and attempt to ignore the deafening silence.”
“That sounds rather lonely.”
“It was,” Delphine responded, her words filled with emotion. How could she explain how lonely she had been as a child? And now, as an adult. She had more freedoms, but more constraints as well. She felt as if she were in a prison of her own making.
