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“Very well.”
They watched the woman turn back into the woods and disappear. They stood there for a long while, hoping that the woman would come out of the trees again. From their vantage point, they would be able to see which direction she left.
Another few minutes passed in heavy silence before Nick let out a long, slow breath. “Perhaps we should go find Robert. I think the stable needs to be apprised of the situation as well.”
Giulia nodded but did not remove her gaze. She was rewarded moments later when the woman left the woods on horseback. “Nick! There!” she called.
He dropped the basket and hurried back to her side. “Where is she going?”
“You would know better than I, but is that the direction of the Green’s barn?”
Nick nodded. “And beyond that is the Green’s property. There is no inn or pub that direction.”
They watched the woman ride off until she disappeared once again in a copse of trees on the property line beside the Green’s barn and did not resurface.
“The mystery continues to build, I suppose. Shall we go find Robert?”
“I will leave that to you,” she replied. “I really must return to my duties for your ball. The invitations will not write themselves.”
“No, I suppose they will not.” Nick locked gazes with her, and she felt the heat return to her chest. She could admit to herself that she felt for Nick in a way she had never felt for another man before. She should tell him about Ames’s slight—that the man who had promised to build a life for her was instead failing to even write her a single letter. But…what if that broke the spell? What if telling Nick that she was less certain of Ames cut off the spark between them, making the situation too real? Too…possible? She had heard of Nick’s reputation as a cad and still she broke her own rule to keep her heart guarded from his flirtations and charm. She had let herself enjoy it, naturally, but she could not place more worth there than there actually was.
And now he had stolen his kiss. The one he had tried for with each of the Swans when he had first moved to Halstead but had failed to achieve. He hadn’t failed with Giulia. No, with her, he had conquered.
Casting him a lighthearted smile that was far from how Giulia actually felt, she turned toward the exit and lowered herself from the tower’s roof. Swallowing hurt and her injured pride, she renewed her focus on the task the earl had given her. Perhaps throwing herself into the planning of the ball would benefit her in more than one way. She needed to keep her mind as occupied and controlled as her heart.
