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Without warning, amusement coaxed his lips into a smile. The ferocity of her glare did not match the sweetness of her face, reminding him of an angry kitten or a sulking fox cub.
To his surprise, she smiled back. “Neither of us should be allowed to walk alone, it seems. We’re dangerous to those around us.” She paused. “What had ye so distracted?”
“A peregrine falcon.” Felix gestured upward, but the bird had gone. “And ye?”
She shrugged. “All the ways I could put an end to my cousin and get away with it. The usual mornin’ thoughts.”
Despite himself, Felix mustered a laugh. His future wife was certainly strange, saying things that others would be wise enough to keep to themselves. Yet, he rather liked her boldness.
“If I see some soil disturbed in the gardens, should I say nothin’ about it?” He did not often make jests, but he could not resist.
She chuckled. A pleasant, soft sound that stirred something in his chest. “Aye, but I promise yer flowers will bloom beautifully in the springtime.”
Not knowing how to continue, for he could not think of anything amusing to say, Felix chewed the inside of his cheek as an awkward silence stretched between them. It worried him, for it had been a long time since silence had troubled him, and longer still since he had felt a desperate need to fill it.
“Did ye sleep well? I trust the chamber my sisters prepared was to yer likin’?” He cleared his throat, remembering one of Meredith’s earlier questions. “If ye havenae eaten breakfast already, I can have someone show ye to the kitchens. I daenae eat breakfast often, but the cook will make ye whatever ye might like.”
Edwina rolled her eyes. “Ye daenae have to do that.”
“Do what?”
“Make idle conversation with me. I cannae stand empty chatter,” she replied. “There’s nay need for us to avoid what we’re both thinkin’. Neither of us wants this, but neither of us can get out of it, so let’s just do what we can to make it tolerable. We daenae have to be friends. We daenae have to be anythin’.”
Her remark pinched at Felix’s chest. “Ye daenae want us to speak?”
“Och, I dinnae say that. I just meant… we daenae have to force anythin’. Ye daenae have to pretend that ye care how I slept or if I’ve eaten.” She toyed with a strand of her bronzed hair, as if she was uncomfortable. “I’m nae explainin’ myself very well, but… um… let’s just avoid empty chatter. If we’ve nothin’ to say, let’s nae feel the need to say anythin’.”
Felix nodded.That,he could accept. “Might I make a suggestion?”
“I willnae stop ye,” she replied.
“I’ve a desire to get away from the Castle. I daenae want to run into yer cousin and I cannae stand seein’ the mess left behind after a gatherin’.” He hesitated. “I was goin’ to ride to the loch, if ye’d care to join me? We daenae need to talk, just ride.”
He could not understand the words that were coming out of his mouth. He was not supposed to be inviting her to the loch or getting to know her; he was supposed to be making himself so unbearable that she would not want to remain at Castle Moore. Yet, he no longer seemed to be in control of his own speech.
I wasnae even goin’ to ride today.
Edwina’s expression brightened. “I wouldnae be averse to that. Do ye have a horse I could borrow?”
“I have several,” he replied, gaining a snort from her.
“Och, there’s nae need to boast.”
Floundering, he could not tell if she was teasing him, or if he truly sounded boastful. It came as a consequence of his customary quietness, for he could no longer gauge the tone of his own voice.
She turned and swept a hand around the courtyard. “So, where are the stables? The sooner I have the wind in my hair, the sooner I can shuffle off this awful mood.”
“This way,” he said, striding forward.
After the long and dramatic night that she had endured, he could not help but take pity on the fierce, beautiful woman. Besides, he had a week until their wedding, and plenty of time after that to begin his plan. There was no rush to be an insufferable bastard right away. At least, that was what he told himself, fighting to ignore the thrill of excitement that bristled through his stomach.
After all, he had never gone anywhere alone with a woman before. Not on purpose, anyway.
* * *
Away from the Castle that had thrown her life into disarray, Edwina’s entire being relaxed. She smiled and settled into the rhythm of the docile mare beneath her, who bore the equally sweet name of “Buttercup”. A warm wind caressed her face and whipped her hair into a frenzy that would take forever to tame again, but she did not care. Nothing could spoil the freedom of that moment.
“Och, it’s beautiful out here. If I still had my horse, I would have her sent here, and then ye’d never even think ye had a wife because ye’d never be able to find me. I’d be ridin’ from mornin’ until evenin’,” she joked, drawing level with Felix as the horses plodded along a meandering path through verdant moorland. “Is that the loch over there?”
