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She reached into a purse at her belt and produced a penny.
“Aye, milady. Not half an hour ago, I reckon. He’d been at the farm to see to the new calves.”
“And which way did he go?” Rebecca asked eagerly.
“That way, milady. Up the valley. Said he wanted a walk before going back to town.”
Rebecca leaned over to hand him the penny. “Thank you, Henry. Mind you, don’t tell anyone else I was asking.”
Henry’s eyes were full of the shiny penny and he nodded rapidly. “Course, milady. I won’t tell anyone.”
Rebecca considered the other two boys who were standing amid the trees watching with curiosity. She reached back into the purse and produced two more pennies.
“These are for your brothers,” she said.
Henry made the coins vanish rapidly from her hands and held them out to show the other two. Rebecca turned Swift and headed him towards a gate at the far end of the field. Beyond it was the trackless Greendale Woods. She would ride up the valley and hope that Lucius was just ahead waiting for her.
The boys went back to their task, chattering excitedly over the pennies and being hushed by their older brother. Soon the sound of them was lost in the gentle wash of the tree branches overhead, which sighed in the breeze. Swift's hooves made soft thuds as she walked him around slim-boled trees. Somewhere off to the side came the sound of running water. As she rounded a thick cluster of holly, a voice came from above her.
“Bribing young boys. Shameless behavior for the lady of the manor.”
A broad smile split Rebecca’s face. She looked up to the source of the voice. In the broad arms of an oak, a young man sat, legs dangling on either side. He wore a plain suit of tweed with the shirt and boots of a working man. But his accent was one of education. Curly, fair hair framed a handsome round face and gray eyes. He had an easy smile that made his eyes crinkle at the corners.
“I am not lady of the manor. Merely the sister of the Lord,” Rebecca said, folding her hands on the pommel of her saddle. “And I did not bribe. Merely…encouraged those boys not to gossip, which they should not be doing anyway. So, my conscience is clear.”
The young man flipped one leg over the branch and dropped to the ground. Then he strode over to Rebecca’s horse. He raised his arms to her and allowed herself to slide from Swift’s back into his embrace.
“Welcome back, Rebecca, my love,” he said.
“Lucius,” Rebecca replied, blushing deeply.
They kissed. Lucius was tall and slender but more than strong enough to hold Rebecca to him, feet off the ground, as she entwined her fingers through his hair. She murmured against his lips as he held her tightly, gently biting at her lower lip. When they finally parted, Rebecca was breathless.
“I know the perfect place where we can be alone,” Lucius said, taking her by the hand and leading her away.
CHAPTER 6
Lucius stepped nimbly through the undergrowth, holding aside the whip-thin branches of saplings that occasionally crossed their path. He held Rebecca’s hand as he walked.
“Are you leading me off into the wilderness, Lucius?” Rebecca laughed as she fought to keep her skirts free from brambles and branches.
“I am actually following a path. A fox trail unless I miss my guess. Can you not see it?”
Rebecca looked down and shook her head. “All I see is undisturbed greenery. Not a sign of civilization.”
Lucius looked over his shoulder at her. “That is the idea. No prying eyes or ears.”
“That would be heaven,” Rebecca sighed.
Lucius stopped in his tracks, seized her around the waist, and pulled her into a close embrace, kissing her passionately. Rebecca had time for a brief squeal of surprised delight before she was swooning in his arms, letting him hold her up as she returned his kisses with equal fervor.
“Come on,” Lucius said after a heart-pounding, breathless moment. “It’s not far now.”
They resumed their trek until they reached a shady dell, a bowl in the ground, lined with trees and carpeted with bluebells. Rebecca exclaimed her delight as they descended one side of the dell. At the bottom of the slope was a log, and atop it was a checked woolen blanket with a picnic laid out. The log had clearly fallen from the rim of the dell at some point because there was a gap in the trees at a point above it.
A ray of sunshine came through the gap now, illuminating the scene as though it were an illustration from a storybook. Lucius jumped the last few feet and then turned back to Rebecca, holding both of her hands, to guide her down. Then, laughing, they ran across the flower-covered ground to the log.
“A working man’s fare, courtesy of Mrs. Grimwade, my landlady. A plowman’s lunch, cold tea, and some homemade scones. Mrs. Grimwade is, at the moment, one of my greatest admirers after I cleared her milk cow’s blocked teat.”
