Chapter 2

“Why in the world is Lord St. Giles here?” Cassy dropped onto a settee across from her cousin Charlotte. Oscar hopped up into the empty space beside her, happily thumping his black tail against the cushions.

“Michael said he invited himself.” Charlotte shrugged. “Among others. No idea why they’d want to be here if they didn’t have to be.”

It was certainly the last place in the world Cassy wanted to be, though the memory of the baron’s heated gaze nearly had her fanning herself. She honestly didn’t know what to think about St. Giles. He was too charming by half and the most handsome man she’d ever seen with his dark hair and his silvery eyes and that endearing dimple in the middle of his chin, but the way he often watched her was unsettling. Well, it wasn’t the way he watched her, not really. It was his reputation that was unsettling, which meant she had to be wary with the way he watched her, like she was a sweetmeat he wanted to sample. Of course, if his reputation was to be believed, he’d sampled quite a few sweetmeats in his time. A man like St. Giles was dangerous to any girl who valued her reputation, which Cassy most assuredly did.

She’d successfully thwarted every advance he’d made this last season, but there were so many more people, so many more events, so many places to escape. Castle Keyvnor wasn’t small by any stretch of the imagination, but it wasn’t so large as the whole of London. It was much easier to evade him and her thoughts of him in Town than it would be here.

A breeze rippled past her and the hair on the back of Cassy’s neck stood on end. Oscar barked and stood at attention. “Heavens,” she breathed out.

“What’s wrong with Oscar?” Charlotte asked.

Cassy blinked at her cousin. “Didn’t you feel that?”

Charlotte frowned slightly. “Feel what?”

“Like a breeze or a wind blow through the sitting room?” Gooseflesh crept across her skin.

Charlotte shook her head. “It’s an old castle. All the rooms are drafty.”

Blast it all. That chill hadn’t felt like a draft, but perhaps it was just Cassy’s imagination, letting Keyvnor’s reputation get the better of her.

Oscar barked again and she glanced down at her dog. He’d noticed the breeze, hadn’t he? He’d barked just as it had blown through the room. She wasn’t truly mad, or perhaps she was if the only one who was in agreement with her was Oscar.

“Ahem!” Someone cleared her throat in the threshold and Cassy and Charlotte glanced up to find a rather stern looking woman, plump and portly and scowling in their direction. “We do not have animals on the furniture at Castle Keyvnor.”

“Oh!” Cassy snatched Oscar up in her arms as though to shield him from the scowling woman. He burrowed against her chest.

“Sorry, Mrs. Bray,” Charlotte said. “We didn’t know.”

“Well, now you do.” The angry looking woman narrowed her eyes on Cassy.

Heavens, this was an awful place. A sennight. No matter what Papa said, surviving a sennight was going to be nearly impossible.

Charlotte pushed out of her seat and smiled at the woman, which was the last thing in the world Cassy wanted to do. “Um, Mrs. Bray,” her cousin began. “I wonder if you could answer a question for me.”

“Yes, Lady Charlotte?” She eyed the girl suspiciously.

“Well, I heard tell that there were gypsies on Keyvnor land. Is there any truth to that?”

Gypsies? Castle Keyvnor was becoming less appealing by the moment.

“The Earls of Banfield have always welcomed their lot,” Mrs. Bray replied. “They have a camp near Hollybrook Park.”

“That is delightful.” Charlotte grinned at the news.

Delightful? Charlotte and Cassy had very different ideas as to what constituted delightful.

“You best not be disturbing them.” Mrs. Bray warned. “We stay away from them and they stay away from us, even if his lordship welcomed them.”

“Yes, of course,” Charlotte insisted, briskly nodding her head. “I was simply curious. I would never dream of visiting gypsies.”

Cassy sucked in a breath. The last thing in the world she’d ever do was visit a band of gypsies, but she knew her cousin all too well. Never dream of visiting gypsies in Charlotte-speak translated into wondering which path was the quickest in reaching them.

The portly woman shrugged and then departed after scowling at Oscar one last time.

With a giant smile, Charlotte dropped back into her seat, her green eyes shining with glee. “I can’t wait to have my fortune told.”

“I think you’ve lost your mind.” Cassy shook her head.

Oscar barked in agreement.

Gypsies would probably steal the jewels from Charlotte’s hands and tell her something awful for the price.

Her cousin cast her a glance that begged her to keep her tongue on the matter. Then she slid forward in her seat. “It’ll be a grand adventure, Cassy, just think a band of marauding gypsies telling tales by the fire. It’s just a lark. Something to pass the time while we’re here.”

“It sounds perfectly horrid.”

Charlotte rolled her eyes. “You are too stuffy by half, did you know?”

Cassy frowned in response. “You think I’m stuffy? I can’t wait to hear you tell Anthony, Harry, and Michael that you mean to visit a band of gypsies.” Her brothers, after all, would hardly think the idea a good one.

Instantly, Charlotte’s face drained of its color. “You can’t tell them!” she insisted. “They’ll ruin any bit of enjoyment there is to be had here.”

“We’re here for the reading of a will, not enjoyment.”

“You can find enjoyment anywhere.” Her cousin shrugged. “Or at least you can if your overbearing brothers don’t know what you’re about. You must promise me not to tell them.”

“I’m not going to tell them,” Cassy promised. Just because she had no desire to seek out gypsies didn’t mean she’d betray her cousin’s confidence. “But I don’t think you should visit them. It could be dangerous and I have an awful feeling about Keyvnor. Don’t you feel it too?”

Charlotte shook her head. “I think your imagination is running wild again.”

Oscar barked, hopped off Cassy’s lap and bolted toward the doorway where…Lord St. Giles was leaned against the doorjamb. At once, Cassy’s breath caught in her throat as his gaze heated her anew.

Her poodle sat before the baron and panted up at him as though waiting for a treat. The gentleman winked at her and then lifted a bit of something down to Oscar.

“What did you give him?” Cassy pushed off the settee.

“Charmed a scullery maid for a bit of pheasant.”

Why was she not surprised? Was there anyone St. Giles couldn’t charm if he put his mind to it? Even Oscar was wagging his tail and looking up at the baron as though he was a knight in shining armor. “Are you attempting to bribe my dog?”

“Bribe? What an ugly word.” The grin that spread across his face could have melted her into a puddle if she wasn’t already wary of him. “Simply making a new friend. You can never have too many, after all.” Then he glanced toward Charlotte. “And your secret is safe with me, my dear. None of your brothers will hear of your expedition into gypsy territory from my lips.”

Heavens, how long had he been there? What else had they said that he might have overheard?

“Lord St. Giles,” Charlotte breathed out, a red blush staining her cheeks.

The baron stepped further into the sitting room, seeming to take up more space than was his fair share. “I am a firm believer in having a bit of fun every now and then, so I certainly wouldn’t stand in the way of you having yours.”

“Thank you,” her cousin whispered, casting Cassy a sidelong glance.

“Think nothing of it.” St. Giles nodded good-naturedly as he rounded the settee, with Oscar following in his wake. Then he stopped just before Cassy. “As for fun, I had hoped we might stroll the gardens, Lady Cassandra.”

She blinked up at him with those wide hazel eyes of hers and Jack held his breath. The girl had evaded him most of the season. Would she dash his plans now that he’d traveled to godforsaken Cornwall to catch a glimpse of her?

“That might be the most dangerous thing I could do, my lord,” she replied.

“You think I’m dangerous?” Jack couldn’t help the slow smile that spread across his face. Was that why she’d hidden from him this past spring? That was much preferred to her not liking him. That was surmountable. That he could use to his advantage.

“Well, you certainly have a dangerous reputation.” The tiniest amount of pink tinged her cheeks.

Hmm…What had she heard about him? There was no telling. The truth, most likely. So Jack agreed with an incline of his head. “Indeed, though I’m not certain if it will survive should anyone see me with you.”

Predictably, her mouth fell open. “I beg your pardon?”

What he wouldn’t do to taste those lips.

Jack tipped his head in Lady Charlotte’s direction. “Even your own cousin finds you stuffy, Lady Cassandra.” Then he shrugged. “I’d hate for anyone to think that your stuffiness has rubbed off on me. I do have a reputation to protect, after all.”

A laugh escaped Lady Charlotte as she said, “I shan’t tell a soul.”

“Charlotte!” Lady Cassandra blinked at her cousin.

“Well, I’d hate for his reputation to be ruined, besides he is keeping a secret for me.”

One never could have too many friends. Jack winked at the lady, silently thanking her for her support. Then he refocused on the one girl who had kept him awake more nights than he could count this past year. He did think she was softening just a bit. Her eyes had that look about them. “If I’m willing to take the chance of walking in the gardens with you, certainly you’ll be willing to take the chance of walking with me. I do have more to lose, after all.”

She rolled her eyes, but the smile that tipped her lips belied her resistance to him.

“Besides, Oscar will be with us—” he shrugged “—I’m certain if I tried to take any liberties, he’d knock me to the ground to protect your honor.”

Lady Cassandra did laugh at that. “He’s a little ball of fluff, and after you plied him with pheasant, I’m certain you’re his new best friend.”

One found friends where and how one could. Honestly, his forward thinking should be rewarded. “Come along, my lady.” He offered her his arm. “Just an innocent walk in the gardens. I’ll be on my best behavior.”

“An innocent walk in the gardens with a dangerous rake?” she asked softly.

“Well, we’re the most fun fellows to go for walks with, I can assure you.”