“Aye,” she quipped, nodding eagerly. “But if ee ‘bandon yer wife to play with me, she be like to crown ee proper, and I’ll not save ee then.”

“Duly noted. I’ll do better by her. You have my word.”

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

“Go for a ride, he said. Take the air. What a wondrous idea, if only I had any idea where I was!”

The empty abyss of moors about her did not respond to Adelaide’s irritated rant, though the gust of wind did tug at her carefully set hair.

It was partially her own fault, she’d have to admit, even if begrudgingly. She had assured him that she knew the way, more to keep him from being superior and appearing accommodating, not thinking it could be so very difficult to ride about the countryside.

And now here she was, riding along without a single landmark to note and not a familiar patch of ground to be seen.

Had she taken the time to explore her new home and taken in the surroundings, she might not have gotten herself into this mess, but she had spent the entirety of her time rearranging Trevadden Park and reveling in being mistress of her own home rather than only dreaming of it. She had walked the gardens, of course, but she had not ventured down to the beach, to the mines, or to the village, which meant that the only familiar sights would be that of Trevadden.

She had ridden a solid twenty minutes away from Trevadden before recalling that she did not know the way back, and by that time, it was too late.

Now she was a full hour into the mess and so turned about, she could not know one direction from another.

She would never have had this problem in London.

Her horse had no trouble in going wherever she steered him, even when the terrain had turned rocky. The ground beneath them felt almost soft between the massive protuberances of stone, and as far as the eye could see was a sea of green and gray, offset only by the paler gray of the overcast skies. It was a haunting sort of beauty, a desolation that was strangely peaceful, and the wind whipped about as though she stood on a cliff by the coastline. She caught sight of sheep, wandering at their leisure, and a few yards beyond them another pair. A highland cow plodded along and gave her a doleful look as she and her horse trotted by.

No shepherd was in sight, no wrangler of cattle, no human being who might have been minding the animals at all. The creatures simply moved about as though out for a country stroll, and the sight of them baffled her. What was this strange place snatched out of time without a single sign of civilization at all?

And what was she doing stuck out in it?