“She comes from a very wel -to-do family in America.” What Mrs. Crescent neglected to say was that Chloe’s family made their fortune from trade, and that put her in a distinctly lower class, the nouveau riche, as opposed to inherited wealth. Regardless, the family fortune had been lost.
“Pleased to meet you at last,” Sebastian said.
“And you. I was beginning to wonder if you truly existed.”
Sebastian smiled, but Mrs. Crescent nudged her from behind.
“Shal we?” He extended his arm and she linked her arm in his. When he handed her into the landau, he took her hand in his, and even though she had gloves on, never had a touch been so deliberate, so meaningful to her, and it rendered her speechless. Was it just her competitive streak?
She real y hardly knew the man. No, it was the opportunity that this afforded her—to live her dream, to win the money—and to consider the man.
The cameras were on her, Mrs. Crescent was next to her with Fifi, and she had to curb her tendency to lead a conversation, as this was frowned upon. Not that it mattered, as not one witticism came to her.
Sebastian sprawled in the carriage seat across from them, with his arm stretched across the top of the seat. He was the silent type.
Final y, she couldn’t restrain herself any longer. “This must be quite a summer for you.”
Lady Crescent elbowed her.
His eyes laughed. She’d hooked him.
“It is exciting, yes, I have to admit.” And then he began to say how he had looked forward to this excursion. He asked how she liked England.
Were the lodgings to her liking? Was there anything missing, or anything that needed remedying?
“Everything is perfect,” Chloe said. “Better than I could’ve imagined.”
Just when she thought things couldn’t get any better, the carriage rounded a bend and above them, atop a kel y-green hil , stood the ruins of a red-brick wal with three massive Gothic windows. Sun streamed through the arched frames where glass once might have been. It was the most picturesque date she had ever been on and she felt a tinge of Austen’s Mr. Henry Tilney wrapped up in a Mr. Darcy package for a fleeting moment.
“Here we are,” Sebastian announced. “The ruins of Dartworth Castle. Mrs. Crescent. Wil you be joining us as I escort Miss Parker up to the castle keep? Or would you rather stay in the comfort of the carriage?”
Mrs. Crescent eyed them both. “I wil stay here, Mr. Wrightman. But you must both remain in my line of sight at al times.”
Sebastian handed Chloe out of the carriage. “Not to worry,” he said.
It wasn’t as if they would be alone, what with the two cameramen on them.
Chloe had never seen anything like the castle ruin before, but Sebastian had grown up with it, and might’ve even played here as a boy. Chloe drank it in. Here was ground more ancient than Bridesbridge, and the crumbled wal s looked more than five feet thick.
“Amazing,” Chloe gushed.
Sebastian looked smug. “Why, thank you.”
“I’m referring to the castle, Mr. Wrightman. I’ve only just met you! When was it built?”
“The earliest pieces of it date from about the year 1130, I think, but it was added onto sometime in the thirteenth century, and then again later.”
As they passed under the remains of the archway in the gate-house, Chloe could imagine the noble families that must’ve passed through this spot al those centuries ago, with their flowing robes, thick gold jewelry, and royal headdresses.
But Sebastian was asking her a question. “How are you getting along with the rest of the women at Bridesbridge?”
Chloe had to stop and think of something, anything, witty or even interesting to say. It was hard to conjure anything amid such enchanting surroundings.
“I’m getting along with them,” she said. “But not al of them are getting along with me.” She stepped away from the cameraman, and stepped up onto what must’ve been an old wal partition. Could this have been the great hal ? Grass grew in what would’ve been the stone floor.
“It must be difficult,” Sebastian said. He walked the perimeter of a crumbled wal until it ascended and he stood in one of the Gothic window openings. Chloe would not soon forget the image of him with his black coattails against the blue sky as he took off his hat to wave it toward Mrs.
Crescent. He looked like he was born to wear breeches and boots. He smiled down at Chloe, who steadied herself near a freestanding fireplace with a partial chimney.
He stepped down from the window and leaned against the chimney. “Is there anyone in particular causing you trouble? Do tel .”
“Lady Grace,” Chloe said. She smiled at the cameras. “Seems rather preoccupied with making me miserable.”
Sebastian laughed. “Does she, now?” Under his breath, he added, “I do find her rather tedious myself.”
That was to his credit. She had to wonder, then, why he didn’t send her home.
As if he read her mind, he leaned into her as he whispered. “I’m supposed to humor her because of this land issue. Very touchy, that.”
