How terribly, terribly helpful ofhim.
Miss Fennell grinned as she took us in. “Come to rescue us, have you? Sent by my cousin, I assume? Very decent of you,really!”
“Indeed,” I said sourly, trying not to take in Wrexham’s expression. “Your cousin was worried aboutyou.”
...And an hour earlier, I would have deeply relished the idea of being the one to find Lady Cosgrave’s missing cousin, without using any magic along theway.
Somehow, though, in the wake of the elf lord’s visit, it didn’t feel like quite the victory I’d hoped for afterall.
There wasno out-striding Miss Fennell and her friends. Young, rowdy, cheerful, slightly tipsy, and all of them apparently untouched by their experience, they surrounded us in a laughing, jostling group that—all too soon—resulted in the inevitable idea of a jolly sing-song to speed our wayhome.
I tried to speed my own footsteps, but it was no use. Miss Fennell looped one arm through mine and matched me step for step, heavy traveling skirts swishing about her boots, while she sang at the top of her impressively strong lungs. Wrexham had done her and her friends the basic courtesy of spelling them safety from the elements as well, so even my secret fantasy of snow falling into her open mouth wasthwarted.
...Not that she could truly be considered to blame forallof this afternoon’s mishaps, I admitted sourly to myself as we marched across the snowy landscape, our party’s merry yodeling echoing loudly around thehills.
Still, so much youthful exuberance was difficult to bear with an aching body and an uncomfortable new set ofregrets.
I wasn’t looking forward to admitting to Amy all that had occurred out here this afternoon. Worse yet, I could tell that Wrexham was only waiting to give me his own opinion on thematter.
That, at least, I could prevent. As he edged closer through the crowd of cheerful travelers, his dark brows bent forbiddingly, I jerked Miss Fennell forward and grasped the arm of her closest friend—one Miss Banks—with my freehand.
“There!” I said brightly. “Now we’re joined in achain!”
“Ha! Delightful.” Miss Fennellbeamed.
Her friend, a slighter girl with pale skin flushed pink with either excitement or alcohol, and what looked like fine blonde hair beneath her hood, smiled shyly at me from our newly intimate vantage point...and then her eyes widened in suddenrecognition.
“Oh. Oh! Are you—? Thatis...”
Oh no.I felt Wrexham’s wry gaze on the back of my neck as he dropped back to wait just behindme.
There would be no escape if I released her arm now. But even my lack of answer had been too much of a hint,apparently.
“YouareCassandra Harwood, aren’t you?” she breathed. “Oh, I knew it! I’ve been so hoping to meet you. I haveso manyquestions I’ve been dying to ask you, all about what happened to you thissummer!”
Oh,damnation.
Cursing my life, my ex-fiancé and myself in equal measure, I smiled ferociously at my young interrogator and kept her arm tightly trapped in mine. “Of course,” I said. “But not right now. It’s time tosing!”
And with my ex-fiancé following every step, I sang furiously all the way to CosgraveManor.
5
In the flurryof greetings that met us at the door, I was finally able to detach myself from young Miss Banks, using the pretext of disposing of my outerwear. A quick duck and a dive behind the group of gathered visitors all exclaiming and commenting upon our arrival, a careful swerve past the servants hovering behind them, and I was free of my would-bequestioner...
...But my ex-fiancé fell smoothly into step beside me. “May I take your coat?” he inquiredsardonically.
“Certainly,” I told him, and tossed Jonathan’s greatcoat straight at his chest. Then I spun away on one heel of Lady Cosgrave’s excellent boots and strode across the blue-and-gold-tiled floor of the entry hall as quickly as Icould.
With his annoyingly long legs, Wrexham had no difficulty keeping up, but at least he couldn’t grasp my elbow to stop me with both of his arms full of thickly piled coat. “Harwood—!” he began, in a near-snarl.
“Ah,thereyou are!” Someone far more frightening stood before us: my sweet, smiling sister-in-law, waiting for me in the open archway between me and the rest of the house. Her bright gaze moved from me to my ex-fiancé. Her eyebrows rose. Her mouth dropped open to form an “O” of delight that filled me with instant and overwhelmingdread.
“No!” I said hastily. “No, we haven’t reconciled. And we’re certainly not going to! In point of fact, I can’t even speak to anyone at all anymore. I’m—I’m terribly, terribly tired. From my exertions. I think I need anap.”
“Cowardly, Harwood,” Wrexham muttered. “An unworthymove.”
I winced but stood myground.
