Page 25 of Death at Fournier Downs
The harsh snap of Cassie’s tone surprised her and gave Audrey an inkling. “Do you know of it?”
“There are quite a few ruins out in these woods. Why would you wish to find one?” she asked, again fervently, as if alarmed. Perhaps she, like Hugh, thought it unwise to go too deeply into the wood. But then again, she was out here, riding alone too.
Audrey quickly whipped up a falsehood and was astonished that she did not feel much guilt for it. “Something was said about it at the inquest, I hear. A theory that Charlotte had been there before she ran this way.”
The excuse was vague, and should Cassie ask Philip, he would not be able to verify it, but for the moment Audrey did not concern herself.
Cassie’s frown deepened. She peered up the path, the boughs of the trees casting heavy shade. “How strange,” she murmured. “It might be the witch’s hut.”
“The what?” she asked, astonished.
Cassie grinned at the shocked look Audrey must have been wearing. “Not a real witch’s hut, of course. That’s just what we called it when we were young. Michael and Tobias would tease that they would leave me out there for the wicked witch if I pestered them too much.”
The night before, the duke had displayed confusion when she’d related the vision she’d had. “Philip didn’t seem to know of a ruined stone cottage.”
“He wouldn’t,” Cassie said with a snort of laughter. “He never liked exploring. He’d have rather stayed in the library. I don’t think he ever came with us.”
Audrey was suddenly happy she’d come across her sister-in-law now. “Do you remember how to get there?”
“I suppose… Yes, I could show you,” she said, giving her horse a nudge to continue along the path.
Audrey followed, grateful. Now that they weren’t accompanied by men, Cassie had chosen to ride astride as well.
“Did they say why she was at this cottage?” Cassie asked after a few moments, and Audrey’s stomach sank at the need to carry on with the fib.
“No,” she replied simply. Then, before Cassie could ask anything more, she cleared her throat and changed the topic. “I fear I have been a terrible chaperone and hostess to you this summer, Cassie. To find you riding alone, aimlessly, only highlights how few diversions there are here for you. We still have a few weeks left of summer. Won’t you consider joining Michael and Genie at Greenbriar before she enters her confinement? There are several families nearby, and Philip is more than well now.”
Cassie shook her head decisively. “There is really no need. I’ve enjoyed the solitude.”
A lengthy pause ensued as they entered the forest path. Audrey wasn’t sure she believed her. Cassie was too much of a social creature to be contained to the quiet countryside. She spent the month of May with Michael and Genie in London, on Grosvenor Square, and Genie wrote at length at how Cassie had hardly ever been at home. Routs, dinners, dances, and all manner of entertainments occupied her to the point where Genie—tiring easily due to her pregnancy—had needed to hire another chaperone for the young woman. Miss Frances Stinton, a well-respected spinster who had chaperoned many a young debutante, had even expressed trouble keeping up with Cassie.
Her bubbly chattering with Hugh Marsden the other day had demonstrated her usual attitude. Perhaps he had simply been the most intriguing person Cassie had met so far this summer, and why shouldn’t he have been? He was handsome and masculine and so very different than the dandies and rakes and nabobs filling her usual circle to the brim.
She frowned as the forest path thickened and the humid air cooled with the shadows. Was it mere novelty that drew Audrey to Hugh as well? It seemed a shallow thing. But no, she wasn’t drawn to him. She was merely…affected by him. And who wouldn’t be, for all the reasons she’d just considered?
“I am excited to have a nephew or niece, aren’t you?” Cassie asked after a few more minutes of riding in silence.
Audrey was grateful for yet another change of subject. “I am. Genie and Michael will be wonderful parents.”
Her other sister-in-law was kind, charming, and sincere. With her soft, summery beauty, Genie was the perfect English rose. Michael had been swept off his feet the first time he laid eyes on her, and their engagement had been almost immediate. Theirs was a true love match, Audrey knew, and she often felt like a fraud when she and Philip were within the same room as Michael and Genie. Not that she didn’t love Philip—she did. He was her most ardent friend and confidant. She would rather have that as a basis for marriage than the usual transactional union between two estates.
“I am happy for them,” Cassie went on, her tone oddly wistful. “Genie is more than ready to be a mother. She’s perfectly poised for such an enormous addition to her world.” She sighed, but then brightened and turned to Audrey as if an afterthought. “As are you, if only you and my brother would grace us with the future duke.”
Audrey’s stomach constricted at the teasing jest. It was not wholly unexpected. With Michael and Genie about to be blessed with a child, she and Philip had anticipated a new round of murmurs and gossip to make its way around the ton, questioning when the duchess herself would produce an heir. The blame, of course, would come to rest upon her shoulders. It was something she and Philip had discussed and agreed would simply need to be endured.
That didn’t mean it didn’t prick at her, even coming from Cassie, who she knew meant no insult. It would be best to state it once and for all, and perhaps Cassie would inform Genie, who would then tell Michael.
“As much as I wish I could give you more nieces and nephews to spoil, Philip and I have come to terms with the fact that it isn’t meant to be.”
Cassie slowed her mount. “Oh, Audrey, I’m so sorry. I spoke carelessly just now. I suspected you were having trouble conceiving and it was heartless of me to mention it so blithely.”
“Please, do not berate yourself.” She urged Cassie to keep riding. They were headed toward the gated field where she had seen Charlotte running. “Philip and I have made our peace with it, truly.”
At least, they had at first. Seeing Genie and Michael prepare for their little one had brought a strange yearning into Audrey’s chest; she hadn’t dared discuss it with Philip and wondered if he felt it at all.
“Well, I will not cease hoping, sister,” Cassie said before turning her head to dash away a tear. Grateful they were doing something active rather than sitting down to tea with no option but to face each other, Audrey gave her horse a small nudge with her heels.
They rode past the gated field and carried on through more stretches of woodland. Cassie pulled ahead, increasing her horse’s gait.
