Page 42 of The Moonstone Hero
Ella nodded. “Thank you, Uncle Cormac.”
Imogen drew up beside her on her sweet gray mare, Honeysuckle. The groom now secured a pouch with her art supplies to the saddle.
Mr. Hawke came by in his rickety wagon, and they tied Caden’s stallion to its rear gate. Ella was not surprised to see Mr. Hawke, for he often escorted her and Imogen around town and had been ferrying her to the hospital. As it turned out, Uncle Cormac had arranged for the kindly caretaker to keep them company throughout the day.
He also carried picnic supplies in his wagon—no doubt something Aunt Phoebe had requested from Mrs. Hawke, who was an excellent cook and often prepared picnic meals for them for countryside outings.
Ella ought to have realized Imogen would never be allowed to serve as chaperone on her own. She was too young and too romantically inclined, as girls budding into womanhood tended to be. Ella always thought of herself as the practical one, while Imogen was more of a dreamer.
Phoebe or her sisters, Chloe and Henley, should have taken on the role of chaperone, but they had their ladies auxiliary duties as well as their children to tend and their homes to manage. It was rare they could get away for an entire afternoon.
As for the men, Cain, the Duke of Malvern, was in Exeter on business. Fionn had his duties running the hospital and commanding Fort Arundel. Cormac was looking after Cain’soperating farms and mills while Cain was away, in addition to attending to his own Burness properties.
So, it fell to Mr. Hawke, who doted on them as though he were their own grandfather.
Ella noticed Caden impatiently standing by the hospital’s entrance with his arms crossed over his chest when they arrived. His eyes lit up when he saw the mount Cormac had selected for him. “His name is Avenger,” Ella said.
“He’s a beauty. The name suits him.” He tossed his crutches into the back of the wagon, then limped over to Avenger and patted his neck. He spoke to the horse in a deep, crooning singsong, and had full command of the stallion by the time he mounted him.
Ella was impressed. She and Imogen knew very little about handling horses. They mostly rode in carriages when going around London and had never been accomplished riders. But Caden seemed to settle into his saddle as though he had been born to it.
Once they were on the outskirts of town, Caden asked about their ultimate destination. Ella pointed to a meadow in the distance that stretched down toward a cliff overlooking a beach. Fionn had taken them and Chloe there one summer to explore a pirate cave. They had since returned several times because the scenery was beautiful, and she and Imogen found the idea of pirates once smuggling in the area quite exciting.
Caden arched an eyebrow. “A pirate cave? With real pirates?”
Imogen laughed. “They haven’t been active in the area for decades. The cave is just a curiosity now, something of interest for visitors to explore. But it is also a lovely spot for a picnic.”
“Would you mind if I rode off on my own for a little while? I’ll meet you at the meadow. But I feel Avenger is restless, and so am I. We could both do with a good run.”
Ella did not mind.
“I’ll meet you at the meadow,” he said with the joy of a little boy granted permission to run amok.
Ella wanted to warn him not to jump any stone fences, but it was one of the first things he and Avenger did, soaring over the high stones as though they were mere stepping stools. She had no idea how Caden’s ribs would absorb the landing, but she supposed any discomfort would be obvious enough once he dismounted.
She liked this adventurous, slightly reckless side of Caden, but it made her wonder if she would ever be able to keep up with him. She was much more cautious than he was. He was racing off with abandon, and she was already worrying he might have aggravated his ribs.
She was not going to say anything to him about it.
Perhaps they had healed and he felt no discomfort. After all, he was not fool enough to overdo it and puncture a lung, was he?
If he felt joy and freedom, she was not going to deny him the pleasure.
But it made her think of them as a couple. Perhaps he needed a woman who could ride like the wind as he did, and whose horse could leap over those fences with the same ease Avenger had done.
Imogen reached over and tapped her arm lightly. “Ella, is something wrong?”
She turned to her sister. “No, why do you ask?”
“You are frowning.”
“Oh, it’s just that the sun is a little bright.”
Imogen did not believe her, but let the matter drop as they rode on to the picnic site. Ella tried not to be so obvious in her fretting, but she was concerned. What if she was not enough for Caden?
He was everyone’s hero. Brave, adventurous, exuding confidence and leadership.
Who was she? What was she able to offer him as a wife that a thousand other women could not?
