Page 33 of Dared By a Lyon
“Demon is so tall. He barely has to reach to pull the better apples out of the trees,” she said, laughing. Ashlyn reached out and plucked a juicy red apple from a low-hanging branch. Leaning over her horse, she handed it to Lightning, who happily accepted it. “This must be one of his favorite places, too.”
“For both of them, I assure you,” Gabriel said. “But there’s more that I’d like to show you. Let’s keep heading up the hill.”
They journeyed to the top of the next hill. Gabriel dismounted and signaled for the footman to help him. The footman took Demon’s and Lightning’s reins, holding them while Gabriel helped Ashlyn down.
“I’ll tie the horses over there,” the footman said, pointing to a low rock wall sitting beneath a tall maple tree, which would provide shade and green grass for the horses. And it was far enough away to afford his master privacy for their discussion.
“Thank you, Harold,” Gabriel said, untying the picnic basket and blanket from his horse. Carrying the basket, he led her to anopening in the hedgerows that grew around the edge of the hill. “Is this satisfactory?”
“It’s lovely,” Ashlyn marveled, standing behind a hedgerow and looking out over a patchwork of land.
As she looked over the hedgerows, she could hear him spreading the picnic quilt across the grassy knoll behind her. She noticed the large variety of land spread out before her. There were wooded areas, tenant farms, meadows filled with grasses and flowers, a pond, the apple orchard she had ridden through earlier, and green pastures. The manor home was a speck on the horizon, something she was barely able to discern from where they were. “The way the landscape keeps changing…It looks like a quilt. I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“That’s a wonderful description. I’m glad you like it. For several reasons, this is one of my favorite places on the estate.”
She briefly wondered if they had anything to do with his former fiancée, and an unfamiliar pang of jealousy rippled through her. But she couldn’t deny her attraction to him, and the thought of his caring for another unsettled her. She had no right to feel that way, but she couldn’t deny them either.
“I’ve been coming here most of my life,” he continued. “I carved my initials on the other side of the tree over there.
“I had a favorite spot on Papa’s property and did something similar to a tree there. It seemed important at the time, although the reason for it escapes me now.”
“I’m dying to know what Mrs. Fitz packed for us,” Gabriel said. “Are you hungry?”
Ashlyn chuckled. “I’ve been hoping not to embarrass myself by having you hear my stomach growl. I think I spent more time talking at breakfast than eating.”
“Elizabeth, has anyone told you that your laugh sounds almost musical?” Gabriel asked.
Ashlyn’s cheeks heated in a blush. “Not that I can recall.”
“I shouldn’t have said that. But I’ve thought it each time I’ve heard you laugh. You have a lovely laugh. I apologize if I made you uncomfortable.”
“Not at all. I just don’t know what to say…except thank you,” Ashlyn said. “No one has ever told me that.”
“It looks like Mrs. Fitz packed a full basket of all the favorites—cheese, fruit, bread, and wine.” He gently freed a glass from the holder in the basket. “Wine?”
“Yes, thank you. And perhaps a piece of bread. I don’t want the wine to go to my head,” Ashlyn said, laughing again.
“Here’s a lovely surprise—strawberries and clotted cream,” Gabriel said, dipping a strawberry into a pretty dish of cream.
Ashlyn found she enjoyed sharing a picnic blanket with this man—imagining him lying down, looking up at her, while she slowly placed grapes on his tongue.
“Elizabeth, are you all right?” Gabriel asked, making her realize she’d been staring at his mouth. She’d thought about his kissing her so often that she was practically craving it—craving him.
“Yes, I’m so sorry. I was just lost in thought,” she replied.
“A penny for your thoughts?”
“Oh no—you’d never want to be in my head,” she teased. “But I was just wondering about those plump, beautiful green grapes.”
“Wonder no more, my lady,” he said, handing her a small cluster.
“Thank you so much, kind sir,” she said warmly, accepting the treats and taking a delightful bite. She was hungrier than she’d realized—maybe they both were.
The time they spent sitting there was truly relaxing, but it felt like it wasn’t quite long enough. Before they knew it, they’d finished all the fruit, much of the cheese, and had made a good dent in the wine. “I think I’ve just found a new favorite wine,”she said with a smile, trying her best not to giggle. She cherished the closeness that the picnic had created. She loved havinghimall to herself.
“Mrs. Fitz will be delighted to learn that we nearly emptied the basket,” Gabriel said, packing up the empty containers. “And I’ll be sure to tell her about the wine. She’ll be delighted.” He held up his finger. “The wind is blowing ever so slightly. Listen carefully. If we stay quiet, we can hear the voices of the trees and grasses,” he said.
“The trees and grasses…speak?”
