Page 62 of To Know Miss May

“Ah, they don’t linger much ’round the servant’s entrance o’ the gardens. I’ve ne’er seen ’em there.”

She looked to the side. “But ye can’t just enter the gardens whene’er ye feel the desire, can ye?”

He shrugged. “All I’m doin’ is a bit o’ work while there. I don’t see why not.”

Silence. Now, more than ever, he wished for a lantern.

“So that be the surprise? Ye brought me out ’ere to work?”

He chuckled. “No, I wanted to show ye somethin’.”

“’Ow to weed a garden?”

Another laugh bubbled from within him. This woman was just a delight. “No, Livvy, not to weed a garden.” How he relished her name on his lips. “Somethin’ far more excitin’. But we must make haste, or we might miss it. Come.”

He moved forward again, not waiting to see if she would follow him. Somehow, he knew she would.

Sure enough, a moment later, her footsteps skittered behind him until she reached his side. “’Ow be this in anyway safe?”

“How be it not?”

“S’pose we get caught by Sir John within the gardens?”

“This late?”

“’E could be out with ’is mistress.”

But August shook his head. “’E be in London. Everyone else will be sleepin’. No one else wishes to work at a time like this.”

“Just ye?”

“Just me,” he returned. “Now we must be quiet, or someone will ’ear us.”

Livvy obeyed, remaining silent as they reached the garden gate, her eyes roving around them, though she wouldn’t be able to see guards if they were there.

August unlocked the door with a soft click, though he was fairly certain Livvy believed the entire Mount had heard it. Unfortunately, the hinge was far louder.

As such, he only opened it a fraction before the two of them wiggled their way in one-by-one, after which, August promptly locked the gate once again.

“Now,” he said, “I will show ye what I brought ye ’ere to see.”

Down the pathways they traveled, taking one turn after another through the thick, maze-like gardens that were layered in three separate sections. They took the right that led to the higher pathway, all the while Livvy remaining silent.

Was she truly upset? Or was she simply tired? He supposed this was later than most women cared to stay up. Most men, too.

But he was convinced that as soon as she saw the spectacle he would reveal to her, all would be forgiven.

Finally, they reached the spot August had happened upon his first night in the gardens. Nicholas had lost a correspondence from Emma within the gardens one afternoon and was beside himself with worry. August had agreed to seek out the note that evening weeks before, fortunately finding it before anyone happened upon it.

It was only then that he’d turned to see the view before him—the view few on the Mount were privileged to see.

He stopped, and Livvy faced him in turn. Near the red brick walls of the top garden, with pelargoniums and purple pericallis giving off their sweet scents and planted in waves so very like the sea, he peered down at her.

“This be why I’ve brought ye ’ere,” he said softly.

With the light of the moon no longer hidden from the shadows of the trees, he could finally see her features, and heavens, was it worth the wait. How could she be even more beautiful than he’d remembered?

“What?” she asked, her curls fluttering in the breeze.