Page 60 of Ruthless, But for Her

Three words to reconcile the tension between them. Three words to explain who he was.

Instead, Cassia offered them. Different words but just as life-altering. Unless she changed her mind, which she would once she saw them, saw him, more clearly. But at the moment, as it stood, she would stay.

Ashton had hoped she might.

“Why?” he asked.

“You didn’t lie to me. And you offered me a choice.”

“That’s a poor reason to stay in a den of reivers.”

“It’s the only reason I have.”

A better man might have attempted to dissuade her. He might have even already whisked her away from the Wild Boar, and be travelling south already, her escort to Grantchester ensuring Lady Cassia would remain safe.

Unharmed. Uncorrupted by the segment of society Cassia had likely never considered before.

“It will be difficult. Remaining hidden here. Fleeing back to Mere’s End. The Daisy,” he pointed out, knowing how she felt about his home. Ashton had seen it in her eyes. Not that he blamed her. The Daisy was no place for a lady.

“As difficult as being re-married against my will, to another man like Roland?”

Their eyes locked. Ashton could imagine what it had been like for her with Roland. He hadn’t deserved to have free access to a woman like Cassia, hadn’t realized that he’d never ‘own’ her. Just thinking about it made Ashton’s temper fire. He might still conduct a search for the body and strangle him.

“Nay,” he agreed. “Not so difficult as that. I may even find it possible to procure a book while we are held here. There is a small village, no longer than an hour’s ride, though I, or we if you wish to join me, will need to travel in disguise.”

He didn’t give her the other reason. That he wanted to choose the book himself.

Nor that he wanted, for once, to be the one who put something in her hands, instead of taking something from her.

Cassia said nothing to that either. But her hands stilled in her lap.

She cocked her head to the side. “I think a man such as yourself would find a disguise...difficult.”

“Such as myself?”

Her cheeks pinkened. “You’re not a man who disappears easily.”

It was no more of a description than her previous one, but Ashton had to point it out. “A woman such as yourself might find it equally as difficult.”

A hint of a smile graced Cassia’s face. “A woman such as myself?”

“Your beauty is unmatched,” he said bluntly. He shouldn’t have said anything, but there were many things Ashton should not have done throughout his life. Complimenting a woman with the truth was one of the less offensive of them. “But with some wool and dirt, we may be able to manage it.”

It was the first time she looked at him...that way. Ashton knew the look, even though Cassia quickly looked away, her small hands with a faint callus on the base of her thumb, from needle work likely, making quick work of rearranging a gown that needed no rearranging.

“How long,” she asked finally. “Before it will be safe enough to travel again?”

“Three days. Perhaps four, if Magge’s rumors hold.”

She nodded, slowly.

“Any other questions, my lady?” he teased.

Her smile faltered.

His elation turned to dread.

“Just one,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “I thought perhaps...it all happened so quick... I thought perhaps I saw his head, his hand...” She pushed out a steadying breath. “I... Ashton... Did he reach for you? Did you let my husband die?”