Page 65 of Ruthless, But for Her

“Mmmm…” He handed Cassia a braid over her right shoulder and began to plait the left side. She ignored the way that brief touch of their fingers felt. Or tried to, at least.

He was simply a man, plaiting her hair. Nothing to swoon over.

“Hand the first plait back to me,” he said, already finished with the second braid.

She did, reaching back, their fingers brushing again. He was so close at her back. For a wild moment, Cassia considered turning in her chair and looking up at him. She wished to see his expression. Wished to see...him.

Stop. You are being absurd.

He was finished, she realized. Ashton was no longer touching her hair. She had no notion of how it stayed in place without pins. Reaching behind her head, she found the coil of it, tucked and tight, but could not find where it ended.

“Remarkable,” she murmured, certain Nell would not have known how to do such a thing.

“Aye,” he said quietly.

Cassia turned in her chair, giving in to her curiosity. When she did, Ashton was looking down at her in the very same way she imagined he would be. She had no idea what to say to him.

Neither of them moved for long enough to draw notice.

“Thank you,” Cassia said finally.

He did not respond. Instead, Ashton bowed his head ever so slightly, as if their disguise had begun to manifest, and he was truly her hired man. That was when Cassia realized she was not imagining it. Ashton’s shoulders were now also slumped forward in a way they never had been. He was truly becoming someone he was not. The deception had begun, and Cassia understood her own purpose, too.

“You’ve the look of the man you’d become today. But do you have the voice?” she teased.

Ashton went still.

“I am Alys Mercer,” Cassia said. “I’ve buried my husband at Michaelmas, and he left me naught but debts and a bad mare. Therefore, I’ll not be paying yer full wage until I’ve sold the clip. Ye may wait for it like the rest of them.”

The words came out of her in an accent that was not hers, in a voice pitched low and flat and thoroughly unbothered. When she finished, Cassia pressed her lips together and waited.

Ashton laughed.

It wasn’t the laugh from the chamber that morn. This time, it was louder. From deep within.

“God’s truth,” he said. “Where did that come from?”

“Nell,” Cassia said. “She’s from Lincoln.”

CHAPTER 38

Cassia

They arrived back without incident. Since the stable boy already knew Ashton, he had paid him handsomely for his silence. Giving him the reins, Ashton spoke quietly with him, but she could not hear their conversation from the door of the stable.

The boy looked at her more than once with a horror she should have felt, but didn’t.

Cassia had a hand in her husband’s demise, even if it was not intentional. She kept silent about Ashton’s role without him asking her to, and spent the day pretending to be someone she wasn’t.

Lies rolled easily from her tongue as Alys buried Cassia for the day. And it had not just been possible, but enjoyable. Cassia was sure the novelty of it might wear off…but she was just as sure that she would like to find out.

“There has been more than one through here today,” Ashton said to Cassia as they made their way from the stable. “With a similar tale to those we’ve heard thus far.”

They went in through the back, past the kitchen smelling like onions and hot fat, and up the stairwell where he’d first brought her. In the passage, the light came from one lamp at the far end and did not reach as far as their door.

Cassia pushed the door open and stepped inside.

“The tale will change in the coming days,” he said, more to himself than anything, as if Ashton was working through his next step. She noticed he did that often.