A Heart's Masquerade by Deborah Simmons

Author:Deborah Simmons
Language: eng
Format: mobi, azw3, epub
Tags: Historical Romance
Publisher: Bennett Street Books
Published: 2012-07-01T03:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Cat had decided to fetch some oranges from the orchard, but before she left, she reminded Isaac that she was not at home to a certain duke. Her seemingly coincidental meetings with the man, together with his visits to the cottage, added up to far too many encounters. Although her heart might yearn for him, she knew better, and her brain, thankfully, was in control... for now.

Cat hitched the donkey to a small cart, which she loaded with baskets and a ladder, and headed toward the fields, looking forward to a peaceful day without the temptation of her captain's company.

In the stillness of the grove, the rustling of the donkey's movements was the loudest sound, while the soft drone of the bees was a peaceful hum. Cat looked for fruit that was perfectly ripe, as Amelia had taught her, and after filling the first basket, she plopped down in the tall grass.

Falling onto her back, she watched the sun play through the leaves overhead. Then she turned on her stomach and eyed the small rise along the tree line, wondering what was beyond and whether to explore. It was probably just Lord Claremont's sugar fields, she thought idly, but her view would be vastly improved if she were up higher... in the tree, for instance.

With a mischievous grin, Cat sat up and looked around her before getting to her feet. No one was nearby to watch as she swung onto the lowest-hanging tree branch. From there, she stepped lightly onto the next limb until she was able to reach a perch with an amazing view of the orchard and beyond. Who needs ladders when they have climbed among the rigging to touch the clouds?

As Cat suspected, the rise barely hid the stalks of sugarcane, and her curiosity satisfied, she knew she should get down. But she was comfortable and cool among the foliage, and the oranges smelled tangy and sweet. Plucking a ripe one nudging her shoulder, she lazily surveyed her world only to stifle a shriek of dismay.

Ransom Duprey was strolling through the tall grass as if he owned the place.

As Cat saw it, she had two choices, both humiliating. She could stay where she was and hope against hope that the persistent captain would fail to see her, or she could leap to the ground, providing him with an interesting view of her skirts that no decent woman would allow. As Cat wavered between the two, she watched Ransom unerringly approach the tree in which she was seated and look up at her.

"Do you want to come down, or shall I come up?" he asked, with a smile so charming that Cat sighed in exasperation.

"Come up, then, if you must," she said.

He did, in a smooth motion of long limbs and lean muscle, and her heart beat just a little faster to have him next to her above the earth.

He shook his head. "I don't think I've been up in a tree since the day I hid from my tutor and pelted him with plums, a deed for which I received more than adequate punishment.

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