Enticing the Earl

“I thought we’d agreed upon Selina.”

“So we did,” Simon replied. He glanced at Mia. “I believe you might wish to change before we leave.”

“Yes, I will be down in five minutes,” Mia said.

He nodded and bowed slightly toward them before leaving. Once he left, Mia’s heart had returned to its normal beat.

“Where are you off to this afternoon?” Selina asked as she gathered her shawl.

“Just a ride out to the tenants.” Mia didn’t dare say anything about their true mission with Mrs. Wilson in the room.

“Well, enjoy yourself.” They walked out of the room together and Selina leaned closer. “And be careful.”

“We will. Don’t worry.”

A few minutes later, Mia raced down the steps eager to get outside and dig in the dirt. She found both Simon and Charlie waiting for her.

“Good afternoon, Mia,” Charlie said with a sweeping bow.

She laughed at his silliness. “Good afternoon to you, and you, my lord,” she replied tartly with a curtsy to both men.

“Come along,” Simon said with a smile. “The footmen rode ahead to secure the area.”

Secure the area. That sounded far more dangerous than she expected of this expedition. She just prayed they would find something of value to prove she was right about the treasure.

“So you finally told your brother what is going on?” Mia asked as they departed the house.

“Yes. He helped this morning in the library.”

“Oh? Did you find anything in the library?” she asked once they were on their horses.

Simon explained the journal he and Charlie had discovered. “That journal doesn’t prove any specific battle occurred but many times if the old house or castle was near to ruins, the new lord might build a new one in the same place.”

When they reached the area, Simon asked her to stay back with Charlie while he spoke with the footmen. She watched him ride off and worried her lip.

“You really do love him, don’t you?”

Mia turned and stared at Charlie. Did she love Simon? Did she even know what love was? Her heart skipped a beat when he entered a room. She wanted to soothe his worries and keep him from harm. She wanted to share her life with him until they were old and gray. “I think I do,” she whispered.

Her world spun around for a minute. She loved Simon Blakesworth, the Earl of Hartsfield.

“About time you realized it,” Charlie said with a laugh.

“What do you mean?”

He smirked. “The minute he walked into the library yesterday, you couldn’t take your eyes off him. You watched his every movement and smiled up at him when he escorted you into the dining room. Even at dinner, you spoke with me, but more often stared at him.”

“Charlie, do you think this is a mistake?”

“No, sweetheart, I don’t.”

“I don’t know how to be a countess,” Mia said softly as she returned her gaze to Simon.

“You will learn.”

Simon waved them over to the area behind Mrs. Perkins’s cottage. Just as they arrived, Mrs. Perkins ambled out of her home.

“Hartsfield, you never said that bastard would be here too,” she said, pointing at Charlie.