Page 84 of A Cinderella to Redeem the Earl

‘I was. Me pa skinned both knees he did, shinning up all the trees in the woods.’

She ducked beneath a ramshackle wooden table on one side of her stall. She reappeared with a large, roughly woven carrier loosely rolled around its contents. ‘Here they are.’

She set the carrier on the ground and unrolled it. Inside were a mass of tangled strands of ivy.

‘Perfect,’ Pamela said. ‘Thank you. It is just what I was looking for.’

‘Ivy?’ he asked. ‘What is so special about that? I am sure any nursery could supply you with that.’

The young woman looked anxious. ‘’Ere, it took me da hours to collect that there.’

‘Well, of course we will buy it now you have obtained it, but Pamela, really? Why endanger yourself for anything so common-or-garden?’

‘If the nurseryman could have supplied it,’ Pamela said, ‘I would have ordered it. It is not the sort of thing they grow. Not in the lengths I wanted.’

‘I see.’ He didn’t, but if a huge bunch of ivy made her happy, then so be it. But next time she wanted to foray into the stews of London, she had better request he go with her.

‘How much?’ he asked the woman.

‘The lady already paid, sir,’ the woman said. ‘Though you can pay again if you like.’ She laughed.

‘No. Once is enough,’ Damian said. ‘Thanks all the same.’

The woman rerolled the mat and tied the string. Damian carried it back to the carriage.

Quite honestly, Pamela thought Damian might have made more of a fuss when he saw what she had bought. The idea had come to her while looking at a picture of ancient Greeks at a party.

He laid the bundle on the seat opposite, leaving just enough room for the dog.

‘Was there anything else you needed while we are out?’ Damian asked.

‘Nothing I can think of at the moment.’

‘You could have sent one of the grooms to pick this up,’ he said.

‘When I ordered it, she wasn’t sure she could supply what I needed. No one had ever asked her for ivy before.’

‘And yet you paid her in advance.’

‘She would have returned the money.’

‘You are very trusting.’

‘Too trusting, you mean?’

He seemed to freeze for a moment. As if her words had struck an unpleasant chord. A twinge of anxiety tightened her stomach. The only other person she had trusted was him.

‘It seems on this occasion your trust was well founded, but I would suggest that you take a little more care about who you trust with large sums of money. Even if you do not care about the money, it is highly reckless to endanger your person in that way.’

‘I thank you for the advice.’ She grinned. ‘I told her if she cheated me, I would send you after her and she would highly regret it.’

‘You didn’t?’

‘No. I didn’t. Actually, our housekeeper knows the family. They are from the same village and it was she who recommended I go there with my special request. She recalled a copse full of ivy nearby the village. She also told me they were well respected and honest.’

‘I am sorry I called you reckless.’

‘I probably should have explained.’