“Dinner. We always dress for meals at the manor. Plus, maybe this is what’s needed for us to break the curse.”
“You said you didn’t believe in it,” she pointed out.
“I don’t, but let’s say there is a curse—it probably started the night of the ball and the car crash,” he said. “I guess I’ll have to leave the ballroom with a gorgeous woman to break it.”
Then just left it there. “How about we have this tour and then we see how the day goes?” she said.
“We’ll start off slow then. There are some riding clothes in the armoire. Do you ride?”
“Not since Girl Scout camp, and then it was a tethered ride.”
“Do you trust me to keep you safe?” he asked.
She did. She wouldn’t be here if she didn’t. “I do. But your head of household mentioned a library. Can I see that before we go riding?”
“Yes. If you want, we can skip riding and have a picnic on the terrace next to the library,” he said.
“I want!”
“Then come as you are,” he said.
She started for the door, but stopped. “What are you wearing?”
“Why?”
“I mean are you in some tux or formal wear?”
“I’ll be casual when you get here,” he said.
She put her bag on the bed, freshened up her hair and makeup and went out into the hallway about ten minutes later to find Conrad waiting for her.
She looked at his face, with the scar on one side, his hair wild around his head...but his smile was tentative. He wasn’t as sure of himself as she’d seen him in the past. Why had he brought her here? What was he trying to show her—more of himself, or was it something he was trying to prove to himself?
She had a feeling that some of his discomfort was rooted in the fact that he wasn’t the same man he had been the last time he was here. Like he had said, the night of the ball that started the curse. She wondered if, like herself, Conrad had two lives he was trying to stitch together to make one whole.
For her, it came back to that horrible sexual attack from her date. The two women she was—one before and one after—were slowly becoming one, stronger woman. Conrad from all accounts had been arrogant and very lord-of-the-manor before the accident and then he became the person she saw today. Was he trying to bridge those two pieces?
If so, she wanted to help him find a way. Not that she was an expert.
“I like the place. You make more sense here,” she said.
Conrad had given a lot of thought to what Dash had said. He couldn’t treat Indy the way he had everyone else in his adult life. Well hecould, but late last night it had occurred to him that if he did, he’d regret it. There was something about her, and he’d never been a man to walk away from a new experience.
So he’d gone all in. Indy meant spending more time in Gilbert Corners and he needed to wrestle with the demons from his past. While he did think the town belief in a curse was total BS, there was a glimmer of something to it.
That night had really changed his life forever.
He needed to find a way to make peace with it, something that he wasn’t sure he could accomplish. Being back in the house had reminded him of memories he’d shoved deep down and covered up. Good memories of running down the halls with Dash and Rory. Planning cookie and pie heists, and helping Worthington by sliding down the banisters so he wouldn’t have to polish them.
He smiled as Indy stood next to him. He’d thrown her off by changing their plans at the last minute, which was something he liked to do when he was nervous. He wanted to see if it rattled her. No surprise, the change of venue hadn’t.
He liked the grin in her eyes as she called this palatial manor house a “nice place.”
“Want the grand tour?” he asked.
“Worthington gave me some of it, but I was distracted,” she admitted.
“There’s no rush. You did promise me the entire weekend,” he said.