Ruin Me Please (28 page)

Side by side, they rode on.  Entranced by his affectionate tone Poppy replied, “I daresay you h
ad some fantastic adventures.”

“
We most certainly did indeed.”  H
e
smiled.  “
Mr. Beasley was appalled, to say the least.  He thought we were deliberately being disobedient, but in truth, we would just lose track of time. 
Regrettably,
Mr. Beasley felt it was his place to report our misdeeds to our father belie
v
ing that
he would
soundly punish
us
.
 
He had the audacity to stalk into our father’s
study un
a
n
nounced and proceeded to tell
him how we were constantly playing hooky.  How we r
e
fused to take our studies seriously.  He even attempted to quote Gabriel.  I remember that our father stood up and walked from behind his desk stretching to his full height of
over six foot
,  which was rather impressive conside
r
ing our tutor was a smallish man of maybe
a few inches over five feet tall
.” 
Turning to Poppy,
rai
sing
his eyebrows as high
as he could,
he
a
t
tempt
ed
to mimic him
.
“
Gabriel and I practiced
that move in front of our
mirror
s
for weeks.
” 
He wiggled
his ey
e
brows comically.

His eyes smiled as he continued,
“Our father roared
.
”  He glanced at Poppy again.
 
“
That was the first and only time we had heard him raise his voice
,
Who are you to question the
heir to the
Duke of Hawks
ley
?
   Somehow
our fa
ther
knew we were hiding in the room.
H
e turned around and strutted back to his desk like a king ruling over his kin
g
dom
and
gave us a wink.
”

“
Mr. Beasley turned the brightest shade of red I have ever seen and apologized profus
e
ly as he backed
out of the room.  Gabriel and I busted out laughing until our sides hurt.” 
The memory clear in his eyes as he gazed forward
.

“What a great m
emory to have of your father,
”

An easy silence surrounded them.  “I kn
ow Gabriel would have liked you,” h
e said
.  The sincerity in his words almost brought tears to her eyes
.

She looked deeply into his eyes.
“I have no doubt that I would have liked him as well.
”
  Poppy smiled at him.

They left the path and crested a rise where f
inally
Poppy’s
secret hide-away
rose eerily
into view.
 
Over the rise, the castle ruins sprawled
almost
dejectedly
on
the broken ground. The decay
ing structure, destroyed by
fire and time, was a forlorn jumble of
ivy-covered
towers. 
It appeared
as if
pieces of the fortress
were
strewn haphazardly
around as if thrown in a
n
ger.

“Behold
, my secret hide-away.
”  Poppy t
hrew out her arms and giggled
.

“A castle ruin?”  Declan questioned with one of his dark brows arched
incredulously
.  “I have heard it is all the rage to have one of these hidden on every country estate
.
”
H
e sighed
noticeably.
 
“Alas, Allingham Pa
rk by contrast is sadly lacking.”  He sighed deeply once again, hiding his grin.
“
Sculpted gardens and
f
ountains
we have
aplenty
,
of course.  Even rolling parks with hills
scattered about
,
most definitely
,
but castle ruins
, n
o
,
”
h
e said with
a
forlorn
shake of his head
.

“Well, I have been told that I am always in the first stare of fashion.  I would want that to also includ
e my secret hide-away of course,
” Poppy pointed out.   “There are only a few lucky ones, such as myself, that have the privilege of starting the latest trends
.
”  A laugh sp
rung
into her eyes. “I prid
e myself on being all the crack,”
a hint of humor
touched her reply
.

“I would have no idea of the talent required to start trends.  However, I am able to give out exceptional compliments
.  A
mighty fortress indeed
,
m
y
l
a
dy.”  Declan bowed
from his eat atop Lucifer,
grinning.

“The castle was
destroyed by fire in the late sixteenth century
.  When I was a little girl my
father
would bring me here to play
.
” 
She pointed
to the fallen tower.  “We would bring our wicker basket filled with all sorts of delectable treats and I would pretend that I was a princess being held captive in that tower waiting to be rescued.  My
p
apa would play the
w
hite
k
night to my
princess.  He would pull out his magical wooden sword and wave it around slaying all the fierce fire-breathing dragons.
”
 
Pop
py glanced around nostalgically.
“
Some of my fondest memories
with my father
are at these castle ruins.”

Dismounting and allowing Lucifer
to roam, Declan reached up,
grabb
ing
Poppy by her t
i
ny waist
and lowered her to the ground
,
his fingers flexing into her flesh
.

Glancing up, Poppy
grinned at him, her eyes traveling
over his chiseled features and strong bone structure. 
Lord,
he was gorgeo
us
.

“I would not wish any companion in the world but you
,
” he
said
.

“
Shakespeare
?”  Poppy inquired with a tilt of her head
.

“Yes
.
”
H
is
burning gaze scorched her.

Breaking the spell, Declan leaned towards her and lowered his voice
.
“Now, did
I hear you say we ha
ve
food
to break our fast?”  His stomach chose that moment to
growl.
“I
can tell you that I am near to starving
.
”

“Of course
, Mrs. Hastings
always packs me a
hamper
, she’s afraid I will starve if I b
e
come distracted and lose track of time
.  There is also a blanket to spread on th
e ground to keep the dew off.”

Declan grabbed t
he items requested
, handing
the blue and green plaid blanket to Po
p
py.  “Did you choose this because it matche
d your charming riding habit?”

“Why of course
, silly
.
”

Declan threw back
his head and laughed heartily.

Taking a moment to spread out the cloth, Poppy then sat down and bega
n arranging her skirt
about her
legs
.   Glancing up, she caught
Declan’s
eye
and
coyly patt
ed
the ground near her.

Dropping to the ground, Declan sprawled out on the blanket.  With his hands behind his head and his feet crossed at the
ankle
s,
he looked into the sky.  He pointed
and said
, “See that cloud, it looks like a
lion.
”

Holding her hat and tilting her
head,
Poppy searched the sky.  “I do
n’t see a
lion?” 
She squinted
.
“
Ahhh
---
but look over there.
”
S
he pointed
overhead
.
“I see a u
nicorn.”

“There is no such thing as
a
unicorn
.
”  Declan turned to
Poppy.
“
Have you never been to the
Royal Menagerie at the Tower?”

“Well, of course, I
’ve
been to the Royal Menagerie
.
  What does that have to do with a
n
ything?
” 
She rolled
her eyes
in mock frustration
.
“
T
hat does not mean I cannot see a
unicorn
in the clouds.
”  She crossed
her arms.
“Y
ou are sorely lacking in imagination
,
Your G
race
.
”
L
oo
k
ing
haughtily down her
nose at him,
she bit
back a grin
.
“I am completely
and utterly
disa
p
pointed in your lac
k of imagination
i
f you
refuse to
concede that
that
cloud looks like a
un
i
corn.” 
She once
again point
ed
to
wards
the sky.

He held u
p his hands in surrender
.
“I give in, I concede.”
He turned
his head this way and that
.
“I guess it co
uld sort of look like a unicorn
but only if I hold my head like this.” 
He held
his head at an awkward angle.  “I practically must be
standing on my head,
perfectly ridic
u
lous
.
   I will most definitely get a crick
.
”
  H
e rubbed
his neck.  “
Especially
if I continue to look
at the clouds with my held tilted
this way.”

S
he snorted in a most unladylike fashion.

“I can assure you that there are no unicorns in the Royal Menagerie.  The pompous ari
s
tocrats who feel they must prove their power and wealth by trapping those poor animals in the Tower would definitely have caged a unicorn if they were real
.
”

“Well, it is certainly not my fault that you
have
so little imagination that you must
try so hard.” 
She smiled
sweet
ly.  “Some of us
are
just
m
ore creative than others
.”  S
he smirked
, shrugging
.  “I would not feel too bad
.
”  

“I’ll try not to,” he drolly replied.