Page 66 of So Wild A Heart

Elizabeth smiled. “All right. I shall be a very fond older sister.”

They linked arms and strolled back inside. “I am going to the library. Would you like to join me?” Miranda asked.

The look of horror on Elizabeth’s face was enough to make Miranda giggle. “Oh, no, I cannot. I, ah…”

“Never mind, you do not have to conjure up an excuse. I know you are not fond of reading. It is quite all right. I will see you at lunch.”

“Miranda…” Elizabeth looked at her, her brow drawn into a frown. She seemed to be struggling to say something, but then she smiled and patted Miranda’s arm. “Never mind. You go ahead.”

She turned and walked away.

Miranda looked after her, puzzled, then shrugged and started toward the library.

Strong was waiting for her there, looking vaguely uncomfortable, as he usually did around her. In general she let Hiram handle most of the dealings with him, because he seemed unable to cope with a woman discussing business. He was not as tongue-tied around Hiram, which was fortunate, as many of his entries needed to be filled in verbally, being somewhat sketchy at best.

“Talking to him,” Hiram said, “I think the man knows his job. It is just that he’s not terribly good with the written word.”

This fact seemed to Miranda to be something of a problem for the manager of a very large estate. She had asked Dev’s uncle once what qualifications Mr. Strong had for the job, and he had looked at her blankly and said only, “His father was estate manager before him,” as if this were answer enough. Since Devin had been with them at the time and had said nothing, only nodded in agreement, she supposed that to the British aristocracy this was apparently an adequate reason for someone to have a job. She suspected that once she started trying to turn the estate around, she would have to replace the man, although given Rupert and Dev’s reaction, she would probably have to leave him as estate manager and invent a new title to give to someone to supervise Strong. In all fairness to Strong, she thought, perhaps the man sensed this opinion on her part and that accounted for his discomfort around her.

“Hello, Mr. Strong,” she said, putting on as winning and reassuring a smile as she could. “I am afraid that Mr. Baldwin has a few affairs of my father’s to attend to today, so I thought you might help me with a few questions.”

“Yes, Lady Ravenscar.”

“Good. Now, I was looking at a topographical map of the area the other day.” She picked up a rolled map and spread it on the desk top, anchoring it at all four corners with books. “Now, this area of the estate.”

“Yes. Apworth Mountain and the land around it.” He nodded.

“What does the area look like?”

He looked nonplussed. “Well, rocks, miss—I mean, my lady. It is hilly and rocky. Not very good for anything that I know of.”

“I understand it is part of the Roaches, which are in turn the tail end of the Pennines.”

“That’s right.”

“What has this area been used for?”

“Used for? Nothing, my lady. I mean, people go to look at it. It’s sort of grand, in a way, but it’s not good for anything that I know of.”

“You know, one often finds mineral deposits in this sort of terrain.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Coal, iron ore, even precious minerals. Has anyone ever tried to mine there?”

“No, my lady, not that I know of.” He looked at her doubtfully.

“It’s something I want to research. It would be nice to be able to add to our revenues from the tenant farmers.”

“Yes, my lady.”

Miranda sighed inwardly at the man’s passivity. “All right, let’s look at the books. I have been looking at the overview Hiram prepared for me, and I am definitely beginning to see a pattern. Take this Bigby land…”

The next two hours passed slowly. The maid came in toward the end of that time, bringing the cup of hot chocolate that was usually Miranda’s treat after a few hours of working. She took a sip and decided that, delightful as it was, it could not possibly be reward enough for talking to Mr. Strong.

Devin came in at that moment, providing a welcome break. He looked tired, with shadows under his eyes, and she wondered if he had spent much of the night before as sleeplessly as she had. He was going to the abbey ruins today to paint, he told her, and would be gone much of the day, returning home after tea. Miranda nodded, thinking that she would love to go with him, but he did not ask her.

She wondered if the growing sexual frustration between the two of them was going to destroy the rapport they had been building the past few weeks. She remembered her thoughts of earlier that morning: that she should not demand fidelity of him before she would sleep with him. Even a half marriage like that would surely be better than his growing to hate being around her.