Never Tell a Soul, Damon Priest

14. the perfect ending

They galloped through the woods and Geneva could not think of anything else but her dark bedchamber where she was sure to spend the rest of her days if her aunts discovered what she had been up to. What would they do this time? She wondered as she tightly clung around Damon's waist, her eyes closed.

He was not saying anything, his attention on the journey.

Leaning her forehead on his back, she forced herself to think of the possibilities without fear.

If she was found out, she would be punished. But she had been punished before. She had been locked in her bedchamber many times for days and was always let out. Her drawing articles were kept under her bed. She could spend her days drawing or writing. It would not be so awful, really.

Another possibility was that she would not be caught. She would enter the back garden, enter the servant door, and stay in Helene's room where she could change out of her gown. And once her aunts retired, she and Gwen could sneak out and return to the Abberton House just in time for the play.

As she played more scenarios in her head, both good and bad, Geneva started to laugh. She also began to feel the wind against her hair, the sound of hooves against dirt, the snapping of twigs, the brush of leaves against her gown. And she felt Damon's warmth in her arms, her cheek.

She would not have experienced this if she stayed indoors. She would be bored in her room if she did not allow this man to dare her to do this.

"Do you want me to help you up the window?"

Geneva blinked in confusion. "What?" She pulled away from the warmth of his back to looked to the side. They were nearing the Withers House. "No!" she hissed. "I will not be climbing windows."

"Then where—"

"The back garden will do. Stop. I'll get down here," she hastily said when she saw one of their footmen pacing outside the house.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

He slowed the horse down just in time for the servant to spot them. "Miss!" the young man said, running up to her. "The back entrance! Come!"

Geneva jumped down with Damon's help. The footman was frantic, jumping from one foot to another as he looked over his shoulder.

"Are you going to be all right?" Damon asked from atop the horse.

She smiled at him. "Yes. I'll see you later."

He seemed surprised. "Are you certain?"

She nodded as the footman groaned beside her in growing panic, begging with a, "Miss, please, we must go."

Laughter bubbling through her lips, Geneva turned and ran away with the footman. She looked over her shoulder before they entered the narrow pathway alongside the house, and found Damon still watching her. She threw a small wave goodbye before disappearing.

Helene was already waiting by the service door, dress hanging over one arm. "Hurry!" the housekeeper hissed, pulling her down the service corridor, down the stairs and into a room where two other maids were already waiting to help her undress. "You dare laugh now?" Helene asked when laughter rolled up Geneva's throat. "See what happens to all of us if your aunts find out!"

"Helene, this was your idea," she pointed out, chuckling as the gown was stripped off her. She almost squealed when the housekeeper narrowed her eyes and threw the other dress over her head and pulled it down. When her head emerged, Geneva was grinning. "Now that they're back, you all go back to your old flinty self? I'm disappointed."

She could tell that the housekeeper was biting off a smile. "We should have been more careful, I admit," Helene said, pulling out the pins from Geneva's hair while the two servants buttoned the dress from behind.