Something Old, Rebecca Connolly [ebook reader for laptop TXT] 📗

soiling your hem, madam. You won’t come out of here without stain, I can assure you.”

Lily looked down as well, then only shrugged. “Not to worry, Mr. Flincher. I’d given some thought to my attire prior to coming out with all that in mind. Your wife and daughters have educated you well.”

Flincher snorted a laugh. “Trained me, more like. I’ve had my turn at the washboard whaling away on their fabrics more ’n once when I let them down the mine without checking with the wife.” He chuckled and took hold of the ladder, starting his descent with an agility Thomas envied.

“Will you be all right?” Thomas murmured, squeezing Lily’s hand.

She nodded at once. “I believe so. I’ve no experience climbing ladders in skirts, or indeed at all, but I trust you will not let me fall.”

“Never,” he vowed softly. “I’ll never let you fall.”

Her smile was tender and sweet, and she brushed her thumb across the back of his hand. “Then I will be perfectly fine.” She nudged her head toward the entrance. “Go on.”

Feeling a jolt of boyish energy himself, Thomas grinned at her before taking hold of the ladder and carefully making his way down into the mine. “An iron ladder, I see, Flincher. Is that standard?”

“It is now, sir,” Flincher called up. “Wood is cheaper, but it does tend to rot. Too many accidents have made the cost worth it, we find.”

“It is a foolish man who puts frugality above the safety of his workers.” Thomas shook his head, then looked up. “Steady now, Lily.”

She appeared at the top of the ladder, cautiously placing one foot after the other on the rungs and descending down to him.

Thomas bit his tongue the entire time to keep from actually guiding her down each rung, seeing that she was quite capably managing it, and he was close enough to intervene if he should need to. Treating her as though she was a child would not do, and any inference suggesting that she might need assistance when she clearly did not could sound rather patronizing. It occurred to him that bringing his wife into a dangerous environment like a mine was a dreadful idea, and one he could so easily regret, but he hadn’t been thinking clearly when he’d suggested it.

He’d only wanted to be with her, and going to the mine together had been the first thought to make itself known.

He released a slow, silent breath when she reached the bottom of the ladder unscathed and smiled at her in the dim light.

She smiled back, then looked at Mr. Flincher. “Do most of the men in Cornwall work in a mine, Mr. Flincher? I know nothing of the opportunities here.”

“I cannot say if most do, madam,” Flincher told her as he picked up a lantern and started down a large tunnel, “but certainly a great percentage do. There’s an old Cornish saying, and if I say it loud enough, we may hear the answer.” He cleared his throat. “If thar’s an ’ole in tha’ ground…”

“Ee’ll find a Cornishman a’ ta bottom!” a scattered chorus called back.

Lily laughed merrily, clapping her hands. “Is that true?”

Flincher shrugged. “True ’nough, madam, for every Cornishman to know it. Now, mind your step, the ground be a mite unsteady, but we’ll keep to the major tunnels and give ee a fair idea of our work.”

Thomas started to follow, then paused, waiting for Lily to precede him.

She ducked her chin and started to hurry past, then raised her eyes to his and grinned. “Thank you for inviting me to join you,” she whispered, the lack of volume doing nothing to disguise her energy. “I never thought I’d ever see inside a mine!”

He raised a brow. “Have you been harboring a lifelong wish to see one?”

“No,” she told him with a hushed giggle. “Not particularly. I simply love any chance to do something that makes life richer. And any chance to be with you is far better.”

Thomas considered her for a moment, wondering how his heart had suddenly burst into showers of light, raining sparks throughout his body and spreading a raw heat of joy curling up his spine. “Even in a dank, dusty mine?”

Lily bit her lip softly, drawing his attention there, then took a step closer to him, nearly brushing the buttons of his coat with the loose locks of her hair. “Even here, Thomas, my life is richer. With you.”

Helpless to her in every way, Thomas leaned down and captured her lips with his, slowly savoring the taste of her, the feel of her sweet lips melding with his own, the pressure against him as she arched up to bring them closer… He cupped her cheek, layering softer kisses against her full lips before pulling back.

She smiled dazedly, her eyes bright.

He chuckled, stroking her cheek with a thumb. “We’d best catch up with Mr. Flincher now, or he’ll begin to think we’re wasting his time.”

Lily laughed a little, her nose wrinkling up. “Alas, I believe you’re right. And we did promise not to waste any more time, did we not?” She took his hand and turned to follow the mine captain, pulling Thomas along behind her, though he needed no encouragement.

“Yes, we did, my love,” he murmured, though she would not hear him. “Yes, we certainly did.”

Chapter Fourteen

“What a marvelous day,” Lily gushed as she slid from her horse, safely back at Pendrizzick after their outing at Wheal Venton, which was followed by a picnic luncheon graciously shared with them by some of the local villagers and miners. Lily had even managed to spend a few moments learning some delightful new games with local children, none of whom viewed her with any sort of apprehension, disdain, or perception of difference in station. She was as welcome among them as though she had been raised on the same moors and worked for the same mines.

She had laughed more today than she had done in months combined, and her