Ashlynn was grateful that she'd left propriety behind, wearing a short pair of breeches that stopped above the knees and a sleeveless tunic along with her Hedge Hat as she calmbered over the branches of the magnolia tree to retrieve her fifth blossom.
Suddenly, a giggle spilled from her lips as she tried to imagine what her mother would think if she saw her eldest daughter with her legs bare to the knee, barefoot and climbing a tree to pick flowers..
The countess had already been slightly scandalized when Ashlynn took to wearing simple peasant skirts and tunics while rooting around in the dirt of her garden. If it weren't for the isolation imposed on her by her mark and the guilt her mother felt over keeping her confined so often, Ashlynn was certain that her mother would have forbidden her from returning to her garden the first time she'd seen her daughter covered in dirt.
