Laughing gaily at his humorous statements, Branna Took a near instantaneous liking to the young man, Warming to his manner of speech and his fresh sense of humor. She allowed her shoulders to relax, the uneasiness knotting within her stomach to unravel, and dismissed any nagging thoughts that he had discovered her secret fly from her mind. Genuinely smiling now, the wood wife gave her head A quick nod to his inquiry after a brush for his horse, Turning to begin to step towards her cottage, But found herself hesitating at his interest in her relationship with the former owner of the property.

"honestly, I never met your uncle in person more than once, and that was only a brief thing.. It was more that I overheard him chatting with some of the grounds keepers about fixing up this old place and offering it to any interested party. I decided to look into it, though I had to do a lot of the work myself." Carefully weaving The truth together, even she thought that it sounded like a plausible and continuous story, Though she had looked into living in the cottage much earlier then when she had heard the conversation about the possibility of its rentabilty.

'Poor Ninny... I hope I didn't cause his lame leg.' She thought as she finally turned fully towards the Little cottage, limping over as far as the front steps and bending down to open a small plainly carved wooden box. Lifting the lantern to let a puddle of light spill over the contents inside, she quickly located the simple wire brushed used for horses' coats and scooped the tool from its corner. Using the lid of the box as leverage, Branna managed to get back on her feet steadily, Letting the container clothes with a soft thud before making her way back over to the young Lord, Offering him the brush.

The smile that she was quickly growing quite used to suddenly faded as his gaze trailed downwards and her leg need only to give a small twinge for Branna to accurately guess why it had slipped away. Her own smile diminished, though it lingered around her full lips, and she momentarily glanced down at the white bandages encasing her leg. "this injury is nothing that my Lord should concern himself over good sir. I ended up in a bramble bush earlier this day and the thorns were sharp. Pointed teeth in one's leg does Smart quite fiercely, I will admit, but the pain of it has lessened considerably since I clean my wounds. I am fairing quite well now, my thanks to you for your concern." She smiled gently, Reinforcing her statement, Before returning to another subject before her injuries could be further looked into. "but I can see that Ninny and I are not the only ones to have made a mess of ourselves this day. You look as if you have taken a dip in a pond and forgotten to take your clothes off. May I offer you an opportunity to remove your wet things, Put on a fresh pair of linen, and perhaps have some hot tea inside with me?" Then her smile brightened somewhat, her head tilting a little to one side. "but I think before I allow you inside, I should like to know the name of such a man that tries to outrun the sun, Enjoys riding when it is quite dark, and enjoys making merry in a pool of water without wearing proper swimming attire."