Page 42 of Romancing Daphne

She glanced just behind him.“We hadn’t intended to interrupt your entire afternoon.”

The irony of her concern struck him in the next moment. She worried she was interrupting his day. If a gentleman truly was courting a lady, her presence wouldn’t be an interruption in the least. He was making a muddle of everything.

“Do you need to be on your way, or would you like to join us?” he asked.

She looked to her older sister and received a nod of encouragement. Buteven as he and Miss Lancaster walked toward the lawn game, she seemedunsure of her decision to stay. Was this more of her timidity, or had her handbeen forced?

“If you do need to go, Miss Lancaster—”

But she shook her head. Her bonnet shifted about with the movement, and she straightened it with a quick nudge of her hand.“I am afraidI am often nervous with people I don’t know well.”

He had long since discovered that about her.“If it will put your mind at ease, my brother is about as threatening as a kitten. You’ve nothing to fear from him.”

“I have found him to be pleasant company during our brief conversations. I do realize I needn’t be nervous, but timidity is not always logical.” She seemed to rally her courage. “I am happily surprised the weather is pleasantenough to proceed. Such a thing is hardly guaranteed this time of year.”

James accepted her change of topic.“’Tis hardly guaranteed any time of year. England’s weather is quite famous for its stubborn lack of predictability.The French have glory-starved emperors, and we have mercurial weather.”

“And a wide assortment of lawn games.”

James chuckled.“That is our national treasure, to be sure.”

She smiled at his quip, just as he’d hoped she would.

“Has Lieutenant Lancaster arrived yet?” he asked.

“Sadly, no,” she said. “Persephone is beside herself. One would thinkhe was still the same eleven-year-old boy who left our home for a life in the navy instead of a seasoned sailor of twenty.”

“And does the good lieutenant appreciate being babied by his sister, or does he merely endure it?”

She pondered his question a moment. “He does make quite a showof being put out by her fussing, but I have seen him shed tears when she embraces him. Outwardly he may be a grown man of the navy, but inwardlyhe is still her little Linus trying very hard to be brave.”

James attempted to imagine being greeted with tears of joy rather than complaint. “You have a wonderful family, Miss Lancaster.”

“That I do.” They had reached Ben and the lawn bowls.“I should probably warn you, Lord Tilburn, that my sisters and I are particularly accomplished bowlers. We managed to convince Adam to convert a portion of the back garden at Falstone Castle into a green.” She gave him a look of obviously feigned warning. He rather enjoyed the lightness it granted her countenance.“There is no fiercer opponent in bowls than one who has played the game in the shadow of a gibbet.”

James leaned a touch closer and asked in a low voice,“Is there truly a gibbet at Falstone Castle? I have heard rumors, but one can never be sure which stories about the duke are exaggerated.”

“There most certainly is.” Miss Lancaster was rather pretty when she smiled, especially with that lone dimple drawing one’s gaze.“A gibbetandstocks. And both have been used within the past decade. They are kept in very good repair, in fact.”

“A gibbet and stocks on a bowling green?” James shook his head at the odd picture that formed in his mind.

“We take bowls very seriously.”

He could feel a smile spread across his face.“Apparently. Perhaps I’d best secure you as my partner, then, lest I find myself in the unhappy position of being your opponent.”

“That would be very wise.” Her color rose, though she did not shy away from their friendly banter.

“Prepare yourself, Ben. Miss Lancaster and I mean to slaughter you.”

Ben chuckled. “I shall simply have to find a slaughtering partner of my own. Tell me, Miss Lancaster, does your sister play?”

“They both do, though I do not believe the duchess is quite equal to it today. Artemis, however, will take up your offer with enthusiasm.”

Ben returned to the chairs where Her Grace and Mother were speaking of something and Miss Artemis was doing little to hide her boredom.

“Ben is quite good at bowls,” James warned his partner as their opponents returned, armed for battle.

“Then we must rise to the occasion,” she said. “We cannot allow our younger siblings to best us so publicly.”

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