Page 14 of Snapdragons
She sighed. “I wished to meet all the horses first. If my horses had been stabled here rather than having been sent to Fairfield, I would be out on the moors already.”
That was another complication she needed to think through. She’d made the journey from Ireland assuming she would be taking up permanent residence at Fairfield after the wedding. Her horses had been sent there. Her books had been. Her little trinkets and personal treasures.
She was supposed to finally be going home.
Instead, she’d been rejected. Rather thoroughly, in fact.
She shook off the thought. She needed to keep her wits, not grow maudlin.
“Are you wishing to ride, sir?” The same groomsman who had spoken with her earlier addressed Liam.
“Yes,” he said. “A mare with some spirit but not too much, if you have one. I’m not looking for a challenge this morning, but I’d also rather not be bored.”
The groomsman nodded and returned to the interior of the stable.
“Had you a chance to speak with Mr. Greenberry last evening?” she asked Liam.
“He didn’t speak,” Liam said. “And no one seemed to expect him to.”
Ought she to have given the possibility of his being a little simple more consideration? He’d said almost nothing to her. Certainly not enough to answer so significant a question. Her initial impression had been that he was embarrassed, perhaps feeling a little guilty.
“Perhaps he is a bit shy,” she said, hoping to keep Liam from growing discouraged enough to abandon it all. “As we get to know Mr. Greenberry better, he’ll grow more friendly. I’m certain of it.”
“I am trying to be,” Liam said. “These gentlemen hail from very exalted circles. We are very much out of our depth here.”
“Mr. Greenberry agreed to this match once.” She directed the reassurance more at herself than him. “That leaves open the possibility that he will do so again no matter his high connections.”
“I really do hope so, Penelope.” Liam’s gaze flitted over the paddock but didn’t linger on any one horse. “But I also need to be realistic.”
She smiled at him. “You be realistic. I’ll be optimistic. Between the two of us, we’ll find the answers we’re looking for.”
Chapter Six
Niles had introduced the Gentsto a very Cornish variety of ground billiards during that glorious, long-ago first term at Cambridge when he’d been brought into their circle. And it hadn’t taken his newfound friends long to transform the game into something delightfully ludicrous. Lucas and Stanley had led the descent themselves.
Playing it again now with three of the Gents made the one they all still mourned feel a little closer.
It also gave Niles an excuse to pretend he hadn’t made a mull of his life lately.
“Protect your brain boxes, Gents!” Lucas called out before striking the heavy wooden ball with his short-handled mallet and sending it careening through the air. The Gents’ version of ground billiards enthusiastically violated the “ball should remain on the ground” rule that usually applied to the game.
Digby sauntered toward the spot where the ball came to a stop. Usually, when they played this game, there was a mad rush to reach the ball first, as points were awarded for getting the ball closer to the target, but they were playing a very casual version this time.
“Perhaps,” Digby said, “we should tell Mr. Seymour that Niles took a ball to the head and that is why he didn’t return for the signing of the marriage agreement.” He hit the ball with his mallet, and it flew toward the king pin.
“He defected a fortnight ago,” Kes said. “Unless this hypothetical blow he is meant to receive today was so significant that it mussed his mind retroactively, I don’t think he can lean on that excuse.”
Niles whacked the ball all the way to the king pin, then bowed in acknowledgment of the points he earned for hitting themark. Upon standing fully upright again, he asked, “Why would we direct excuses toMr.Seymour and notMissSeymour?” It seemed to him, she was the one who deserved an explanation.
“Because he is in a position to potentially bring a breach of promise suit against you.” Kes was the one who explained, but the looks on the other two Gents’ faces indicated they were aware of that possibility as well. A possibility that had not occurred to Niles, and neither had Digby thought of it at the time they had concocted the harebrained approach they’d taken.
Niles pushed out a slow breath. “I would lose all I’ve saved.”
“Very well might,” Lucas acknowledged.
“And with it, the reason I took this risk to begin with.” Why could nothing seem to work out the way he wished it would?
“You would be an excellent member of Parliament,” Kes said. “Don’t abandon your goal of gaining the land you need to be eligible.”
