Page 61 of A Torn Allegiance
She dipped her head. Hayes would have given much to know her thoughts.
“And the southern border? I feel I’ve heard you speak of it more than anywhere.”
“Too true. It is more on my mind than all others. The southern lands are just as beautiful but perhaps not as eye catching.”
“In what way?”
“The southern lands are flat. They stretch for miles in every direction. Our food is grown there. The fields take on varying shades of green and tan, and the effect is stunning to me. The air smells of soil and new growth. When harvest time comes, families are busy working the land together. He filled his chest with air in deep satisfaction. “I love it above all else in Oldenburg.”
“I can see in your face how much you value the farmlands.”
“I do. As I would expect to appreciate your Scottish lands. Perhaps we might discuss them as well.”
Her eyes lit. “There is nothing I love more than discussing Scotland.”
“Might I come call on you this week? Perhaps for another of our walks? We have neglected what I hoped might become a daily habit.”
“I’d like that, yes. And perhaps, one day, we could take that horse ride you asked for.”
“How could we have neglected something that promises to be enjoyable to us both? Let us ride first, then.”
“I suspect we have been distracted.” She watched him with her usual intensity.
“Perhaps. And I seem to upset you at every turn.”
She shook her head. “It’s not that. I suppose I am difficult.”
“Perhaps not difficult. Perhaps a beguiling challenge.”
Her face flamed with the brightest red. But all she said was, “Until tomorrow, then?”
“We might continue this most interesting of conversations without so many looking on.”
“I’d like that.” She dropped her lashes. She was at times so bold and at other times so unsure. Lady Elsie would be a delight if they could but find a way to simply be together. Though he felt his time running out, he was determined to try.
They tasted of the offerings here and there as they walked. Then a master of ceremonies stood at the front of the room and announced, “We will gather by rank and exit onto the green in a few minutes. Please follow me.”
People prepared to exit, and a footman arrived at Hayes’s side. “Prince George would like you to follow him, with your brothers.”
“Thank you.” He led Lady Elsie to the doors the footman indicated.
His brothers followed behind them, and Bartholomew was close after, in his place among the dukes. The room lined up remarkably quickly. Every peer must know how each and every person stood according to rank. How interesting. Hayes’s country was much the same, he supposed, but seeing it in another land made the similarities of such an intriguing social hierarchy in Oldenburg all the more apparent. As the doors opened and they began their promenade out onto the green to a remarkably large and well-dressed crowd, he found himself wondering whether such a lifestyle could be entirely beneficial to the people.
Chapter Twenty-One
Elsie and Lady Sophie walkedtogether on the edge of the green, where others were also standing in groups and talking. The whole park outside of St. James’s was full of people; the peerage had come in full force to rub shoulders with Prince George. After the more celebrated guests’ ridiculous promenade out to join the others, Prince Hayes had stepped away, and Elsie and Lady Sophie were determined to see what he was about. He seemed distracted.
“Did we lose him?” Lady Sophie leaned around the group in front of them and answered her own question. “No, we didn’t. I see him.”
“Is he talking to anyone suspicious?” Elsie said.
“No. He looks as bored as we should be following him while half the women in thetontry to impress him with their smiles.”
Elsie gritted her teeth. “Who is it this time?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“Lady Annabeth?”
