Page 17 of The Lady Who Said No to the Duke
It was all Godmama’s fault, making her think of Hal as something other than a friend.
Then he rose again, lifted the stand of food and brought it over to her.‘Those little savoury puffs look delicious.Do have one and then I will not feel guilty for having two, as I fully intend to.’
She laughed and accepted a puff, almost dropping it when he turned to take them across to their godmother and a whisper of the cologne he must have used after shaving reached her nostrils.
This was ridiculous, she scolded herself.She had admired handsome men before now without getting herself into a tizzy about it.Lord Hardcastle, whose looks were darkly exciting and much admired by all the young ladies, for example.Or Viscount Winstanley, a positive Adonis, all blue eyes and golden hair.Or there was Major Lord Harper, who was ruggedly handsome in uniform, his appeal enhanced by the scar on his right cheek that gave him an air of danger.Any one of them was enough to send fans fluttering amongst the ranks of debutantes, and hers had duly fluttered along with those of all her friends.
But when she had danced with one of those men, or stood conversing with them, she had never felt flustered andshy, of all things.
Bother Godmama!
‘Thea, dear.’From the gently chiding tone of Godmama’s voice, she had already said something that Thea had not attended to.
‘I am sorry.I was wool-gathering.’
‘I was asking about the Italian garden.’
‘Oh, of course.I do not think you would like one, Godmama.I thought it far too formal.’
‘It is very new, of course,’ Hal said.‘And the planting of hedges and so forth is very sparse as a result.But I suspect it will be rather rigid and also exceedingly costly to maintain.It would keep your gardeners very busy.’
‘In that case, I will not be copying Lord Brownlow.It is not the expense, so much, but the formality.I had assumed that an Italian garden would be somehow rather romantic.’
‘Not at all romantic,’ Thea confirmed.‘When I compare it with your rose garden, I have no doubt which I prefer.There is just a touch of wildness, of mystery, in yours.A sense that nature surrounds you, keeps you safe.That formal garden was all about subduing nature to man’s desires.’
‘Just at the moment it is far from romantic—very much at the end of its season, I’m afraid.But Fosket, my head gardener, has created what promises to be a delightful winter garden by the old summerhouse.I have had that repaired and made sound.It has a fireplace and I intend using it during the colder months to watch the birds eat the berries and the first snowdrops appear.You must explore it tomorrow.’
‘I would like to—if the morning does not bring Papa with it,’ Thea said ruefully.She was beginning to get butterflies in her stomach at the prospect of discovering her parents’ reaction to her flight.
At least it gives me something to think about other than Hal Forrest, she thought, pouring another cup of tea.
Chapter Six
The first post brought nothing at all from London, although there was a letter from Cousin Elizabeth in response to Thea’s letter apologising for any inconvenience caused to her.
‘What does she say?’Godmama enquired over breakfast as they all opened their correspondence.
Thea squinted at the closely written black words.It looked as though a particularly angry spider had fallen into the inkwell and then rushed across the page.
‘I am a hoyden, a disgrace and must be a source of great anguish to my parents,’ she deciphered.‘I am doomed to be… Can it be skinned?Surely not.Oh,shunned, by decent society unless I cast myself penitently at the duck’s—sorry, Duke’s—feet.It goes on in much the same vein for both pages.’
She folded the sheets and tossed the letter down beside her plate.‘And nothing for either of us from Mama and Papa.I do hope that doesn’t mean they are coming in person.’
‘There will be a letter by the second post, I have no doubt,’ Lady Holme said comfortably.‘And, if your parents have decided to come in person, I cannot believe theywill arrive before tomorrow evening at the latest.Do you have any plans for the morning?’
Spend it trying not to bite my nails, was the honest answer.
Thea couldn’t imagine being able to concentrate on reading anything, she had brought no embroidery with her and they were some distance from a town with shops to browse in.
‘The weather has still not broken,’ she said.‘I will walk around the grounds, I think.I would like to see your new winter garden.’
‘Wrap up warmly, then.The wind has turned to the east, so Fenwick informs me.And you, Hal?What is causing that frown?’
He looked up from the letter he had been reading and grimaced.‘Some legal questions to deal with in this one, and I have no doubt the others also contain decisions for me to make.I have come to the conclusion that owning land is akin to housekeeping—no sooner do you think that everything is set in order than out come all the spiders and the dust miraculously reappears.’
Papa had land agents and bailiffs and what always appeared to be a small army of retainers to manage his estates, but Thea supposed that for someone with less extensive and less prosperous lands a great deal had to be done personally.
She made suitably sympathetic noises and excused herself from the table, taking Cousin Elizabeth’s letter with her.It was bound for the small fire in her bedchamber because, somehow, she did not think that a reply would be either welcome or helpful.
