Page 35 of Destined to be a Duchess
“And who do you imagine would enjoy my company?” Eliana asked, bringing the conversation back to her favourite subject—herself. “Do you see a duke in my future, too?”
If Eliana hadn’t hated him, Anthony might have thought she was trying to flirt. Instead, he pressed his lips together and looked out over the water.
“I see only a wet and grizzly end for you if you do not abandon your efforts to convince me out onto that blasted lake.”
At last, Eliana seemed discouraged. She accepted her defeat with a groan, turning on her heel and rejoining her friends. Anthony waited a moment at the water’s edge, concerned about Eliana’s interest in Marianne. He had advised Marianne to befriend Eliana for her own sake. And he still thought she would be safer as Eliana’s ally rather than as her enemy …
Though frankly, he thought,I would rather Marianne be entirely spared from Eliana and the others. Who knows who she might become after being subjected to their ways in our world of assimilation or alienation?
Anthony pressed through the group of guests, searching for a friendly face. It wasn’t long before he spotted Marianne walking towards the lake. Patrick walked on one side of her, holding a pair of rowing oars. On her other side was a young gentleman whom Anthony didn’t recognize. He had olive skin and dark brown hair—and the sort of confident smile that Anthony imagined would make most women swoon.
The three of them were so absorbed in their conversation that they only noticed Anthony once they were walking directly passed him. Patrick skidded to a stop, bringing his walk with Marianne and their new friend to an abrupt end.
“I told Lady Marianne you snuck away right after breakfast,” Patrick said, thrusting the oars to Anthony so he could wave towards the stranger. “We picked up a new companion in your stead. He joined our table once you left.”
“I am Mr Frederic Crofter, Your Grace.” The man had a baritone voice, and Anthony watched Marianne carefully for her reaction. He had all the elements of a rake—at least outwardly. “Mr Bowers and I met last night, quite by a strange turn of events.”
“Not so strange as that,” Patrick interjected, grinning. “I stole the poor cad’s table card so that I could sit beside Marianne. Mr. Crofter spared me an evening of discomfort.”
“And in return, I failed to make the acquaintance of Lady Marianne,” Mr Crofter said, bowing respectfully to Marianne. “It was a stroke of luck that we could make up for the lost opportunity this morning.”
She smiled timidly, seemingly on edge now that Anthony had appeared. If she wanted to walk with unknown gentlemen, she was more than within her right to do as much. That was the whole point of her attendance. Why, then, did Marianne lookuncomfortable that Anthony had caught them? And why did Anthony feel uncomfortable, too?
“How lucky indeed,” Anthony replied. He stuck the rowing oars into the ground like a warrior might wield two spears. “Do you have designs on a boat, Mr Crofter?”
“Oh, I should not think so.” Mr. Crofter’s face turned white at the mere mention of the lake. “I have a deathly fear of water and always have. I would like to watch of course. Would you like to go out, Lady Marianne? If not, you are more than welcome to watch from the sidelines alongside me. We could get to know one another as we should have last night.”
Anthony looked at Marianne agog.
“I had not given the matter much thought.” Marianne tilted up her bonnet to get a better look at the lake. “How many boats are there?”
“Five, by my count,” Anthony replied. He was grateful when Marianne glanced at him at last. He couldn’t tell from her expression whether she wanted to be rescued from Mr Crofter. “We will take turns, I think.”
“It seems I’ve unwittingly given you the keys to the kingdom,” Patrick remarked, nodding at Anthony’s oars. “Lord Hindborough sent me down with them to give to the man on the jetty. Tell us, then. Who shall you choose to go sailing with you?”
Anthony hesitated. “To be perfectly honest, I …”
The sentence trailed off. He looked at the oars. Eliana had asked him to go with her not five minutes beforehand, and he had made an excuse primarily to avoid being stuck on a boat with her. He wasn’t a particularly good rower, and he didn’t relish the idea of being watched on the lake by the fifty or so guests who were settling on the lakeside, either beneath the marquee or on their own blankets.
But perhaps Marianne was expecting him to ask her out onto the water. Perhaps she was silently—much too silently—pleading with Anthony to take her away from Mr Crofter right that moment. And, Anthony thought, if he were seen with Marianne on the lake, the other guests would know without a doubt that the Colline family had given the newly discovered Lady Marianne their stamp of approval …
So with all that considered, it seemed only one option was left available to him.
“I was rather hoping that you would come with me,” he said to Marianne.
*
“It is supposed to rock like this?” Marianne asked, gripping onto the bench beneath her like her life depended on it—and for all she knew, it did.
“I believe so,” Anthony replied, steering them towards the centre of the lake. “I would be lying if I said I was sure … It’s been many years since I was in one of these. Perhaps this boat is past its prime.”
That did not instill Marianne with confidence. The duke was seated at one end of the boat with her at the other. She glanced over the water towards the bank. Mr Crofter and Patrick were standing on the jetty, having found two new women to speak with now that Anthony had enlisted Marianne to go sailing.
The rest of the guests—those who were not waterlocked—were relaxing on the lawn or standing beneath the white canvas tent the marquess had set up. Servants milled through the crowd, offering drinks and petit-fours to the guests.
Or so Marianne thought to see from her vantage point. The whole world was tilting gently back and forth. She felt nauseated by the thought and immediately returned her gaze to the only fixed point in the vicinity: Anthony.
She had to admit he looked even more dashing than usual as he rowed them slowly across the lake. He had done away with his jacket the moment they gained some privacy, then had rolled upthe sleeves of his white cotton shirt, exposing his taut forearms and the down of dark hair that covered them.
