Page 34 of A Duke's Overlooked Spinster
Sarah smiled, seeing the warmth between Caroline and Edward. She no longer envied them, having felt something similar herself. She glanced over at the approaching guests, buteveryone was milling about, gentlemen standing and waiting for the ladies to be seated, and she could not spot the duke anywhere.
Caroline let out a cry as someone ran towards them. Sarah gasped, then giggled in delight as Henry, squealing in delight, tumbled and flopped down on the mat close beside her.
“I’m sitting here today,” Henry told Caroline and Edward. His blue gaze sparked defiantly, then he looked shyly down at the blanket. Sarah chuckled.
“Of course you are, young fellow. Is that all right?” she asked Caroline and Edward. Edward lifted a shoulder.
“If the duke says it is,” he said. “No reason that I can think of as to why he should not join us. He’s a grown-up little fellow.” He grinned at Henry.
Henry looked at the blanket, picking at it. He was a shy child, not comfortable with scrutiny.
“I think I will have a sandwich first,” Sarah told Henry, watching as Caroline—ever the fine hostess—began unpacking the basket, placing a fruit pie to one side, then a plate of neat sandwiches with the crusts trimmed away, and another platter of hard-boiled eggs.
“Pie!” Henry declared, his gaze fixing on dessert at once. Caroline chuckled.
“You have to have a healthy meal, young man. You will spoil your appetite if you eat the pie first.”
“I suppose,” Henry said ruefully.
Sarah was reaching for a sandwich, about to pass the plate to Henry to select one, when the duke and Mrs. Wellman appeared at the edge of the rug.
“I must apologise, my ladies,” Mrs. Wellman began at once, but the duke interrupted her.
“Henry? What are you doing here?” he asked carefully.
“I want to sit with Mrs. Brooke,” Henry murmured, barely audibly. The duke bent down to listen. Sarah’s heart thudded wildly. He was kneeling beside her on the mat, no more than a hand’s span away.
The duke turned to Sarah. She forgot how to breathe. His blue eyes held hers. They really were dark, the blue so intense that it made her stare.
“Would you mind, Miss Brooke? If Henry sits here?”
“No,” Sarah said instantly. “Of course not.”
The duke grinned. “Well, then. Mrs. Wellman, I trust you will enjoy your picnic. Henry will remain here. As will I.” He sat down on the rug, folding his legs neatly under him. Sarah gaped and looked at the rug. Shyness made it impossible to look up, awareness of the duke’s presence making her heart race.
“Sandwiches, Your Grace?” Caroline asked, gesturing to the plate.
“Thank you, my lady,” the duke said conversationally. “I would be pleased with a sandwich.”
He reached to take one and leaned back again. His arm almost brushed Sarah’s as he did so and she drew in a small gasp. He smiled at her.
“Enjoying the fine mild weather?” he asked.
Sarah nodded, finding it hard to breathe. “Um...yes,” she managed to say. “It’s a fine day.”
“Good day for riding,” Edward commented cheerily. “Good that we got in a fine ride this morning, eh? “Pray, I wager you did not confide in anyone regarding the fence we leapt, did you?" he jested with the duke.
“We did indeed leap a fence,” the duke replied with a nonchalant air.
Sarah giggled. She glanced over at Henry, who was tucking into a sandwich, a blissfully happy expression on his face.
The conversation rose and fell around her—lighthearted, playful—and she listened intermittently, watching the duke and Henry as they chatted together. The duke was smiling, a grin hovering at the corner of his mouth. Her breath caught in her throat. He was so beautiful when he smiled.
The pie was eaten, and the afternoon sunshine was slanting across the lawn, casting shadows where there had been none earlier, when the duke turned to her.
“Would you fancy a walk?” he asked, addressing the question to Henry, though he looked at her.
“A walk! Hooray!”
