“I wondered, cousin if you might like to go to the Pen Ponds to feed the ducks. Lord Kilby had such a monstrous number of sandwiches, and I have bought some bread with me.” She gave Charlotte a meaningful look before raising her eyebrows at the duke. “I know how much you adore nature, your Grace, just as Lady Norwell was so astutely saying.”
There was a look exchanged between the duke and Elizabeth that was difficult to decipher but Charlotte could not help being amused by it.
“An excellent idea,” the duke said enthusiastically, and Charlotte could not fully hide her smile this time--Lady Norwell looked like she had swallowed a wasp.
“The ponds, your Grace?” Lavinia asked incredulously. “I would imagine with the recent rains that they would be rather muddy. I do not believe I am suitably dressed.”
She looked up at the duke somewhat imploringly, and Charlotte was fully prepared for him to accompany her back to the picnic.
“Perhaps walk back some of the way with us, Lady Lavinia, and you can return to the party. Anyone who wishes to feed the ducks can make their way to the ponds.”
Lavinia glanced at her mother helplessly, but she had backed herself into a corner with her suggestion, and Charlotte’s heart leaped at the idea that she would leave their company.
Sarah came forward to take Charlotte’s arm, and as they all turned to head in the other direction, Malcolm materialized from nowhere, telling Lady Elizabeth that he would escort her himself as he had a particular fondness for ducks.
Charlotte snorted under her breath at that. Malcolm famously hated birds and was terrified of pigeons for reasons she had never understood. Still, she kept quiet as her cousin took Elizabeth’s arm, positively glowing in her presence as he always did. He was so in love with the lady that Charlotte wondered he had not yet put forward his suit.
The merry party wandered toward the pond with far more lively conversation now, and as they neared the picnic, Charlotte felt a triumph of her own as the Norwells were given no choice but to leave the duke and return to Kilby’s picnic.
Elizabeth, too, rejoiced silently as she watched the Norwells leave them. She had always disliked Lavinia ever since her debut. Elizabeth tried to have a measured view of everyone she came into contact with, but Lavinia had proved her character more times than she could count. If she wasn’t criticizing everything before her, she was calculating her next victim. The Norwells were notorious for their propensity to attach themselves to the most eligible man in any room—she would not allow Lavinia to get her silken claws into her cousin.
Lady Wentworth was charming and far superior to the Norwells—and Elizabeth had never seen Colin so open with anyone in all the time she had known him. Whatever wiles Lady Wentworth possessed, she allowed him to be himself, and that was enough for Elizabeth.
“I fear I am boring you,” Malcolm said reproachfully, and Elizabeth looked up, having entirely failed to listen to a word the man had said.
“My apologies, Lord Preston.”
“Were you thinking of something particularly interesting?”
Elizabeth eyed him warily but believed that when it came tohischaracter, she had judged rather well. He was not a gossip, and she did not think her speaking openly would harm her in any way.
“I was thinking of Lavinia Norwell, as a matter of fact.” Malcolm’s sour expression was enough to give away his true feelings for the lady. “You do not like her?” she asked innocently.
“Good Lord, no.” He said emphatically. “My apologies, I should not speak so of a lady, but I confess I have avoided her for much of the season so far. She… rather took a liking to me last year, and it has taken me several months to persuade her that I am not desirous to marry her.”
Elizabeth paused, trying to think of when she might have seen them together. The thought was rather an unpleasant one, she did not like that Lavinia might have had any chance with Lord Preston.
“I assure you, the feelings on this occasion were, if they existed at all, entirely one-sided.” Lord Preston insisted. “I did nothing to encourage her, and I believe she now feels rather slighted by me. However, I would prefer that than having to hide to avoid her.”
At that, Elizabeth laughed quite heartily, and Malcolm answered it with a grin. His lovely smile lit up his face as his eyes twinkled down at her.
Yes, the idea that Lavinia was even a thought in his head is not a pleasant one,Elizabeth thought.
Malcolm tried hard to think of something to change the topic of conversation, terrified that somehow he had upset Lady Elizabeth. But he was surprised to discover that they seemed to find a mutual dislike almost as enjoyable to speak of as literature.
As they neared the pond, Elizabeth brought out the bag of bread she had brought with her and they all began throwing it into the water, the ducks hastening toward them at a swift pace to be the first to claim the prize. As Malcolm placed his hand into the bag, in a moment of distraction, he found that Elizabeth’shand was already inside it, and for the briefest moment, their hands touched.
He looked up at her, about to apologize, when their gazes locked and held. Neither of them moved for too long to be an accident, and Malcolm thought his heart would burst out of his chest at the contact.
Once the bread was all gone, Charlotte and the duke returned to the picnic area. He offered her his arm, which she gratefully took but was conscious of many eyes upon them as soon as they returned.
Lord Kilby did not appear to have missed her. In fact, when the duke returned her to his side, he barely acknowledged her presence, occupied as he was in a conversation about the latest carriage he had brought. His disinterest was even more disappointing because it only emphasized to Charlotte that he considered her loyalty absolute despite nothing having been agreed between them.
Clearly, approval from my father is all he needs to believe he has secured my affections.
Charlotte sat at his side, letting the conversations flow over her, the disappointment and sadness she had held at bay at the water’s edge returning tenfold as she saw Lavinia maneuver herself beside the duke again.
Everything they had shared, no matter how brief, now seemed a distant dream.
