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“Oh,” Emily said with evident disappointment. “Papa, you must teach her.”
“Perhaps one day I will,” he murmured. “Though I doubt Lady Evie has little interest in such pursuits.”
She glared at his taunt and his lips quirked. They rounded to the wide sweeping lawns where several children waited. Evie counted eight children in all and several adults.
“Are these your neighbors?” she enquired of Emily.
“Our family,” she said with evident pride.
“Your family?”
“My brothers and sisters. Except for Jack. I’ll marry Jack one day, so he can’t be my brother.”
Good heavens. Evie jerked her gaze to Richard, to see him watching her with provoking amusement.
“The man with the silver hair is our butler, Mr. Nugent, and the robust lady is our housekeeper Mrs. Morris, and Miss Collins is our governess.” Emily glanced up at her father, beaming. “Did you see that I used our new word of the day, Papa? Robust.”
“Indeed, you did. This calls for hot chocolate with tea.”
Her eyes lighted with excitement, and she nodded eagerly. She was such a beautiful child, Evie’s breath hitched.
Emily released their hands and ran off shouting, “Papa will introduce you to everyone else.”
There were several persons setting out a table laden with food, and blankets were being spread across the grass. It was evident they were the spectators from the rowdy encouragement they started to show even before the game started.
“I…” Evie paused. “I never expected such a gathering.”
“You could always decline to play.”
“I believe I am looking forward to trumping you.”
He smiled, a dare she hardly understood glowing in the depths of his golden eyes. They arrived at the small gathering, and introductions were made. All the adults were members of his staff, and she could hardly credit they were on the lawns playing on their half day. The other children looked at her with curiosity. Nonetheless, no one asked any questions, just welcomed her with smiles and curtsies.
The teams were picked, ten to each side, and Emily crowed to be on the same one as Evie. She eased her slippers from her feet and set them aside, ignoring Richard’s pointed stare at her stocking clad feet. The grass was soft beneath her soles, and she walked to take her position as the batsman. There was a crude wicket in place, and the other team was spread in their strategic spots to try and catch the ball after she had hit it. Richard walked into his zone, and Evie gripped her bat and shifted, waiting for him to bowl the ball. He rocked back on his heel and allowed the ball to soar with strength. It sailed toward her with such speed, but she narrowed her gaze, aimed, and wacked it away with all her might.
There was a pulse of silence as the ball whizzed through the air, sailing far out into the field. The footman, who’d been introduced as Jeremy, ran to catch her ball, but it sailed over his head. A raucous cheer went up from her team watching from the sideline, and Evie dashed toward Richard and back to her wicket, trying to make as many runs as possible. On her way back, the footman threw the ball, and her legs pumped with the need to make it to her wicket before he outed her.
“Overthrow,” her team crowed. As the ball sailed over her wicket out into the field, another footman scrambled to retrieve it before she made any more runs. Making a split-second decision, Evie drew her dress scandalously above her knees and ran back toward Richard, hoping to make another two runs before they tried to out her.
Her team went wild with excitement, and exhilaration pumped through her blood as she made it back to her wicket in the nick of time. Evie threw back her head and laughed at the stupefied look on Richard’s face.
She winked at him and positioned to bat again. I’ll beat you, she mouthed.
Warm admiration lit within his eyes as he rolled his shoulders and resumed bowling.
Two hours later the game was over, the staff had returned to their duties, and the children were swimming in the distance under the watchful gaze of their governess. Evie was wrecked, splayed indecorously on the blankets under the tall willow tree. Richard was only a mere foot away, his back against the bark of the tree, one muscular leg sprawled outward and the other drawn up.
Evie bit into a chicken leg, uncaring of the indelicate way she ate. She felt so free in this moment to just be herself without the reproachful gaze of Mamma upon her person. Her dear mamma would have fainted if she’d seen the way Evie had played just now. She had been determined to beat Richard’s team and had shouted her triumph along with the children as they had won by a mere two runs.
It was a good day, indeed.
“I never knew you played cricket,” he said, his eyes caressing along her frame.
“I daresay there are depths to me you haven’t explored yet.”
The sudden tension in him was palpable, and his eyes darkened with dangerous heat. “Is that an invitation, Evie?”
“Hmm,” she said noncommittally. “We have always been honest with each other, haven’t we?”
