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‘Ah. An easy mistake to make if you’re used to jumping to conclusions about other people. Before my father died and I took my birthright I was in the army and learned many practical skills.’
‘Oh...well done,’ Elise praised icily, fuming at his set down. Every time they met he either ordered her about or reprimanded her. But what irked her most was her own behaviour; she’d been wrong to speak too openly. In future she’d guard her tongue and give him no opportunity to air his sarcasm. Then she’d have no need to retaliate in kind.
‘Surely you have estate workers, my lord, to carry out such work?’ Verity, although a distance away, had heard snippets of the conversation and gamely came to her friend’s assistance as she saw Elise’s blush heighten.
‘I have many staff at the Hall, but we have a measles epidemic in the surrounding villages. It has laid low men in their prime and hit some families particularly hard.’ Alex paused. ‘Cattle have been escaping fields and causing a nuisance, roaming free in the lanes. It’s no real hardship to get my hands dirty once in a while if an urgent job requires it.’
‘Ah...refreshment,’ Maude cried in relief. She sensed a tricky atmosphere was fomenting, yet oddly was quite sure that his lordship would not yet take himself off. Under cover of pouring tea and distributing cups she gave the sofa to her left thoughtful glances. In her opinion Elise was very sweet in looks and character, but not a raving beauty. Yet something about the girl interested him; and something about him made Elise nervous.
Maude suppressed a smirk. She had high hopes of where it all might lead.
‘We were going to take a constitutional as soon as it stops raining.’ Bea turned to Hugh and inspected his jacket for signs of drizzle. ‘Have the clouds gone at last?’
‘It’s fine enough for an outing.’ Hugh glanced at his friend, hoping he would remember what they’d discussed on the way over.
Alex spoke on cue, including the Chapman sisters in his invitation. ‘Perhaps all the young ladies would like to take a short drive in the park. If it does come on to rain, the landau has a hood.’
‘That is most kind, sir!’ Maude abruptly rattled her cup on to its saucer. ‘Verity, Fiona, fetch your outdoor things...quickly now.’ Maude’s beam commended the viscount for his gentlemanly conduct. She knew he’d sooner have taken just the Dewey girls and Hugh Kendrick, for it was bound to be a squash seating everybody. ‘By the time you return I shall have some spiced biscuits hot from the oven,’ she promised.
Hugh gave his friend a rueful glance. Alex had a celebrated pastry chef in his kitchen in Upper Brook Street and could have fancy delicacies brought to him freshly baked at midnight if that was his whim.
‘I’ll look forward to that, ma’am,’ Alex said graciously on standing up.
* * *
‘I’m sorry I—’
‘There’s a matter I—’
‘Please...you speak first, sir.’ Elise made a small apologetic gesture.
‘No, I insist you do so. You began fractionally before me.’ Alex sounded quietly amused. ‘Besides, it would be churlish to interrupt your apology when one is quite overdue.’
Elise bristled, spearing him a darkling glance. She turned her head and carried on walking, pondering on her response now he had interrupted her train of thought.
They had only recently alighted from the landau; Beatrice and Hugh had quite naturally drawn together like magnets and set off at quite a pace along the path as though wishing to put distance between themselves and their friends. Verity had spotted the Clemences in their carriage and had given them a wave. Caro and her mother had openly goggled at the sight of them all seated in the viscount’s crested landau. The Clemences’ barouche had pulled up sharply just yards in front of Alex’s vehicle. Verity and her sister had got down and dutifully gone off to have a gossip with their friends, leaving—quite deliberately, in Elise’s opinion—just her and the viscount to stroll on alone towards the water. She glanced over a shoulder to see that the Chapman sisters now trailed a long way behind and Jago Clemence was at their side riding a large black horse. Caro and her mother had their heads together with more people and Elise could guess what held their interest.
‘Do I need to prompt you again?’ Alex asked softly.
‘No, you do not, sir,’ Elise answered with admirable aplomb and level tone. She turned back to him, putting from her mind that talk about them would be circulating in every society drawing room before the day was out. ‘I am thinking on how to phrase my conversation so that you do not immediately take me to task over it.’
