Lily cocked her head, the ribbons on her bonnet fluttering with the movement and the small breeze. “Is this truly necessary? It’s not as if I shared any of my opinions with Rebecca.”
“I certainly hope not. Your Sir Vernon book was bad enough. Why, she can’t step outside these days without searching the skies for a large yellow balloon.”
Lily winced. “I suppose that is my fault, though I didn’t know how else to explain my absence. At least, not in a way that wouldn’t hurt her.”
“Think nothing of it,” he said, waving off her concern. “It’s become a useful tool of the household.”
“How so?”
“If you don’t eat your vegetables, Rebecca, Sir Vernon will never come back.”
“Why, that’sawful.” Lily pressed a hand to her chest.
Bradford huffed a laugh and shook his head. “It’s probably a blessing you had to leave your post so quickly. Otherwise, my daughter would have shortly ascertained how soft your heart is, how easily played.”
“I do have a soft heart where Rebecca is concerned, but that doesn’t mean I let her rule me.”
He shrugged. “Yet you wrote her regularly, eventually giving away your location.”
“You found me through my letters?” She stopped in the center of the path and gaped at him. “How? I had them sent from everywhere.”
“If that were true, one certainly would have routed its way though London at some point. None of them ever did. One must carefully examine what’snotthere as closely as whatis.”
Why, he was even more intelligent than she’d given him credit for.
“HowisRebecca? I’ve been thinking of little else.” She realized it was a lie as soon as she spoke the words. Ever since Bradford had arrived in London, she’d thought of little else buthim.
Thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice her momentary consternation. He gave a brief report of the girl’s well-being and activities, ending by saying, “And of course she has a new governess, Mrs. Holland, who is as fond of her as you were.”
“Impossible,” Lily replied with mild vehemence.
Bradford smiled. “Rebecca is very charming.”
“A trait undoubtedly inherited from her mother,” Lily teased.
She watched for any flicker on his face that would have informed her that the subject was unwelcome, but he just smiled easily and said, “Undoubtedly.”
After a few moments’ silence, Lily said, “I still don’t see how you found me.”
“Now you know how it feels—someone keeping a secret from you.”
Lily wanted to jab Bradford in the ribs like she used to do with William when they were younger. She didn’t, of course—instead she settled for wrinkling her nose at his back.
He turned to her, smiling, as if he’d felt her irritation. “I’ll pick you up at seven o’clock.”
“Pardon?”
“Theplay, Lily. Tomorrow evening. I’ll secure us an entire box so that we won’t have to sit amongst the rabble.”
“I hardly think that the nobility can be described as rabble.”
“Another point on which we disagree, and another opinion of which I’m convinced age will cure you.”
“You’re not so much older than I am,” she laughed.
Bradford shot her a look that she couldn’t quite decipher. “Some might argue it’s the breadth of experience that matters more than age.”
“And I could argue that in some ways, my experience has been broader than yours.”
