"For not dying of boredom.It would have been very inconvenient for our Society."
Laughter rose in her."Thank you for...the experiment."
His eyes warmed."Anytime, Lady Esme."
Harrison appeared at her elbow."The carriage is ready."
Esme withdrew her hand, but the echo of his fingers lingered on her skin.
As she stepped out into the cool night, she realized her heart was beating faster than the music had.
The Mutual Mischief Society had begun as a joke, a shield against tedium, but somewhere between the chandeliers of Langley House and the dark streets of Grosvenor Square, it had become something else.
Not a revolution.Not yet.
But a modicum of control.And perhaps, someday, a path that would not end precisely where everyone expected.
Chapter4
James had long held that nights were meant to be survived, and mornings be avoided.Nonetheless, here he was, awake at an hour that ought to have been outlawed, sitting in the bow of a rowing boat on the Serpentine with the odd sensation that he might actually be pleased about it.
"Rowing is excellent for the constitution," Magnus had said an hour ago.
"Disastrous for my reputation," James had replied, but he had come anyway.
Now, sunlight scattered across the water.Hyde Park hummed with life.The air smelled of damp earth, spring flowers, and gossip.
Magnus handled the oars with competence.Alexandra lounged opposite him under a vast straw hat, parasol tilted against the sun, trailing gloved fingers in the water whenever she thought Magnus was not looking.
"This is very pastoral," James said."I dislike it intensely."
"No one believes you," Alexandra murmured."You're almost smiling."
"That is a trick of the light," he said."I am scowling inwardly.”
“Indeed,” Simon Berkshire, Magnus’s brother said.
Magnus glanced toward the shore."Inwardly or not, compose yourself.The Woodmere's carriage has just arrived."
James straightened despite himself.
Along the path, the Woodmere equipage drew up.Lord Woodmere stepped down first, then the dowager, Lady Woodmere herself in dove-grey silk.Last came Esme and Genny, stepping down together.
Esme wore pale blue today, her bonnet ribbons tied beneath her chin.The color turned her eyes greener, picked out gold in their depths.Even at this distance, Redford saw her pause on the path, drawing in the morning air.
Beside her, Genny said something that made Esme's mouth twitch.Woodmere gestured toward the Row.
James felt his pulse quicken.
"Well," Alexandra said, following his gaze."There go the sensible arrangements."
Magnus rested on the oars, letting the boat drift."I presume this is not a coincidence."
James adopted an expression of innocence."I may have mentioned that Hyde Park is most diverting on Tuesday mornings."
"And I may have mentioned that the Serpentine is improved by the presence of boats and bad decisions," Alexandra said.
"You are both menaces," Magnus said.
