Cordelia was not certain she could like that. Particularly when she’d just discovered that she’d been fooling herself about the success of her studies.
He was to be good at everything and she was to be good at…imagining people who did not exist.
What a useless talent.
*
The duke andduchess’ guests had arrived all morning. There were quite a few of them Percival knew, and a handful that were local to the neighborhood that he did not.
He’d wished to find a moment with Lady Cordelia. He’d thought to inquire more into the people living nearby volcanoes that she worried about.
It had occurred to him that her way of thinking was a thing he would likely never master. He’d spent far too long ignoring the human condition to focus his attention on facts and lists.
Had he been reading the paper on volcanoes, he might not have given a thought to who lived nearby them.
It was a defect, he knew. A defect he probably would never be able to entirely remedy.
But was that not the beauty of Lady Cordelia’s mind? That she did think of such things very naturally?
He did not have such a moment to speak to her, though. The duke had rounded up all the gentlemen to choose their boats, while the ladies were off in carriages to shop in the local village.
The morning had been spent examining the boats, ensuring all equipment was on board and in good order, listening to Lord Poppin’s harrowing account of sailing in high seas off the coast, and endless conversations about the nonexistent wind. Mr. Bedminster, in particular, seemed to think if one licked one’s finger and held it up in the air, the wind would take the hint and pick up.
Despite Bedminster’s hints, the wind did not pick up until the afternoon, after they’d been sent sandwiches and ale from the house that they ate at the water’s edge. Then, it was time to put all the talk to the test.
The palaver that had followed did not give Percival very much confidence concerning the upcoming regatta.
Gentlemen, as they were always so prone to do, had confidently claimed their skill at the tiller, even when they had very little acquaintance with it. Or any at all.
After what he’d witnessed, very few of them had ever sailed the ocean, never mind any high seas they’d mentioned.
Near misses, entanglements on buoy lines, run agrounds, sails flapping in the wind, and Lord Bertram capping the whole thing off by tipping over were the scenes of the day.
Hamill, the duke, and a baron who lived on a neighboring estate had their hands full racing from one disaster to the next.
The regatta was on the morrow and Percival was just hoping to get through it with nobody drowned.
Finally, the duke had called it a day and they were released to change for dinner.
Percival had held on to very little hope that he’d be seated next to Lady Cordelia, not with so many people arrived to the house, but Hamill had pulled him aside and said he’d arranged it with his duchess.
Hamill was really turning out to be a stand-up friend.
Percival paced the drawing room, saying hello to this person or that, but always with his eye on the doors.
Finally, Lady Cordelia entered.
She was entirely smashing. She wore a silk dress the color of claret. The cream colored ostrich feather in her lovely hair was a picture of restraint—not like some other ladies’ feathers that reached for the sky and waved dangerously close to the candles in the chandeliers.
He made an effort to not think too deeply about her companion, Miss Mayton. That lady was forever dressed in her widow’s weeds, though pity would go to the person who offered their condolences and heard of the husbands who had never been.
He hurried to her side. “Lady Cordelia,” he said with a bow.
“Lord Harveston, how did you get on with sailing today?” she asked.
“We did see just the end of it from our windows,” Miss Mayton added. “It was hard to make out where everybody was hoping to go. I do hope Lord Bertram did not catch a chill. He seemed to be treading water for quite some time.”
“Yes, there were some mishaps,” he said, not wishing to outline the full scope of what had transpired. “I understand the ladies went shopping in the village?”
