“Only if you promise solemnly never to lock yourself in like that again,” Cecily replied sternly but with a smile that elicited a nod. “Good. I have heard that Winslows never break their promises, so I will trust you. Now, let’s wash our faces and freshen up together before luncheon.”
* * *
“Don’t you agree, Nathaniel?”
“Hmmm, as you say, Patrick,” Nathaniel muttered, sipping on the cool lemonade the two men were having in the upper garden in lieu of tea that afternoon.
“I just told you that the best-dressed men of the ton were wearing cheese for pocket handkerchiefs this Season.” Patrick chuckled. “You haven’t been listening to a word I’ve said, have you?”
Nathaniel laughed and shook his head. “You have me, Patrick. My mind seems to be elsewhere at the moment.”
“Oh, I can see exactly where your mind is, Brother,” Patrick returned with a grin, following Nathaniel’s gaze.
Lower down the gardens but easily within sight from the terrace where the brothers sat, Cecily was riding in Lilian’s little pony carriage. The child held the reins and drove confidently, completing circles, turns, and other maneuvers, much to the delight of her stepmother and the applause of Mary and Miss Osborne, who formed the wider audience.
“Lilian drives well,” Nathaniel said. “I was right to get her that carriage this year, even though everyone said she was too young.”
“You weren’t only looking at Lilian,” Patrick observed. “You’ve barely taken your eyes off Cecily since we came outside. I’m beginning to think this marriage was a love match all along rather than one of your eccentric fancies.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Nathaniel scoffed. “I came out here to watch Lilian, and I’m happy to see her so happy. Yes, my mind did wander, quite naturally. Cecily is very comely, and I am a lucky man to have married her, but let’s not get carried away.”
His eyes were drawn back to the lower field by fresh peals of laughter and childish giggles. Now dismounted from the carriage, Cecily was chasing Lilian around the field. Likely, she had not dressed that morning with such exertion in mind, and Nathaniel could not help but notice the bouncing of her ample bosom beneath the thin muslin of her dress.
He shifted uncomfortably in his chair as an unwelcome twinge of lust made itself known. Regardless of the loveliness of his wife’s breasts, there was no immediate prospect of peppering them with kisses after their argument.
“Yes, let’s not get carried away.” Patrick laughed. “Look at you! You can’t keep your eyes off her. I’ve never seen you like this with a woman before.”
“There’s nothing to see,” Nathaniel insisted with a scowl. “Can’t I even have a drink and look around my own garden without my motivations being pulled apart by my brother?”
“If you say so,” Patrick answered with infuriating airiness and a knowing smile.
Why did Nathaniel find his brother’s needling so particularly aggravating right now? Normally, he would let Patrick’s nonsense wash over him with the rest of life’s trivia. He wasn’t prepared to waste time and energy caring about such meaningless babbling. Still, he could not deny that today Patrick was touching a very raw nerve.
Maybe hewasa little carried away by Cecily. Was that it?
The shutters of his mind crashed down to block out the very thought.
No, he was drawn to his new wife physically and found her good company. That was all. He had never been drawn to anyone on a more intimate basis than this, and never intended to be.
“Never!” he muttered aloud, yet again looking back at Cecily, whose figure was outlined by the bright sunlight and gusting wind.
“What was that, Nathaniel?” Patrick asked. “Never what? If you’re still trying to deny that you are?—”
“Oh, why don’t you focus on sorting out your own life, Patrick?” Nathaniel snapped. “You surely have enough problems without imagining more for me.”
“Problems? I wouldn’t say that at all,” Patrick huffed, satisfyingly forced into the defensive.
“Really? No aim, no purpose, no profession.” Nathaniel ticked off his brother’s shortcomings on his fingers. “No wife.”
“If you had been listening to me rather than mooning over Cecily, you would have heard that I’ve been looking into joining the army.”
“The army!” Nathaniel exclaimed, setting down his glass on the table with a clink and finally giving his brother his full attention. “What on earth!”
“It’s a very respectable profession for a gentleman,” Patrick responded in an indignant tone, seeming to interpret Nathaniel’s astonishment as disapproval. “With all that’s happening in the Continent, there are many commissions on offer too. I’ve spoken to several of my acquaintances with relatives in the senior ranks of good regiments, and they’re prepared to put in a word for me.”
“Excellent,” Nathaniel told him with a laugh and a nod. “A fine profession for you. Before you ask, I am prepared to buy your commission if you can convince the army to take you.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that. I hope it will be the last time I have to ask you for help. Once I’m an officer, I intend to make my own fortune.”
