Page 46 of Wit, Wiles and Courtship

Gerry looked startled. “I don’t see how that will be necessary.”

“It is not, but she asked for it. And it would be a kind thing to do.” Rowe paused a beat before adding, “Remember how well you will look driving my bays.”

“How true,” he exclaimed. “I will meet with ten Miss Eubanks if I must.”

Rowe was admitted into the drawing room where chaos was in full display. He sought a glimpse of Camilla, but she was sitting at the writing desk with her back to him. Augusta, now standing with the help of the sofa, bounced up and down on her legs, and he went over to her first. She pivoted in her position to see Rowe, and sent him a grin that showed all of four teeth.

“Pembroke!” Miles exclaimed, coming to greet him.

They shook hands, and Rowe greeted the family in a general way, looking again over to where Camilla was, but she had turned away. He distracted himself by going over to his goddaughter, enchanted when she lifted one arm to him.

“Not very discerning, is she?” Rowe said to Miles.

“All I can say is she does not do that for everyone,” his cousin replied. He swooped his daughter up into his arms and handed her promptly to Rowe.

He knew a moment’s panic, and the memory of how fragile an infant she had been in his arms rushed back to him, along with Camilla seated beside him in the drawing room. He looked down at the baby now, who was sturdily tucked in his arms and whose head did not wobble a bit. She reached up and put both of her hands on his face, curling her fingers around his lips and yanking downward.

“Argh. Grrb,” he said pretending to talk, which made her laugh. “You are not discerning enough,” he told her when he had retrieved the use of his lips. “I believe I ought to repel you since I have no skill at conversing with infants.”

With his goddaughter in his arms, Rowe went around the room and greeted everyone more properly, complimenting Dorothea on her good looks and Lady Poole on her granddaughter. Then he came to Camilla, who turned to look at him, her eyes shuttered of all their usual brilliance.

“Good afternoon, Lady Camilla,” he said, his eyes on her. She dipped into a curtsy, but did not return his smile. Augusta began to pull at his folded cravat, which at last brought Camilla out of her brown study.

“Oh no, you don’t,” she said, giving her first real smile as she took her niece out of Rowe’s arms. “You will cut up his peace, for you must know that Lord Pembroke is excessively attached to his appearance. He thinks it is all he has going for him.”

“Not quite all that is going for me,” he replied, hand on chest pretending to be stung. In truth, he was tempted to be stung in earnest, if only a little. “After all, I have my looks, my title, my estate⁠—”

“Yes, quite a catch,” she said with artificial gaiety at odds with her glittering eyes. “It is too bad for all the ladies of the ton that you are already taken.”

This stopped him in his tracks, and he looked at her in surprise. Did she think he had made an offer to Miss Eubank after he had told her he was not interested? “Taken by whom?”

“Lord Pembroke!” Evo had just walked into the drawing room. “I am to leave London in less than a week. Don’t forget you promised me another boxing lesson before I go.”

“I haven’t forgotten,” Rowe said. Fortunately, Evo had something he wished to say to Miles because Rowe did not want to wait before learning what Camilla had meant by her words.

“Taken by whom?” he asked again, turning back to her.

“By your own consequence.” Her eyes were fixed on her niece’s little head with soft brown curls, the baby’s fists covering her mouth. She took one of Augusta’s fists in her hand and kissed it, then arched a brow at him. “Or so you would have us believe, for you are unable to commit yourself to any one woman. Your own company is evidently all you need.”

“Little you know on the matter. I will have you know that I have decided to settle down.”

“Again?” she asked innocently, nuzzling into the baby’s neck and kissing her there, causing her niece to laugh. He heard the dart she had aimed at him but was speechless from the scene he was witnessing in front of him. It awakened a longing in his breast for a family of his own—she had awakened it. Unaware of what she’d wrought, Camilla continued.

“Allow me to congratulate you, my lord. The lucky young lady will be exceedingly happy all those weeks when she might still dream that something will come of it.”

What had she meant by again? He knew his reputation for breaking hearts, but it was not as though he had actually declared his interest so openly to a woman before. “This time is different.”

The look Camilla shot him was one of pure incredulity before it transformed into a smile rich in irony. She dipped into a curtsy and went to deliver Augusta into her mother’s arms. He had been trying to get her to smile, but that was not the smile he had been hoping for.

Chapter 19

On the morning of their intended excursion to Hampstead, Camilla heard the sounds of wind blowing as soon as she woke up. She hurried out of bed and went to open the curtains. What she saw there did not make her optimistic for their picnic, for the sky was light gray without being overcast. However, there were no black clouds on the horizon that promised rain, and when she opened the window she found the air temperate. She would hope for the best.

After an early breakfast, she and Tilly went out into the narrow parcel of land that lay in the back of their house to see if they could gain a better idea of the weather. Their garden was unkempt, and none of them had been industrious enough to hire a gardener to come and put it to order. Without Dorothea living here, she was not sure if they ever would.

“What do you think?” Tilly asked anxiously. She particularly hoped their picnic would be held.

A steady wind shook the branches of the two small trees in their yard; the air filled Camilla’s nostrils and sent the loose strands of hair flying from her uncovered head. She closed her eyes and breathed in. The sensation was delicious.