Page 50 of Love Wasn’t Built in a Day

Finally, he caught hold of a jutting piece of rock and found a foothold and hauled himself out of the water. Determined now, he hurried to match Damian’s strength and speed, climbing up to stand at the top, several seconds before Damian.

“Ha!” he exclaimed, pointing at Damian and not above a little crowing. “You lose! Admit it, old man, I’m just younger and fitter.”

Damian snorted as he came to stand beside him. “I admit nothing of the sort. You just got lucky, but I’ll allow you your little victory as it’s surely your first over me.”

“You are a conceited ass,” Gideon remarked, but with no heat. Too at peace with his troublesome brother for once to feel the bite of his sarcastic tongue. They stood side by side, surveying the scene around them. Miles and miles of open water and empty sand and… wait.

“Bloody hell!” Damian exclaimed, noting the two bathing machines at the same moment as Gideon had. “Is that…”

“The dowager duchess of Hawkney and the ladies,” Gideon yelled in alarm, hurrying to the edge of the rock and diving in.

He looked up, watching with chagrin as Damian gave a courtly bow to the ladies before jumping off the rock with all the grace of a cannonball.

Hetty covered her mouth with her hands as she watched Viscount Ridley jump back into the sea, causing a splash that submerged his brother. For a moment she wondered if she were dreaming, unable to reject the idea that she might have conjured up the magnificent vision of a naked Mr Bramwell out of sheer desperation. Surely not?

She turned, stunned and on the verge of laughter, as she wondered how her sister and the dowager were taking the shocking scene. Her eyes met theirs, and the three of them dissolved into hysterical laughter.

“Oh,” Gee-Gee said, her hand covering her heart. “This is far too much excitement for a lady of my years. But I shall certainly come again. Oh, wait until I tell Helena, she will be so jealous!”

Still giggling like schoolgirls, the three of them helped Gee-Gee back to her bathing machine before hauling themselves out of the sea too, taking acres of sopping material with them. Getting it all off was a chore, and it took an age before they were dry and dressed.

They waited as the horses drew the bathing machines back to shore and stepped out, milling about on the sand as they waited for Gee-Gee to appear. Hetty bent to pick up a pale pink shell, turning it in her hand and brushing off the sand.

“Well, that was… exciting,” Cilly said, her cheeks as pink as the pretty seashell as Hetty glanced up at her.

“Don’t tell me you looked!” Hetty exclaimed as she stood up, pretending to be scandalised, though the image of Gideon Bramwell in nothing but his skin and dripping wet had been burned onto the inside of her eyelids.

Cilly returned an expression of exasperation. “Don’t be dim, Hetty. Of course, I looked. He’s… he’s very fine, isn’t he?”

“Yes,” Hetty said with a sigh, unable to fault her sister’s observation. “I never realised Mr Bramwell was so… so muscular. He needs a more skilful tailor to show his figure to better advantage. But I suppose he can’t afford it.”

He could, if he married her, she thought, a wry smile at her lips, but Hetty kept such ideas to herself.

“Oh, no. Not him. I… I meant Viscount Rivington.”

Hetty turned to stare at Cilly, who bristled.

“I know you have feelings for Mr Bramwell, Hetty, and no, don’t deny it. I’m not blind. But that being the case, I would not ogle him. Viscount Rivington, however, is nothing to you… or to me either, of course, and… well, he did not appear to mind us looking, did he?”

Hetty snorted, deciding not to comment upon Cilly’s observations of her feelings for Mr Bramwell. “Indeed, not. Which says a good deal about the man. The great preening peacock,” she said with a laugh.

Cilly pursed her lips, her expression thoughtful. “Well, Hetty, one must be fair. He has a good deal to preen about.”

“Cilly!” Hetty exclaimed, so shocked by her demure sister’s interest in the man she hardly knew what to say.

Cilly just shrugged. “I speak as I find, and I found him very handsome.”

“Girls!” They looked around as the dowager duchess hailed them. “Have you been waiting long. My, this is the downside to such an experience. What a bother it is. Still, I shan’t complain, but now I want a cup of tea. Come along.”

As it was not possible to continue the conversation with Gee-Gee next to them, for she would certainly be interested, Hetty kept any further concerns about Cilly’s interest in the viscount to herself. But she determined to keep an eye on her sister, just in case she allowed her curiosity to lead her into trouble.

In the meantime, she would have to do her very best to forget the sight of Mr Bramwell, for what was the point in longing for someone you could never have. Yet as the carriage drew them back towards Hatherley House, it was the only thing on her mind.

Despite everything, despite his determination to deny any possibility of a future for them, Hetty knew one thing. She would seek Mr Bramwell out again, if for no other reason than to see if she could make him blush.

“Hell and the devil! Damn you, Damian, what the bloody hell were you thinking?” Gideon demanded once they were back on dry land.

He grabbed his towel, drying himself with brisk motions as he tried not to remember the glinting look of admiration in Hetty’s eyes as she spied him in his birthday suit.