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He almost laughed at her admission, but he remembered just in time to keep quiet.

So Livvy had watched him sing and help—or rather, not help—his friends keep their secret. What else had she seen him do? Nothing too embarrassing, he hoped.

He also hoped she was right in her assumption that no one else knew about Emma and Nicholas. Either way, he would certainly be even more careful than before.

He eyed his friends, the two of them having taken a lower path so only their upper bodies were visible from their vantage point. Their whispers continued just loud enough for August to know he and Livvy had not yet been discovered.

“I be terribly sorry for all o’ this,” he apologized again. “They’ve both sworn me to secrecy. Me own family don’t know that I be tasked to…”

He trailed off as she nodded understandingly. “That ye be tasked to convince the Mount that Miss Pengelly and ye be attached so no one would s’pect ’er o’ fallin’ for Mr. Cuff.”

Astute, indeed.

“Yes, exactly. If their families discovered the attachment, I fear the worst might ’appen.”

She gave a single nod. “Understood. Ye don’t ’ave to worry. I’ll ne’er tell a secret that ain’t mine to tell.”

Apparently, she was apt to reveal that she was perfection personified. How was she so good with a father like Mr. May? “Thank ye. I be certain they’ll be grateful to ye when this all be o’er.”

She nodded, gratefully not asking any further questions. August couldn’t be more relieved that at least one of his secrets was out in the open. And he hadn’t even had to break his promise with Emma or Nicholas to have it done.

“So I s’pose we stay ’ere ’til they leave?” Livvy asked. “I don’t really wish for ’em to know we’ve been hidin’ ’ere alone together.” She rushed to include, “E’en though we ain’t doin’ anythin’.”

Relief rushed over him. Thank heavens for her sense. The last thing he wished for her to think was that he was embarrassed by being found with her, but with this being her decision, they could both get away with what they wanted—remaining unseen.

The truth of the matter was, though, that if Mr. May hadn’t done what he’d done, and Nicholas and Emma hadn’t asked August to help them…August would have already made his intentions for Livvy known, and he’d be shouting it from the top of the Mount.

But he couldn’t. And he would never be able to.

They remained in silence for a moment until they could no longer hear his friends’ whispers.

Livvy peered deep through the branches. “Did they leave?”

August frowned. “I don’t believe so. But…what be that noise?”

“What noise?”

He leaned to the side, listening intently as Livvy did the same.

“It do sound like they be eatin’,” she whispered.

August’s lips parted, and he pulled a face. “Oh…That ain’t eatin’ they be doin’.”

Livvy looked at him in confusion, then her eyes rounded. “’Eavens above. They be kissin’?”

Sure enough, as August strained to see in the darkness, he could just make out his friends shadows merged into one as they stood kissing.

Loudly.

“’Eavens above, be right,” August whispered.

Livvy held both hands to her face in horror. “Oh, this just can’t get any worse, can it?”

August couldn’t help but agree, and yet, as the stress of the evening slipped away, the heavy emotions from before draining from his spirit, a sliver of humor slipped into his heart, and a smile grew on his face.

“What ye be smilin’ at?” Livvy whispered, staring at him condemningly. “This be terrible.”

Humor bubbled up within August even more, a grin breaking out across his lips. “When are ye goin’ to learn that nothin’ good comes from hidin’ in bushes?”