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CHAPTER5
Pippa watched the Blakemore men ride out of sight, her gaze snagging on William as he looked at her over his shoulder.
“That is a fine-looking gentleman,” Lily said under her breath. “I about lost my ability to speak in his presence.”
“He’s just a man, Lily.”
“No, he was more than that,” she said reverently. “He was Adonis himself.”
Good grief, the woman was leaning dangerously close to worship. William was excessively handsome with his brooding eyes and his square jaw, but he was not godlike. There was too much mischief lurking in his gaze for such an attribute.
Lily sighed wistfully. “Do you think a gentleman like him would ever notice someone like me? He looked so noble.”
“Of course he would notice you, Lily. You are beautiful and possessed of a radiant smile.” Pippa was alarmingly tempted to take her friend by the shoulders and shake sense into her. Lily’s worth was greater than the acceptance or dismissal of any gentleman, regardless of Society’s opinions on the matter. “But whether or not you should want a cad to notice you is more to the point.”
“How do you know he is a cad?”
Pippa’s tongue grew thick. She hadn’t mentioned her meeting in the woods to anyone. Surely any man who would flirt so blatantly was a cad, was he not? But it did not paint her in a good light to have been caught spying on her new neighbor, and no one else would believe the story that she’d been looking for a bird. She wasn’t entirely convinced William had even believed it.
But more than that, she did not wish to share that little adventure with anyone else, not even Lily. She wouldn’t examine the reasons for that now.
“I suppose I don’t know if he is a cad or not, I merely made an assumption. Though I would wager that my assessment is not far off the mark.”
“You cannot know that yet,” Lily scolded. “Do not assign negative traits where they’ve yet to be proven.”
Pippa blinked at her friend. “Was it not you who warned me away from Black Heart Blakemore just this morning?”
Lily stopped in the center of the lane, her arm slipping free of Pippa’s and her nose wrinkling in thought. Her bonnet shaded her eyes from the sun, but light shone on the golden-brown hair peeking out the back. “I suppose I did warn you away from them, didn’t I? My father is wary of their return.” Her eyebrows bunched. “Though he seemed perfectly at ease with the Blakemores in the churchyard, did he not? They spoke together comfortably. It seems as though he is no longer worried.”
“You would need to ask him that. I’m not sure.”
Lily seemed to contemplate this for a moment. The rushing of waves splashing against the cliff they walked along punctuated the silence as wind whipped their skirts about their legs. “Perhaps we ought to wait until we know the Blakemores better before we make up our minds about them.”
“Perhaps a handsome face has caused you to recant your warning, you mean?” Pippa asked, grinning.
A blush stole up Lily’s neck, and she laughed, though she did not deny the claim. A handsome face, indeed. There were more than enough handsome faces to go around all of England. The trouble was that most of them lacked much of anything behind their attractive facade.
A handsome face meant nothing to Pippa if there was no brain behind it.
Wheels on the hard-packed earth rolled behind them, and the women stepped off the lane to allow the carriage to pass, waving to the family they knew inside.
“There are so few men in Collacott, Pip,” Lily said. “Not all of us can go off to London to secure a match.”
Pippa felt the sting of her friend’s words wrapped in guilt. She’d had a chance when her sister had taken her to London for the Season earlier that year, but it had been an utter waste. Even though Pippa had intentionally refrained from informing anyone about her large dowry, there were men aplenty who’d asked her to dance or brought her flowers and begged a quarter-hour of her time. But none of them had been the least bit interesting.
She would not marry for the sake of gaining a husband. She would only marry for love.
Still, Lily made a valid point. Collacott boasted very few men. The Blakemores had no idea what sort of situation they’d soon find themselves in. Surely every eligible young woman would be knocking at their cottage door within the week—small and discreet as it was.
“I shouldn’t put on airs,” Lily said at length. “I’m more suited to sew the man’s clothes than I am to dance with him. It would be much better to set my sights on a reasonable objective than to be disappointed.”
Pippa stopped walking and tugged her friend to a halt. Irritation reared its head within her, warring with the understanding that Lily was a lower station than the Blakemores seemed to be. But that shouldn’t matter, and Pippa hated that it did, that Lily’s concerns were valid. She wished she had the power to change it. Lily was worth far more than her station allotted her.
Looking her in the eye, Pippa spoke with quiet conviction. “You are worth a hundred, no, a thousand William Blakemores, and you certainly do not need to temper your aspirations.”
Lily smiled gently. “You are too kind to me, Pip.” She gave Pippa the sort of look one casts upon their cat as it delivers a mouse at one’s feet. It was an excellent effort, but not entirely appreciated.
They moved to the side of the lane as another cart approached. “Lily,” Mr. Burke called from his driver’s seat. He tugged the reins and slowed his horse. “We should be getting home now.”
