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“Oh, that sounds exquisite!” Lady Morton exclaimed. “I would so love to have a peek!”
“You must come for the next fitting,” Leah offered.
“I would be delighted!”
“We can have tea and cakes,” her mother suggested. “Make a little party of it. Perhaps invite the Dowager Duchess, as well.”
Leah nodded, excited by the prospect. If only she could avoid inviting Selina, as well. She always knew exactly how to insinuate herself into the situation.
“Well, you two certainly know how to brighten my day,” Lady Morton said.
Leah and her mother smiled at each other. “We aim to please, Lady Morton,” Leah assured her.
* * *
Jasper sat, talking to Lady Selina. They were quite tucked away from the road, there. No one even came upon them, although the trustworthy Faith would have alerted them, from where she sat reading. She was close enough, and he knew that, though her nose was tucked into her book, she heard and saw everything.
“You were saying, the other night, that you were interested in seeing Greece?” he asked Lady Selina.
“Yes, Your Grace.”
He sighed. “Would it be too forward for you to call me Jasper?”
“Yes, Your Grace.” She smiled at him. “If I were to do so, then we would be on very intimate terms.”
“I’ll convince you yet, My Lady.”
She shot him a look, which he could only read was that he was being impertinent. “You wanted to know about Greece, Your Grace?”
“Yes,” he mused happily.
“Would you like to go, as well?”
“I’ve always been content to remain in the English countryside,” he said. “But as you describe the Mediterranean, I can’t help but picture going there.” He was beginning to have an idea of what their life would be, together standing on the beaches, seeing breathtaking vistas.
“I do spend quite a lot of time in London, as well,” she mused.
“Why is that?”
“There’s so much to see and do—there are plays and operas, the newest books,” she replied.
“You mentioned, before that you enjoy riding as well?”
“Yes. I’ve been riding horses since I was a child,” she replied. “My brother and I shared a tutor and a riding instructor, as well.”
“Did you, truly?”
“Yes. My father is a reasonable gentleman,” she explained. “Mother was always around to teach me anything that I needed to know about being a lady. There was no reason to hire a governess as well.”
He took a bite of a scone, chewing thoughtfully.
“What about your father?” she asked. “What was he like?”
Jasper recalled his father, the previous Duke. “He was stern,” he said. “He was strict. Mother was second to him. Reuben and I were to be seen, but not heard. Now that he’s gone, things are…less tense, I suppose.”
“He sounds difficult.”
“That’s one way to describe him,” he replied. “You know, I’ve recently bought a mare,” he said. “I could bring her by for you to try out tomorrow.”
