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Chapter Ten
“You’ve lost another point, Ethan,” Jenna cried, laughing from where she reposed on the lawn chair watching Charity and her brother played a round of shuttlecock.
“Lady Charity,” the earl said, his eyes gleaming. “I am mightily impressed with your…vigorous enthusiasm. You have thrashed me soundly for this round.”
Charity laughed, gently dabbing the perspiration from her forehead with a silken handkerchief. The day was not warm, and the day was overcast with gray clouds hiding the sun. Still, they had not wanted to stay indoors and had ventured outside. At first, Jenna had tried to play shuttlecock with Charity from where she sat, and much hilarity had ensued at their ridiculousness. The sole object of the game was to use their racket and keep the shuttlecock in the air for as long as possible by hitting it up. A very difficult task with Jenna's ankle, but she had been determined to play.
The earl had been strolling by with his steward when Jenna pertly insisted that he played in her stead. His reply was that he had not played a game of shuttlecock in all his life, and Charity had tsked, wondering aloud if he feared losing.
The idea had been enormously tickling.
Miss Alice and Jenna had gaped at her, and to their astonishment, the earl had joined them on the lawns. Charity had tossed herself into the game with unbridled enthusiasm, enjoying the fact that she had a worthy opponent.
“So you do not mind that I have won?” she asked with a smile, picking up the battered shuttlecock from the ground.
He shrugged with apparent sangfroid. “It was expected with your mannish arms.”
She was not quite certain how to take the dry remark, but she affected an expression of mock outrage to which he laughed, the sound low and masculine.
Charity liked his laugh.
“Do you wish for another round, my lord?”
“Good God, never say you still have the energy?”
“I do,” she boasted and then flushed at the carnal gleam of speculation in his eyes.
He turned around, tipping his face to the sky. Charity couldn’t help the feeling that he gave her his back to regain some sort of control.
“How unsporting of you,” Miss Alice said, strolling over. “As a guest in the earl’s home, you should not actually beat him at shuttlecock.”
“Never say,” Charity gasped. “I was to let you beat me, my lord?”
The heat that sparked in his eyes briefly robbed her of breath.
“On the contrary, Lady Charity, I am pleased with your performance, and I am relieved to know you would not toady to me. It can be exhausting.”
Miss Alice flushed at that and narrowed her eyes at Charity in contemplation.
“If you will excuse me, ladies, I must return to business.”
“Oh, Ethan,” Jenna cried. “We are going to play blindman’s bluff. Do join us!”
Thunder rumbled in the distance, and a fat drop of rain landed on Charity’s cheek.
“Drat,” she muttered, glancing up at the sky. “It seems we are bound for indoors today, Jenna. Perhaps we might play cards. Would you like to join us, Miss Alice?”
The girl surprised Jenna by accepting the invitation. The earl, however, refused, and before he sauntered away, his gaze lingered most inappropriately on her mouth.
“You are blushing,” Jenna whispered when Charity helped her up and handed over her walking crush.
“It is the sun. You know I freckle easily.”
Another splat of rain landed on her cheek, and her friend’s blue eyes twinkled.
“Truly? The hidden sun is responsible for those reddened cheeks and not the look my brother gave you?”
“Hush!” Charity cried, annoyingly blushing even fiercer. “There was no look!”
