The necessary public actions were slated to take place that afternoon, with Aurelia’s help as hostess. She planned a tea party outside for the house guests and insisted that everyone must attend, since the weather had blessed them so majestically.
August wandered about the picnicking tables with a sense of dread, waiting to play his part. He would need to approach Minette in full hearing of Lady Priscilla—and as many other house guests as possible—bend over her hand, and ask her in an attentive and lovelorn way if she would accompany him on a walk around the lake. Such a bold invitation would signal to everyone that his affections were now focused on Warren’s sister, not Lady Priscilla.
If he was to marry Minette, he needed to quickly and publicly dash Priscilla’s expectations, as much as it would infuriate the girl.
At least he had not yet officially proposed to Priscilla. If they’d been betrothed, things would have been a hundred times more wretched, for to break an engagement was the height of crass behavior for a gentleman. As it was, he would make some powerful enemies for choosing Minette over Priscilla. The one mercy was that no one—save his closest friends—knew the reason why.
Arlington approached him with a glass of iced punch. “Something to shore up your courage,” he said quietly.
August accepted the drink, grateful for his friend’s support. Warren hadn’t spoken to him since he left the room that morning, and Townsend was busy helping Aurelia oversee the party. Arlington looked at him closely, without judgment. “Holding up, old man?”
“Yes, of course. But ask me again later, when this business is done.”
“Aurelia’s got all the young ladies sitting together. If she can get Lady Colton in the general vicinity, you had better make your move.”
August grimaced and took a sip of punch, then coughed as it burned down his throat.
Arlington smiled. “I added a little brandy to it. I hoped it might help.”
“I thought Aurelia was starting a new fashion in garden party beverages.” He took another sip of the adulterated punch, and let out a long breath, holding the glass up as if in a toast. “Thanks. My last drink as a free man.”
“You haven’t been a free man in a long time. We all know that.”
The friends fell silent. August gazed at Minette, wondering how she managed to look so happy and carefree after last night. But of course, it was an act, just like the act he was about to perform. He knew her well enough to see the faint tension in her brow and the restless movements of her fingers. “Tell me it’s going to be all right, Arlington.”
“It’s going to be all right. Minette already loves you, of course, and Warren will come around and forgive you some day. Colton’s going to cause trouble for you where he can, but never forget, you’ve got powerful friends too.”
His Grace the Duke of Arlington was one of those powerful friends. At thirty-one, he’d been in control of a sprawling network of interests for over a decade. Townsend was in line to be the next Duke of Lockridge, while Warren was a wealthy earl with excellent Parliamentary connections. And, of course, August would inherit the Barrymore marquessate from his father at some point. Some very near point, now that the French pox had advanced to ravaging the man’s heart and mind. Yes, August was not powerless or friendless.
Only very disappointed in his recent behavior.
“I suppose I’d better go. There’s Lady Colton sitting down right between the two of them.” August drained the rest of his drink in one swallow and handed it back to his friend.
“Godspeed,” said Arlington. “Remember, you love her. You’ve always loved her. You just haven’t been able to express yourself until now.”
“It’s a ridiculous story, isn’t it?” August ran a hand through his hair and straightened his cravat. “No one will believe it.”
“Enough people have seen Minette pining over you these last ten years. Perhaps you’ve only just become aware of her as a woman, rather than a girl. I don’t know. Something like that. Go now, quickly. Aurelia is giving you looks.”
August set off across the lawn. One foot in front of the other toward the two women, one dark and regal and haughty, the other like a blonde, fluttering butterfly. He could see Minette trying very hard not to notice him approaching. Perhaps you’ve only just become aware of her as a woman, rather than a girl. Yes, he’d become aware last night, when he’d filled his hands with her delectable arse and traced the curves of her waist and her magnificent breasts. As soon as he remembered, he pushed the memories away.
Lady Priscilla looked up expectantly as he approached. Perhaps she thought this was the moment of his announcement. Perhaps she believed his friend Lady Townsend had planned this idyllic party so he might finally declare himself. Her round, unblinking eyes regarded him with utter possessiveness. That he might be approaching another—the idea would not even occur to her. She smiled and tilted her head as if to address him.
August stopped instead before Minette. Remember, you love her. You’ve always loved her. “Lady Wilhelmina.” His voice caught on her formal name, for nerves. Perhaps it would make this seem more realistic. “How pretty you look today. I wondered if you might honor me with a walk around the lake.”
“Oh.” Minette made a choked sort of giggle, as if she were surprised. “Why, I suppose that would be fine.”
“There’s a great deal of pretty scenery.” Pretty scenery? Shut up, you dolt. Minette, move!
She put down her cup and fiddled with her fan, and pushed back her chair. It took perhaps ten seconds but to August, it felt like an hour. All the conversations in the immediate vicinity halted. He might have heard a gasp. In his peripheral vision, he could see Lady Colton’s lips drawn tight across her teeth, and Priscilla’s smooth dark hair beneath her light-colored bonnet. He managed a clumsy look in their direction, in fact, smiled at all the ladies at the table as any gentleman might do.
“Thank you so much,” said Minette as she came around the table and offered her hand to be placed upon his arm. “I’ve been wanting to walk about the lake for some time now. I’ve been sitting too long eating too many cakes.” Her sparkling laugh sounded perfectly natural. How he admired her for it. He looked only at her as they walked back across the garden, past a bank of flowers and shrubs, to the stone stairs that provided access to the foot path.
It was a perfectly proper thing to do, of course. The picturesque lake was in full view of the entire garden party. He only had to make sure he looked at her like a man falling in love, which was rather difficult, since she was prattling on about geese.
“What are you talking about?” he asked, exasperated.
“I was just wondering if geese and ducks hatch their young in the same season. Do you know if they do? Because I thought I saw a goose down here a few days ago, or perhaps it was a duck, and it looked smaller than the others, and I wondered if it was a baby. Or, you know, a younger one.”
“We’re far enough away now that you don’t have to make up mindless conversation.”
She gave him a confused look. Of course, she hadn’t been making up mindless conversation. She’d only been being Minette. “I don’t know if geese and ducks hatch in the same season,” he said. “Perhaps we can ask Townsend’s groundskeeper.” He tightened his hand over hers. “Not right now. Right now we make everyone believe we’re falling in love with each other.”
She looked up at him, a quick, shy look he couldn’t interpret, then out across the lake. The banks hummed with insects, and yes, there was a great family of geese, some larger than the others.
“You have always called me a goose,” she said, turning with him onto the path.
“No, Warren calls you a goose. I’ve always called you a nuisance, which you have been. Thanks to you, Lady Priscilla is probably back there planning our demise, along with her mother and father’s help.”
“Do you think so?” She looked at the ground, then off to the trees, then out into the distance. Anywhere but him. “Will you be terribly sad not to marry
her?”
August shrugged. “I never liked her. You know that. But I never wished to marry my sister either.”
“I’m not your sister.”
“You might as well be. I did all the things for you that I did for my own sisters. Sat at blasted tea parties, carved dolls for you, rescued you from trees. Come to think of it, I did rather more for you than I did for my own sisters. You’ve always been a scamp.”
She made a protesting noise that ended up in tinkling laughter. “You did rescue me a great deal, didn’t you? Do you remember the time the dog bit me?”
“It didn’t bite you. You only thought it did.”
“But you swept me up in your arms and shooed the dog away.” She had a faraway gaze, as if she were remembering the moment. “I thought you were the most heroic fellow.”