Joseph sent her a look that begged for patience, then went on. “Look there.” He nodded toward the far end of the boxes, where a small group of ladies and gentlemen were being served tea by one of the track’s staff. “Is that not Lord and Lady Albright I see? I was under the impression that you enjoyed Lady Albright’s company.”
His mother was suddenly interested. “Is that Lady Albright?” Her spirits improved visibly.
“It would be only right if we went to say hello,” Aunt Josephine said with a magnanimous nod of her head.
“Shall I take you over so that you may greet your friend?” Joseph asked with a smile.
“Yes, please, dear,” his mother said, patting his arm.
Joseph took that as a sign of victory. He smiled proudly and walked his mother and aunt to the far end of the seating area.
Even before he reached the Albrights and their party, he spotted Miss Garrett, her sister, and her brother-in-law, entering the track through a different entrance than the one he had arrived at. Immediately, his heart lifted in his chest, and a warm flush rushed through him.
The emotions startled him. They seemed to come out of nowhere. He couldn’t quite identify what they were either. Usually, Miss Garrett made him want to run away. Now he wanted to run toward her. Particularly when she spotted him and burst into a smile so bright it rivaled the sun.
It must have been the excitement of his plan to reform her and help her win an invitation to the Westminster ball. Yes, that was it. It was eagerness to do his duty. Francis had charged him and his brothers with finding unsuitable women to marry, but in his heart of hearts, Joseph knew he would be a thousand times happier with a woman who conformed to society’s more conservative mores. Or, at least, he thought so.
As smoothly as he could, he handed his mother and Aunt Josephine off to the care of the Albrights, made his excuses, then strode off to meet Miss Garrett and her sister and brother-in-law at the other end of the seating area.
“Miss Garrett, you are looking lovely today,” he said, a fluttery feeling in his chest as he came to stand in front of her.
He told himself that it was a matter of professional curiosity that he swept her with a keen look from head to toe. She was dressed in blue again—which set off the color of her startling eyes perfectly—and had her hair up in a fashionable style. She had a plumed hat affixed to the top of the style, and the way the feathers fluttered in the breeze matched the sparkle in her eyes.
“You’re looking quite well yourself, Joseph,” she said in response, giving him a coy flutter of her eyelashes.
Joseph was so transfixed with the sight of her that her words startled him out of his reverie. As soon as he was back on earth, conscious of the dirt and noise of the racetrack around him, he remembered his manners with a flash of embarrassment.
“Forgive me, Mr. Mercer, Mrs. Mercer.” He bowed slightly to Ellen’s sister and brother-in-law. “It is a pleasure to meet you again.”
“What, do I not get a compliment for how lovely I’m looking?” Mr. Mercer asked with a sly grin, adjusting his spectacles and grinning at his wife.
Joseph blinked in surprise, his face flushing. If he didn’t know better, he would say the man was flirting with him. “I beg your pardon,” he said, flustered.
Mrs. Mercer laughed. “Phin, be nice,” she said, swatting at his arm. “I will compliment you as much as you’d like…if you will treat me to a sip of tea.” The woman’s eyes danced with mischief as she sent Miss Garrett a look, then smiled at Joseph. “Mr. Rathborne-Paxton, would you be so good as to look after my sister while my husband and I seek refreshments?”
In spite of the apparently innocent way Mrs. Mercer asked the question, Joseph knew it was a ploy to allow him time alone with Miss Garrett. Miss Garrett must have apprised her sister of the plan.
“Yes, of course,” he said with another nervous bow. Five minutes into the game, and he already felt as though he had been outplayed.
“Take your time,” Miss Garrett called after them as they walked away. She looped her arm through Joseph’s. “I am quite safe with Joseph, after all.”
There was a definite implication to her words that made Joseph’s face flush hotter. All of London knew she’d set her sights on him as her future husband, but that didn’t mean she needed to shout it from the rooftops.
Not that there were enough spectators at the track yet to overhear them one way or another.
As soon as they were alone, Joseph glanced around, found a somewhat sheltered spot, and hurried Miss Garrett over to it.
“You shouldn’t raise your voice and make assumptions about your future marital state where people might overhear them,” he said.
Miss Garrett spun to face him, rested one hand on her hip in that delightfully provincial way she had, and narrowed her eyes at him. “Why?” she asked. “Because you don’t wish for people to know that I intend to marry you?”
Every time Miss Garrett made that declaration, Joseph’s heart stopped. This time was no exception. It stopped, then seemed to run riot in his chest, thumping through his entire body and making him feel as though it were mid-July instead of October. It was an outrageous declaration to make…and not once had Joseph dared to contradict her.
He cleared his throat, stood a bit straighter, told himself to be a man, and said, “No, Miss Garrett. The heart of the declaration is not my concern.”
“Oh?” Miss Garrett looked as though she were having a hard time not smiling…in triumph.
Joseph shook his head and clasped his hands behind his back in an unconscious imitation of his father when the man had been sermonizing. “My concern is in the way you raised your voice. Fine ladies of the British aristocracy do not raise their voices. If you wish to fit in with the likes of Lady Margaret and her friends, you would do well to start with regulating the tone and cadence of your voice.”