“Well,thatwas a violent reaction.”
“Courting? You think I would court a lady?” Luke asked once he could speak clearly again. He thanked the footman but pushed the flask quickly back into his hands, not wanting to bear another sip of that beer. “Miss Storey and I are not courting, Adam.”
“What? No dry humour? No jest? Only plain anger at the statement?” Adam asked with a laugh. “Something tells me I touched a nerve with the suggestion.”
“No nerve, no sensitivity,” Luke said quickly, hoping to persuade himself as much as Adam. “It is just that….”
I cannot stop thinking of her.
“I danced with her once last night. How can that suggest we are courting?” Luke scoffed at the idea and turned back, facing down the other end of the field. Clouds were beginning to gather in the blue sky now, mottling the perfectly bright morning. Just like his thoughts, the sky had become darkened and dismayed. “I wish they’d start the shooting again.”
“Why?” Adam leaned on his gun, smiling with amusement. “So that you can let out your anger on such a statement by shooting a pheasant?”
“Adam!” Luke snapped and looked back to him. “Miss Storey and I are not courting. If you hear any man or lady talk of it again, pray, set them right.”
“As you wish.” Adam held up his hands in surrender, before leaning on the gun once more. “Miss Grove and I did discuss the matter with interest, though. She seems to think her friend rather enjoys your company, more so than she likes to reveal.”
“She does?” Luke tried not to sound too interested in the answer before he realised just what Adam had said. “You seem to be taking a particular interest in spending time with Miss Grove.”
“No. I do not.” Adam picked up his gun and looked to the end of the field. “On second thoughts, I am equally impatient for the shooting to begin again.”
“You have changed your tune,” Luke muttered with a short laugh, earning a glare from Adam.
“Let us return to talk of the other lady.”
“No, let’s not.”
“Why are you dancing with Miss Storey and making a point of talking to her at all, if you do not mean anything by it?” Adam asked as he prepared the gun, waiting for the next round of shots to begin.
“Because it is….” Luke struggled for the words as he took fresh cartridges from the footman. He was speechless for so long, with his lips opening and closing, that Adam looked at him, wide-eyed, waiting. “She is entertaining company. It is fun to tease her and talk to her, and she is certainly attractive. I would either be a blind man or a fool to deny it. What man wouldn’t want to be beside her for that?”
“Maybe you do want to court her.”
“I do not want to court her.” Luke’s voice turned sharp this time. “I have other ladies who take up more of my time.”
“Like the Duchess of Bannerman?” Adam’s words made Luke look his way, his movements stilling.
“What she and I shared is at an end, Adam.”
“Does she know this?” Adam asked, looking so amazed at the idea that it caught Luke’s interest.
“Of course she does. We parted ways amicably a couple of months ago.” Luke shrugged with the words. “She had no problem with the conversation when I explained my wish to end our affair.”
“How odd.” Adam tilted his head to the side, examining Luke with interest.
“What? Why is that odd?”
“Because she was at the event last night, did you not see her?”
“No, I did not.” Luke heard the horn as it sounded again, signifying the shooting was about to begin. “Take aim, Adam. I will win today.”
“We’ll see.”
Luke lifted his gun, ready to fire, when Adam’s next words made him tense up.
“Perhaps because you were only looking at one lady last night, you missed the Duchess’s presence.”
Luke shot fast, taking down a pheasant and making Adam chuckle.