Page 78 of A Single Thread of Moonlight

“I have a wonderful idea,” she said. “As the weather is so fine, why don’t the young folk go down to the river for the afternoon? We have four rowboats that you could take out.”

“Oh, what a treat!” Sophia exclaimed.

“The river?” Lady Bell asked quaveringly. “Is that really safe? Surely that’s where … where…”

Her husband cleared his throat and frowned ominously at his wife. She flushed and fell silent.

I had seen little of Lord Bell, but what I had seen I didn’t like. I found it hard to believe that he and Lady Bell had produced such sweet, amiable children as Sophia and Percy. The man was largely absent, clearly deeply uninterested in the house party, and when he did speak it was usually to quell his wife’s chatter.

“I don’t think we need to dredge up that ancient history,” Agatha pouted. “The river’s perfectly safe, Lady Bell, I promise you. What happened to Iris was her own fault. We won’t be going anywhere near those strong currents.”

Cassie’s teacup clattered in her saucer, and I kept my eyes down.

“Iris?” The name came sharply from Nick’s lips. No fool, Nicholas Wynter.

I forced myself to sip disinterestedly at my tea.

“My husband’s daughter,” Helena said quietly, shooting Agatha a look. “She drowned almost seven years ago. A terrible accident. It was a tragedy that came so soon after we lost Lord Scott-Holland.”

The table fell into an awkward silence.

Helena smiled bravely. “But let’s not dwell on such things when we are all here together on this beautiful day. Agatha is quite right that the river is perfectly safe, if a boating adventure sounds like something you would enjoy?”

“I think it sounds great fun!” Percy put in heartily. The rest of us murmured our agreement.

“Let’s see,” Helena said innocently, counting off on her fingers. “Two to a boat – Lady Sophia and Mr Waterford, Lord Percy and Cassie, Lord Wynter and Miss Fox, and that leaves … Agatha and Prince Stefan. Perfect.”

“A good job that Miss Fox was here to balance the numbers after all,” Cassie murmured, nudging me with her elbow.

I smiled at her now, though that smile was edged with trepidation. I was about to be trapped in a small boat with Nick, and, short of flinging myself into the river, there was to be no escape. I didn’t like the way he had glanced up at the mention of Iris Scott-Holland.

The eight of us walked down to the river, where four neat rowboats were tied up, waiting for us.

“Oh,” Agatha cried, her eyes sparkling. “How lovely!”

She was right; it was beautiful. The river wound its lazy way through lush green fields, cutting under weeping willows, their long chains of leaves just turning a burnished gold. I heard a high chirping sound and then the flash of vivid blue as a kingfisher flitted across the water’s surface, there and gone before I could even remark upon it. The sun was high in the cloudless sky, beating down with all the intensity of a summer day.

The men, accordingly, and to the delight of many of the women, were in their shirtsleeves – jackets and ties discarded thanks to the informality of the occasion.

As Helena had said, laughing indulgently, “We’re all friends here.”

I wasn’t so sure about that.

“Shall we?” Nick said, without any noticeable degree of enthusiasm. He held out his hand to help me into the boat as the other gentlemen were doing, but I chose to scramble in, unaided. I took the seat facing backwards.

Nick climbed in and took the seat across from me, his expression bland. The boat was small, and Nick was so tall that our knees touched. I tried to ignore it.

Stefan had been the first into the boats, laughing as he assisted Agatha, who sat like a perfect china doll, a lacy parasol unfurled over her head to protect her from the sun. The prince had set a brisk pace from the off, skimming their boat across the surface of the water like a pond skater. He made a boyish whooping sound, and I noticed Agatha’s smile looked a little frozen, that one of her hands was clinging tightly to the side of the boat.

Percy set off in pursuit, egged on by Cassie; and Sophia and Jack seemed quite happy to keep to themselves. I watched their faces as they spoke and wondered whether there could at least be one romantic success story to come out of Helena’s house party – even if it wasn’t the one she hoped for.

Nick was in no hurry at all. Using one oar he pushed us away from the bank and took a couple of clean strokes to send us into the middle of the water. Here he let the boat bob gently, carried by the slow current.

Nick leaned back on his elbows as we floated along, his head tipped back, his eyes half-closed. I remained silent, trailing my fingers in the water, a sharp sting of cold in the shimmering heat.

Finally, he sat forward. “Are you feeling better?” he asked.

I started, thrown by the question.