Page 94 of A Foolish Flirtation

For a moment, Nye looked as though he would speak, only to change his mind and lapse back into brooding silence.

“And how would you suggest I do that exactly?” Jeremy asked, a pucker between his brows.

“Introduce her to your friends and neighbors,” Mina said promptly. “Help her establish her own life here in Penarth. Real life is not all picnics and walks in the park, Jeremy. She needs to feel that your connection is genuine, so that she can learn to trust in you.”

Trust, Jeremy thought, thinking she would not even trust him to see her bloodied nightgown. Suddenly, he remembered Emmeline had said something else that morning in Hutton’s tea shop. It makes me fear that once again, this is all just a grand jest to you, and that I am once more the butt of the joke. That you, my lord, are not remotely in earnest.

He swallowed and nodded slowly. “That makes sense,” he said, his throat rather dry. He reached for the coffeepot. “Thank you.”

He stayed for a while drinking coffee, and hearing about Nye’s next boxing event at the inn, a topic that none of them had thought fit to raise previously at Vance. Jeremy was thoughtful on his ride home, reflecting on mending fences. It did not matter how long it took, forever if necessary.

He turned up at the stables two hours late and Masterson looked at him rather askance as he had missed a good deal that morning. Amyas had already had his hour and a half’s exercise, for he worked better first thing, having an inclination to turn lazy as the day wore on.

“They neither of them have Bucephalus’s work ethic,” Masterman grumbled.

Jeremy agreed, but he watched Atalanta being put through her paces all the same, calling out encouragement to her handlers. After this, he watched the last two horses, only recently acquired and both showing distinct promise. “The dark bay’s shaping up well,” he observed, and Masterman’s face visibly brightened.

“We could have a future champion yet,” he said cheerfully. “Wait and see.”

With an eye on the time, Jeremy returned to the house at twelve, uncertain if the plans he had previously made with Emmeline would still stand. Would she be at the beach, or would she have forgotten all about it after everything that happened?

He washed and changed, and after looking in at the dining room, which he found empty, Jeremy headed to the stable and collected Cadmus, making this time for the private beach.

Jeremy’s spirits soared when he spotted the groom leaning against the empty landau with a bored look on his face. He straightened up on seeing his master approach.

“Can you take Cadmus?” Jeremy asked, dismounting and passing his reins to the man.

“Of course, milord.”

He heard the laughter even as he clambered over the dunes and beheld the little party sitting on the brightly checked blanket. The sun was shining, Emmeline was wearing a new dress of primrose yellow, and he hoped to God it would be easy to pretend for a couple of hours that all was well with the world.

“Here you are,” she said, looking up with a valiant attempt at a smile. “We brought the picnic hamper with us. Mrs. Oxley has prepared us an outstanding lunch.”

“Ah, excellent.” Jeremy dropped down beside her, briefly touching her ankle by way of greeting. He was too scared she might flinch if he tried to kiss to her cheek. “Hello, Miss Pinson,” he greeted her friend, who was sitting shielding her eyes from the sun. “I hope you have spent a pleasant morning.”

“Oh yes, my lord,” she answered happily, and he realized Emmeline could not have confided in her what a swine he had been.

“I’ve brought along my cricket set, Papa,” Teddy volunteered.

“Have you? Then we must certainly have an innings.”

They ate sandwiches and drank lemonade under the blue sky, and after eating, he and Teddy introduced Emmeline and Miss Pinson to beach cricket.

Miss Pinson could not catch a ball to save her life and Emmeline could not hit one. Still, by the time they all flopped back down on the blanket an hour later, they were panting and smiling, even if a shadow lurked in Emmeline’s eyes whenever they rested on him.

“Papa?” Teddy said suddenly. “Are you sad today?”

“Sad? Not at all!” he said heartily, sitting up and reaching for a bottle of water. “How could I possibly be sad on a day such as this? Just look at this glorious sunshine. Why, it’s as warm as a day in July!”

He had a horrible feeling his words lacked conviction but luckily for him at this moment a thunderclap sounded, and they all scrambled to their feet.

“Rainclouds!” Teddy shouted, pointing to the sky as Jeremy and Emmeline started gathering up their things.

“Oh dear, oh dear,” Miss Pinson muttered, making a grab for the cricket stumps. “And the hood is down on the landau too! We shall all get wet through! I’m sure there is going to be a storm.”

Glancing sideways at Emmeline as he took her elbow, Jeremy hoped for the contrary. It would be nice to think that the worst of the storms was already over with.

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