“So, care to tell me who you were looking for with such keenness just now?” Lord Bolton asked, with clear mischief in his tone.
“All of you,” Aaron answered with a smile, looking back to Lord Bolton, only to find the man’s smirk had grown all the more.
“Not my sister in particular then,” he said softly. Aaron did not answer right away. Apparently that silence was all that was needed to confirm Lord Bolton’s suspicions. “Ha! You looked like a hunter trying to find a fox. All you needed were the hounds at your side to complete the look.”
“God’s wounds, I hope I did not look that bad.” Aaron shook his head, adjusting the top hat on his head to try and hide something of his expression.
“Only I noticed, have no fear.” Lord Bolton clapped Aaron on the shoulder, turning him enough to look back at the Dowdings, specifically at Lady Emily. “Forgive me, Lord Tattershall, but I am about to do my brotherly duty. Must be done, you know. So, tell me. What is this between you and my sister?”
“What do you mean, what is it?” Aaron asked, trying to ignore the way his gut tightened with nerves. “We are friends. Good friends.”
“That is all?” Lord Bolton asked, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. “Nothing more?”
“I…” Aaron cleared his throat, hoping those extra few seconds would buy him time to think.
“Would you like a little longer to think of an answer?” Lord Bolton asked with mischief. “Shall I get us some drinks in hope you will have an answer by the time I return?”
“Enough teasing,” Aaron said, shaking his head in laughter. “The truth is, Lady Emily and I are friends. Good friends indeed. I have never met someone I have been such instant friends with.” He was not averse to letting the truth escape him, feeling each word he uttered came with passion and vigor. “She is so easy to speak to and be around. She has a habit of making me smile when it is the last thing I want to do, and she has just about the finest humor I have ever met. Who could not be her friend?”
“A powerful friendship indeed.” Lord Bolton nodded and whistled, showing his amazement. “Yet it is just that? Just friendship?”
“Just friendship,” Aaron said the words tightly. He found his gaze flicking over Lord Bolton’s shoulder, looking toward where Jane was standing in the tent with Hugh.
Wasn’t she the one who would always have his heart? Yet there was no pain staring at her now, no longing either.What has happened?
Jane and Hugh wandered off, toward the riverbank, where they met Aaron’s mother, Joyce, who was hovering by the edge of the river, staring out at the boats close to the Dowdings.
“Well, now that is done, let me find you a drink, my friend,” Lord Bolton said, steering Aaron toward the tent.
“What? No more?” Aaron asked in a humored voice. “I am used to gentlemen thrusting their daughters and sisters under my nose repeatedly.”
“I suppose as a future Duke you see that often.”
“You would be surprised how often.”
“Have no fear, which is not what I am doing.” Lord Bolton shook his head as they stopped by the tea tent. “I am merely doing my brotherly duty in watching out for my sister. Now that conversation is passed, we can talk of something else. Though, if I may, will you permit me to say one more thing on this subject before we move on?”
“Of course,” Aaron nodded, watching as Lord Bolton stepped away from their conversation momentarily to secure them drinks. When he returned, passing a teacup into Aaron’s hands, he had a wistful smile on his face.
“My wife, Julia, is my best friend.” Lord Bolton’s words made Aaron choke on his tea. He coughed a few times, feeling Lord Bolton clap him on the back to try and clear his airways. “I have startled you. Good lord! You would have thought I had said something terribly ill indeed.”
“No, no, I just simply wasn’t expecting you to say that,” Aaron struggled to explain as he breathed clearly again.Is it possible? To marry your best friend?Aaron found his eyes lifting from his teacup and looking over the guests’ heads.
As the sailing was beginning, the crowds had gathered at the edge of the riverbank. It was almost impossible to discern one group from another. In fact, it was so busy that Aaron could not even see Lady Emily anymore, she was lost somewhere in the mesh of others in the crowd.
“Here, let me get you another cup,” Lord Bolton said with laughter. “You coughed most of that one back out.” As Lord Bolton turned away to fetch Aaron a fresh cup, Aaron at last found Lady Emily through the crowd.
He could not tell who she was with or standing besides, he could only judge her face in profile, watching those blue eyes that were so fixed on the boats ahead of her and the boldness of her features. She was not smiling today. She was sad, worrying about something, chewing her lip to such an extent that Aaron wanted nothing more than to push through the crowd and be at her side, just to be the one to make her smile again.
“When did this happen?” Aaron muttered aloud, realizing something. Somehow, somewhere along the line, Lady Emily’s happiness mattered to him more than anyone else’s.
Suddenly, Lady Emily’s face moved, it was into one of pain. Then a cry went up from beside her and she was jolted forward.
“Watch out!”
“Who did that?”
“Emily!” That was Lady Bolton’s voice, crying after her.
