Seeing he was getting to her at last, Stephen couldn’t help the smile that curled his lips, seeing her huff and march up and down beside him.
“How is either of us supposed to win this wager or engage the interest of anyone if we are too busy sniping at one another?”
“The story of our lives, is it not?” he drawled. “You and I have been exchanging barbs since we met at Christmas, when you were just ten years old.”
“You called me a boy.” She spun around to face him.
“And you have never forgiven me for it.” He sighed loudly and tipped his head back. “You were dressed like a boy, Dorotheo.”
“Oh, stop it with that infernal name!”
“How about another? Shall I just call you Theo instead?”
“Stephen, this isn’t getting us anywhere.” Dorothy was red in the face now, but Stephen couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. There was something about seeing her angry like this that made him smile.
Lady Frederica and Lady Charlotte walked past, and Stephen’s eyes flicked to Lady Frederica. If he wanted to win this bet, then by now, he should be talking to her, not continuing to stand here and argue with Dorothy.
Dorothy must have noticed the direction he was looking, for she turned on her heel and hurried away from him.
“Dorothy?” he called to her, but she was gone too quickly.
When she reached Lady Frederica and Lady Charlotte, in her effort to come to a rather hasty halt, she skidded on the stones and bumped straight into Lady Charlotte.
“Oh!” Lady Charlotte nearly fell over but was fortunately saved by Dorothy, who recovered fast.
“Forgive me, I have a habit of not looking where I put my feet.” Dorothy looked between the pair of them and initiated such a rushed conversation that Stephen knew he had no chance to talk to Lady Frederica at all.
Fine. We shall both play dirty in this war, Dorothy.
He noticed something strange, though, as he watched the three ladies together. Lady Charlotte, a woman who held herself quite regally, appeared affronted by the fact that Dorothy had run straight into her.
“Oh, I meant to say this to you last night, but I quite forgot,” Dorothy said to Lady Charlotte. “You and I look as if we could be sisters, do we not? We are so alike in appearance, yet different in manner, I am sure. You are so proper, and I seem hardly capable of controlling myself at all.”
At once, Lady Charlotte was disarmed, and she smiled.
Stephen marveled as he watched the three ladies walk away, with his attention fixed on Dorothy. It didn’t seem to matter what faux pas she made. Her good, happy manner won everyone over, in the end.
How does she do that?
CHAPTERFIVE
“Iam not convinced this is a good idea,” Stephen muttered as he walked alongside Dorothy.
They had left the carriages behind at the base of the hill and were currently striding up the inclined path, toward a rocky outcrop.
“Whyever not?” Dorothy cried and stepped onto a large boulder, turning to face him. Her face was flushed with the exertion, and she looked truly happy, with one or two wild curls escaping her updo. “Oh, let me guess. There’s far too much mud for the proper Duke of Stotbury to ever consider a picnic outside.”
“It’s cold,” he reminded her. “It isn’t spring yet that the cold is gone.”
“Aha! Then I have a way to combat that.” She jumped off the boulder and stepped toward him.
She took hold of his top hat and pulled it more firmly over his head, then she reached for the collar of his frock coat and flipped it up, so the material covered his chin. She came so close that Stephen just blinked at her.
What are you doing, Dorothy?
She appeared not to notice the effect she was having on him as she smiled and adjusted his clothes.
“There, is that better?” she asked. “Now you’re braced against the cold.”
