“Why are you so glum? I have seen cheerier storm clouds,” Caroline replied, bending her forearm over her face to block the sunlight.
Evan stared out across the glittering lake to where a young family—husband, wife, two children—rowed in a wooden boat between the patchy little islands that dotted the surface of the water. “You will be covered in freckles if you lie out in the sun like that,” he muttered, ignoring her question. “You ought to join the other ladies beneath the awning.”
Caroline sat up. “Now, I know something is amiss. You have never sent me away before, nor have you ever shown the slightest care about whether I become freckled or not.”
“I am tired,” Evan said with a sigh. What else could he say?Oh, I am weary because I traipsed through the gardens all night, trying to rid my mind of Olivia’s beautiful face and disarming smile. And yes, I am pretty furious because I cannot stop thinking of her smile and the fact that her eyes are the exact color of this lake. Yet, the most damning part is that I did not mean to kiss her hand last night—I did not want to, but before I knew it, I was, and now I cannot forget it, cannot forget how those beautiful eyes of hers widened just a little, as if that kiss was not unwelcome.
Caroline nudged him in the arm. “Do not keep it to yourself, Evan. You know you can tell me anything and my lips shall be like a vault, protecting your secrets.” She paused. “Is it Olivia? Are you falling in love with her?”
“Caro, please.” Evan groaned. “I hope that, one day, you and the gentleman of your dreams fall helplessly in love at first sight, but for old grumps like me, that is simply impossible. It is fantasy, not reality, for the likes of me.”
Caroline shuffled forward, craning her neck until she was practically in his face. “But itisOlivia that is making you so… irritable, is it not?” She nudged him again. “I noticed you did not return home until an ungodly hour.”
“You should have been asleep,” he chided lightly.
“You know I cannot fall asleep until I know you are safely within the house, and once I begin to venture out into society, I have no doubt that you will return the favor,” she replied, smiling. “Truthfully, it is a wonder I sleep at all, between fretting over you and my brother.”
Evan could not help but muster a laugh. “Have we been so terribly inconsiderate?”
“Daniel has,” Caroline said, wrapping her arms around the peaks of her knees. “I understand his intentions, but I do wish he was not away from Westyork for so long. It is deathly quiet inside that house without either of you there, squabbling and jesting with one another. I cannot stand it.”
Evan put an arm around her shoulders. “I never understood why Aunt Amelia chose to move into the Dowager House. I know sheisa dowager, but there is more than ample room at Westyork Manor for her, and it seems unlikely that Daniel will marry anytime soon.”
“She is a mystery to us all.” Caroline chuckled. “Still, we shall all be together again at the party. A letter arrived from Daniel this morning—he has vowed to be in attendance. Said he ‘would not miss seeing the look upon your face for all of the world,’ which I cannot profess to understand, but at least he will be there.”
“I do not understand it, either,” Evan lied.
Caroline peered up at him. “But you do like Olivia, do you not?”
“I do not know her, Caro. Ask me that another time,” he urged, half-begging, for he did not want to suffer her disappointment when it all fell apart, too.
I must endeavor to make Olivia and Daniel fall in love and ensure that she breaks the engagement,he reiterated to himself,or the two ladies I adore most in the world will never speak to me again.
Caroline shrugged. “Very well. However, I will not allow you to sit and mope all day.” She jumped up, tugging on his hand as she shouted toward three other members of their party, “Let us play a game of skittles! Mama, you did ask for them to be brought, did you not?”
“Oh, to be six-and-ten again, filled with boundless vigor,” Evan teased, lumbering wearily to his feet. “You realize that a picnic by the lake means a lazy afternoon, not a relentless ream of events, yes?”
Caroline flashed him a grin. “It shall wake you up and eject you from your ill humor.”
“I make no promises,” Evan grumbled, following Caroline toward the white canvas gazebo where Amelia, Olivia, and Olivia’s mother rested in the shade.
“What did you say, darling?” Amelia asked, sitting up.
Caroline beamed from ear to ear. “I thought we might play skittles up on that flat stretch of grass up there, for though I enjoy a nap as much as anyone, we must seek to make this afternoon more interesting.”
“I would enjoy a game of skittles,” Olivia said, dabbing at her brow with a handkerchief.
Evan knew he ought to avert his eyes to prevent his bewildering thoughts from returning. Still, he could not turn his gaze away from the vision in white muslin that lay on the picnic blanket before him, her face shaded by the peak of a straw bonnet decorated with small daisies. He had a sudden urge to sketch her, to immortalize her ethereal beautyat that moment, but he had not picked up charcoal since he was a much younger man and had never been much good. Yet, he suspected that even if a gifted artist had been there to draw her, they would not have been able to do her justice.
“I might partake later, if you are still eager to play,” Olivia’s mother politely declined.
Amelia nodded her head. “I am quite content to bake in the warmth, but we shall watch from afar, and if you require an umpire, I shall be firm yet fair in my judgment of who is the victor.”
“Will three be enough?” Caroline looked somewhat disappointed as a footman went to fetch the basket that contained the carved skittles and the varnished wooden balls that would be thrown at them.
Olivia adjusted her bonnet, smiling. “Three will be more than enough. Indeed, our only difficulty may be the length of the grass, but we shall just have to ensure that we throw the balls harder.”
“Have you played skittles often?” Caroline cheered, giddy with delight as Olivia looped her arm through the younger woman’s.
