“Lord Luminport was just telling me that he loves to race. It was almost a pity to inform him that I cannot ride at all,” she said, laughing as if last night’s quarrel had not caused her to lose a single minute of sleep.
Simon was gazing at her as if she were still wearing that incredible, sparkling gown, though she had chosen a more sedate, ordinary dress for the daytime. A dress Percy guessed he had seen her wear countless times.
Her friend, Olivia, smiled encouragingly. “But shedoeslove horses, Lord Luminport. And they adore her.” She looked up at her husband, Evan, who made up the quartet. “Do you remember that stallion you were having trouble with?”
Evan nodded. “He barely tolerates being ridden, even now, but when he met dear Anna, you would think he was a doting foal; he would not be parted from her, following her around the paddock, charging at any of the other horses that attempted to greet her. If she ever did decide to ride, I am certain he would be as docile as an old mare.”
“I, myself, have a troublesome stallion,” Simon said. “Perhaps, if you ever pass Luminport Manor, you might come and meet him.”
Anna smiled shyly, scuffing her toe against the grass. “I should like that.”
Am I missing something?Even if Percy had not been exhausted after a sleepless night of tossing and turning, Simon’s conversational abilities would have made him yawn. When had a troublesome stallion become an interesting subject?
He dusted off the boredom and headed for the foursome, ready to ask if he might take Anna to one side so he could apologize. Before he could intervene in a conversation that had turned toward favorite kinds of apple, Dickie bounded up and took the moment from Percy.
“I have decided it!” Dickie announced, for all to hear. “No more standing around, idly chatting to one another—we are to have a game of croquet on the bowling green! The Countess has given her permission, but take care with your swings so we do not ruin her expensive grass!”
A ripple of amusement ran through the guests, who were scattered close to the house in their respective clusters.
The countess herself raised a hand. “My husband loved to bowl. Please, swing as hard as you please!”
A more nervous sort of laughter made its way around the congregation, though most were acquainted enough with the countess to know her sense of humor. Percy, however, thought the comment as unseemly as the living statues that had lined the driveway.
“Follow me!” Dickie waved a hand in the air and set off toward the farthest reaches of the estate grounds.
The foursome of Anna, Simon, Olivia, and Evan went after their fearless leader, joined on the walk by Leah and her husband, Nathaniel. Meanwhile, Percy trailed behind, waiting for his opportunity to steal a moment with Anna.
It came as they were cutting through a coppice of magnolia trees, Anna pausing to refasten the laces of her shoes. Whether she had done it deliberately or not, Percy did not know, but he would not be able to settle until he told her how sorry he was for last night’s bad behavior. Ever since he was a child, he had suffered with a peculiar, intense anxiety if he thought he had upset someone.
“Lady Anna, I—” Percy began, but she rudely interrupted him.
“You ought to be conversing with the ladies present, to see if there are any among them that you favor. What on earth are you followingmefor?”
He blinked at the reprimand. “I wanted to speak about last night.”
“Well, I do not.” She hesitated before adding, “That salmon dish made me very unwell, and I do not intend to miss out on further amusements because the reminder has made me feel nauseated again.”
He furrowed his brow. “The… salmon?”
“Yes, the salmon.” She fastened her lace and stood up, brushing her hands down the front of her skirts. “That is why I left the table. Now, if you will excuse me, I have croquet to play, and you have ladies to pursue.”
She hurried back toward her friends without another word, leaving him in a state of utter confusion. He liked to think of himself as a reasonably intelligent man, and knew the salmon excuse had no truth in it, but why would she dismiss their quarrel like that? She had never done so before. Indeed, he had assumed she would demand an apology, which likely would have made him rescind it.
At least before, I understood the pattern…He scratched his head and pressed on for, in that moment, there was no woman he wanted to talk to more than her. If only to figure out what was going on.
* * *
One had only to see Anna dance to know she had no coordination whatsoever, and the pressure of trying to play croquet well in front of Simon seemed to make it ten times worse.
She looked at the blunt end of the mallet, looked at the position of the ball, looked at the arc of the hoop embedded in the ground and felt in her bones that her aim was about to be perfect. But time and again, something bizarre happened between the swing of the mallet and the precise strike thatshouldhave followed: Either she missed the wooden ball altogether, it flew away at a crooked angle, or it barely moved across the grass.
Red cheeked and sweaty with frustration, she let the next guest take their turn.
“If you could steer the ball with the mallet itself, I expect you would miss,” Dickie said, grinning.
Max chuckled. “Did you say unkind things to the ball before we began? It does seem to be avoiding you.”
“No, but I am very close to saying unkind things to it now,” Anna replied, sighing at her hopelessness. “I suppose I should have known I would be terrible at this. The ladiesstilltalk about my attempts at battledore.”
