Edmund sighed quietly, glancing once again at the book on the shelf where his fingertips had touched hers for a moment. A romance novel, of course, putting more of the most foolish notions into her head.
“I should be delighted,” Isolde said, and Edmund did not stop her.
Instead, he looked back over his shoulder to the greenery of the private park.Perhaps she will only learn if she finds out the hard way…
CHAPTER SIX
The weather was glorious, the midday sun high and hazy in the sky, and Isolde’s mood soared with it. She walked rather proudly on the arm of Lord Spofforth, enjoying the astonished glances and sudden bursts of whispered gossip that were cast in their direction by the gentry of Mayfair. All becauseshehad taken matters of potential courtship into her own fair hands.
Of course, the pair were not permitted to be alone. Isolde’s mother and Edmund walked behind at a polite distance, making it quite clear that they were performing their chaperone duties without being invasive.
“That is better, is it not?” Lord Spofforth asked Isolde, as they strolled along the well-kept pathways, underneath the full-leafed branches of the old oak trees. “You have a charming townhouse, of course, but I would much rather be in the fresh air than in a stuffy drawing room. Would you not agree?”
Isolde peered up at him, smiling. “On a day such as today, I entirely agree. If it was teeming down with rain, I might be less inclined to.”
“I would never bethatbrazen,” Lord Spofforth replied with a wink. “Although, without hesitation, I would offer my services to ensure you were warm and dry quickly enough, should you ever feel a desire to run in the summer rain with me.”
Despite what Edmund had said about her romantic notions, Isolde could not help but sigh dreamily at such a thrilling possibility. She could picture it, like something from one of her most beloved novels, or a poem perhaps. The warm downpour soaking her to the skin, and her not caring a jot as she turned around and around, relishing every rebellious moment.
Vincent would send me to a convent immediately.She chuckled, trying to imagine her brother’s horrified face. As she did, it made her more keenly aware of his replacement, forever glowering at her. Even now, at a distance, she couldfeelEdmund’s disdain for her, which made it all the stranger that he had insisted that he was just trying to help her.
“Goodness, be careful!” Lord Spofforth said suddenly, his hand briefly moving to the small of her back to steer her out of the way of an unknown danger.
She gasped at the unexpected touch, looking to Lord Spofforth in surprise. “What was it?”
His hand returned to where it had been, slightly extended with her gloved hand on top of it. “A rather large stone on the path,” he explained. “I thought you might stumble on it and injure yourself. Apologies. I should have warned you sooner, then I would not have had to move you to safety.”
Isolde’s cheeks heated up as she noted his concerned expression and the undivided attention he showed to her—hadbeen showing to her, ever since his arrival. When she spoke, he listened: A rarity, or so she had come to learn over the past two days of accepting callers to the townhouse. And he seemed to know what would make her smile, even before she knew it, for taking a walk had been the exact remedy she needed for the otherwise terrible morning.
Edmund would not have bothered to make her smile. He would have reprimanded her for stumbling and ignored her when she spoke about the things that pleased her. Either that, or he would have mocked her, thumbing through her favorite books just to tease her about the content. Indeed, the only thing about Edmund that was superior to Lord Spofforth was his appearance. It could not be denied, to Isolde’s dismay, that Edmund wasexceptionallyhandsome.
“Thank you,” she said softly to Lord Spofforth, as they resumed their promenade.
“It was my pleasure,” he replied, leaning in a little closer than was perhaps appropriate, his arm flush against hers. Not that she minded too much. In truth, it made her feel… secure, much like another man had, not so long ago.
Mustering her courage, she cast him a shy glance. “I do not suppose you wandered like this in the gardens of Kensington Palace at my debut ball, did you?”
“When one has the opportunity to investigateroyalgardens, one does not miss it,” Lord Spofforth replied, raising up her hopes.
She held tighter to his hand. “Did you… happen to see anything of interest in those gardens?”
“That depends on what you consider to be interesting,” he replied silkily. “I saw many interesting things.”
“Did you, perchance, see me in those gardens?” Isolde held her breath, hardly daring to believe that her rescuer might be the very man walking at her side.
He was not quite what she had imagined beneath the mask of coiling bronze roses and thorns, with his russet-toned hair and exceedingly dark eyes, like two perfectly polished pieces of jet, but she doubted she would have had any complaints if hewasher savior.
“I dreamed I did,” Lord Spofforth replied, his vague reply more frustrating than enchanting.
“Youimaginedthat you saw me?” she pressed.
Lord Spofforth turned to face her, sweeping away a wayward lock of hair that had sprung loose from her bonnet. A gesturethat should have made her heart beat faster and make her skin tingle, but she was more interested in his words than his actions in that moment.
Are you my champion or not?It infuriated Isolde that she could not simply ask him, for that would expose her to scandal, and all interest that Lord Spofforth might have toward her would evaporate.
“I imagined it and then it came true,” he told her. “I saw Aphrodite herself in the Elysian Fields. Mask or not, I knew she was you.”
Isolde frowned and Lord Spofforth seemed to falter, as if his compliments were not quite having the effect that he had anticipated.
