"Please!" Louisa clung to him, smiling bright enough to be a star. "Can we stay just a little? Please?"
"Do you want to keep dancing, sweet wife?" he asked in a soft, low voice. "Even in the rain?"
"Even more so in the rain, it's beautiful," she replied. Her eyes were alight in the lamplight that was left and with the water running down her face and her dress plastered to her lithe figure she had never looked lovelier.
Cedric turned and glanced at the musicians who were trying to pack up as swiftly as possible. "Play another tune," he said.
"My lord," the head musician protested, a man with white hair and a nose like a smashed grape. "We cannot have the strings get wet!"
"Then enter the pagoda," he said firmly. "My wife wants to dance so you will play for us. I will compensate you. Play."
Only one of the men hesitated and even that man crumbled as his fellows shuffled towards the scant shelter of the pagoda and started setting up their instruments. It would no doubt cost him but the delight on Louisa's face was more than enough payment for the trouble.
"May I?" Cedric asked.
"Yes," she said, taking his hand in her own small delicate one. "I would be so pleased to dance with you."
The music bloomed around them as he spun her around the platform, rain soaking through to their skin. She looked like a water spirit, a weather goddess perhaps. She was so beautiful like this, the water did nothing to detract from her looks. It was like some strange painting of a mystical creature that was made to be seen only in tumultuous weather and he wondered if in some past life she had been a witch who had called down storms or a siren on a rock singing sweet songs to men who might hear her and follow her to their dooms.
He wanted to continue dancing like this forever. He wanted to hold her to him and not let go. She was beautiful, she was captivating and he felt more alive than he had in many years.
What spell are you casting on me, Louisa?He wondered.Where will this take us?
A rumble from above threatened more actual thunder than just rain. Louisa shrieked, half delighted and half scared, clinging to him tightly.
"Should we escape the thunder?" he asked with a laugh.
"Well we have braved one storm already," she said, breathless and wicked. "I feel that we don't need to brave another to prove our love."
He grinned at her, pleased that she remembered the story he had created for their meeting and swept his jacket off to hold above her head. "Fly then with my, my lady. We will find a fire and some brandy."
"I am in your hands, my lord," she said as he wrapped one arm around her waist and swept her towards the manor house and shelter. For some reason her words made his heart clench at the sense of responsibility that came with them. He could not let her down.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The sky was clear, and the sun beat brightly down on the estate as Kenneth and Abigail rushed out of the house and through the gardens, holding hands and laughing heartily. Louisa and Cedric trailed behind them, falling into step together as she shaded her eyes with her parasol and he hitched the large wicker picnic basket higher into the crook of his arm. Louisa glanced across at him, noting the lines of tension settling around his eyes.
"Is it heavy, my lord?"
Cedric broke out of wherever his thoughts had taken him, meeting her eyes and raising one eyebrow in that maddening way of his. "Surely I'm not giving you that impression, my dear?"
"Your eyes are all tense. I wondered if you might like a hand is all." Louisa batted her eyelashes innocently, waiting for him to take the bait.
"Well, it's not heavy. It's fine. Everything's fine." They turned past the orchard and began descending the small hill down to the river. The children had already reached their destination and were running back and forth along the riverbank. Cedric watched the children, and Louisa watched Cedric, and finally he relented. "I suppose I am a little apprehensive is all."
"Do you not trust me to arrange a family picnic?"
Cedric turned quickly to look at Louisa, the mischief in her eyes showing she was only teasing him. He smiled back at her. "I'm sure the picnic will be delicious. After all, I hired cook, I know she is skilled."
Louisa laughed a little, relieved at the friendly back and forth. Their interactions with each other had been feeling somehow lighter over the past few days, and she was glad the good mood was continuing. "So, if you're not concerned over the picnic…" she prompted.
Cedric sighed. "I'm concerned that the children do not like me much. Or at least don't feel at ease with me. I'm sure they'd much rather spend time with you alone. Kenneth especially seems to adore you."
They had almost reached the spot on the riverbank that the children had selected, but Louisa placed her hand gently on his arm, making him pause. "Kenneth is a beautiful soul who is likely to adore most anyone who cherishes and spends time with him. I am sure the children like you. And I am sure that they feel safe with you. But if they do not feel at ease with you yet, Ithink it's because they don't know you. They are bereaved, and you are bereaved and busy, and the time just has not existed. But today we have time, and today we will become more at ease with each other as a family. And I promise I will be here to smooth the path." She squeezed his arm lightly, trying to convey her sincerity to him.
Cedric found her eyes and yet again she felt electricity fill her veins at his gaze.
Cedric was touched by her sincerity, and at the care she had so obviously taken over her plan. When she had first informed him that they were going to have a picnic lunch down the river, he had been rather reluctant to join in. He had a lot to do before he went out to the Gentlemen's Club with his friends later in the evening, and perhaps more pressingly he still couldn't shake off the notion that the twins were somehow afraid of him. Cedric liked to think he was not an obtuse man. He noticed them become quieter when he entered a room, saw them stiffen and draw away. No, he had thought, let them enjoy themselves with Louisa. They won't want me tagging along and making it a formal affair.
