She took the proffered pork pie from their picnic basket and looked around the blanket where her other cousins sat. In her opinion, it was the wrong time of year for a picnic, but Mavis had insisted they come to Hyde Park to beseen.
“It’s cold,” Kitty complained, wrapping a shawl tighter around her mother.
“Now, now, no complaining,” Mavis said, sitting tall and pushing back the blonde hair that her children had inherited from her. “Out here, you shall be seen by all the gentlemen of the ton. It is important to be seen, you know.”
“Yes, yes, we know,” Kitty said dismissively. “Hester and Evelyn hardly need to be seen though. They are on their way to being married already.”
“Yes, indeed.” Mavis laid a hand on Hester’s cheek and squeezed it lovingly, not acknowledging Evelyn’s part in the conversation.
Oh dear. They do not know.
Evelyn opened the diary she had bought with her and absent-mindedly started sketching as she thought of what Mr. Windham had done. She hadn’t seen him since the ball and in truth, had no wish to see him ever again. Why would she want to marry a man who would kiss another woman before they were even wed? No, she could not stand for it. If Mr. Windham did ask her to marry him, she would turn him down.
Distracted, she stared at the figure she had recreated on the page. It was the tall, masked man she had met out on the balcony. Shocked to see him recreated so well on the page, she stared at him in wonder.
She had barely seen any of his face that night. For all she knew, he could not be handsome at all, but that was not what had mattered to her, nor was it why she had kissed him. There was something in those hazel eyes that had entranced her, but most of all, it was his words. He had been humorous, and captivating, to the extent that when he spoke about kissing, her curiosity to know what it was like had gotten the better of her.
I cannot believe I kissed him! What sort of woman am I now?
“Have you seen this?” Hester waved another scandal sheet in the air. “It has just been published this morning. They say the Duke of Ravensworth was seen at the ball the other night. The one we went to.”
“I presumed as much,” Bridget chimed in.
“He was? Then he must have been disguised well,” Mavis observed. “I did not see him there.”
“Yet he was there.” Hester waved the scandal sheet once more. It was snatched away by Kitty who pored over the article with eagerness.
“His Grace, the Duke of Ravensworth, was seen in the company of his friend, Lord Linfield. Rumors say that he once more was trying to conquer a woman’s heart at the ball.”Kitty giggled outrageously loudly, much to the annoyance of Bridget and Mavis who both shushed her.
“What do you think of such a man, Evelyn?” Bridget asked.
Startled to be drawn into the conversation, Evelyn closed up the diary in her lap, blocking out the view of the masked man from the ball. She had been admiring how his dark blond hair had been swept back past his ears, into the smallest of ponytails at the back of his head.
“The Duke of Ravensworth?” Evelyn said in a small voice. “I have never met him.”
“Yes, but what do you think of his reputation, child,” Mavis said with an exasperated sigh. “Honestly, you do need to start paying attention in conversations, Evelyn.”
“I think what reputations are and what people say are not one and the same thing.” She took the scandal sheet out of Kitty’s hands and read the words about the Duke of Ravensworth. “It speaks here of this rake trying to capture women’s hearts. Surely, he does not go that far if he moves on between women so fast. Any man wishing to seduce a woman…” She paused, thinking of the way she had seen Mr. Windham locked in an embrace with the young woman. “They are not after her heart.”
“Oh, Evelyn.” Hester giggled with a hand over her lips, as if she knew she should not. Bridget bristled, sitting taller and snatching the scandal sheet out of Evelyn’s grasp.
“Well, you have never met him, have you?” Bridget said with something of a sharp tone as she looked down at the scandal sheet. “I suppose such men do not concern themselves with quieter women of the ton. You know, wallflowers. They’ll go for other sorts of women. You are more suited to Mr. Windham.”
“I suppose so, dear,” Mavis said and suddenly gestured away with her gloved hand.
“The dull cloud,” Kitty added in a low tone. Hester struck her around the hand, trying to quiet her. Before any more could be said, Mavis looked away, her attention caught by a group of gentlemen walking down the path.
“Good lord, is that Lord Merriweather? Smile girls, smile.”
Yet Evelyn didn’t bother to smile at all. She was looking at Bridget, thinking how expertly her cousin had managed to manufacture the insult and slide it into conversation as if it was nothing.
Evelyn didn’t want to be appealing to a man like the Duke of Ravensworth, so she knew she shouldn’t be insulted by the words, but the feeling was there all the same. Her hands gripped to the diary in her lap as she no longer felt good enough for anyone. Even the ‘dull’ Mr. Windham didn’t really want her.
“Oh, Evelyn dear, that reminds me.” Mavis turned to face her as Lord Merriweather and his friends walked on. “Mr. Windham is coming for dinner tonight.”
“Dinner? Whatever for?”
“To see you of course.” Mavis laughed as if Evelyn was a dumb child. “He says he has some big news to share with us all.”
