They all laughed. And the house door opened and the Marquess of Roath stepped out onto the terrace where they sat.
“What a perfect day for tea outdoors,” he said, bending over the wheeled chair to kiss his sister on the cheek. “Lady Philippa? Lady Stephanie?”
He smiled at them with an ease of manner Philippa hoped she was matching. He must have known they were here. He might easily have avoided them.
“Do pull up a chair,” Jenny said. “I will have another cup and saucer and plate brought out for you.” She reached a hand to the little silver bell beside her plate, but her brother stayed her with a gesture of his own hand.
“I merely came to pay my respects,” he said. “Far be it from me to insert myself into a gathering of ladies.”
Stephanie, who had wanted to know the day before yesterday when Philippa returned from the park what Lord Roath had said to her, how he hadlookedat her, how shefeltabout him, smiled warmly at him.
“Pippa and I have been invited to go with Lady Jenny and Lady Catherine Emmett to watch your niece and nephews fly their kite in Hyde Park,” she told him. “Will you be there too, Lord Roath?”
“I believe,” he said, “the nephews and niece, together with their mama and papa, would expel me from the family and have me cast into outer darkness if I failed to put in an appearance.” His eyes twinkled at her.
“I shall greatly look forward to it,” Stephanie said, clasping her hands to her bosom. “So will Pippa.”
And he turned his eyes, no longer quite twinkling, upon her and held her gaze for an uncomfortable moment.
“I will leave you ladies to your conversation,” he said then, and returned to the house and shut the door behind him.
“I believe helikesyou, Pippa,” Stephanie said.
Philippa raised her clasped hands to her mouth and thought she might well die of embarrassment.
“You and I are going to get along famously, Stephanie,” Jenny said. “I absolutely agree with you. But we must not embarrass your sister further. Tell me the names of those books you said you borrowed from the library this morning. You are a voracious reader, by the sound of it.”
“Ihaveembarrassed you, Pippa,” Stephanie said, her voice full of contrition. “I am so sorry. Mama would look sorrowfully at me, and Miss Field would scold and remind me that a ladyalwaysconsiders the effect her words may have upon her listenersbeforeshe utters them.”
“The names of the books?” Jenny asked with a smile.
If they only knew,Philippa thought.
Chapter Eight
The crystal ball that lives on the top shelf of the toy cupboard in the nursery, gathering dust and never leaving London,” Sylvester, Viscount Mayberry, explained to his brother-in-law at White’s three days later, “predicts sunshine and moderate winds for tomorrow after the two days of drizzle and nary a breath of a breeze we have suffered through for the past couple of days. Formal letters of invitation have gone out for the viewing of a kite launch in Hyde Park. Yours should be awaiting you when you return to Berkeley Square. We can rely upon your coming, it is to be hoped?”
“I would not miss it for worlds,” Lucas said with a grin. And it was perfectly true. He would not. He doted upon those children. And at least he would not be facing the dilemma of whether he should offer to escort Lady Philippa Ware. Her sister had told him they were to go with Aunt Kitty and Jenny.
He had not gone out of his way to avoid Lady Philippa in the last several days. Indeed, he had even stepped out onto the terrace that one afternoon to pay his respects for fear Jenny and his auntmight remark upon it if he did not. Apart from that they had been able to avoid any close encounter with each other.
He had learned from his aunt at dinner last evening that Lady Philippa had made her court appearance and been presented to the queen. She could therefore be considered officiallyout.That meant she would now be attending the larger, more glittering entertainments of the Season, some of the grander of the balls in particular. But it was news he had been expecting. It made no difference to anything, not for him at least.
It was time he started going to more of the grand balls too, though. The only one he had attended so far had not been particularly memorable except for the fact that he had been introduced to one of theton’s grand dames, Lady Rochester, who had looked at him through her long-handled lorgnette as though he were a worm but had deigned nevertheless to present him to her great-niece, Lady Morgan Bedwyn, who was without a doubt one of the most eligible young ladies on the market this year, if notthemost. She was the younger sister of the Duke of Bewcastle, who was reputed to be the haughtiest of all British aristocrats. Lady Morgan was a handsome, dark-haired young lady—veryyoung, in fact—but she had looked at him, after nodding an acknowledgment of his existence, as though she already knew he was going to be a great bore. She had looked the same way at every other man who made his bow to her, though, Lucas had observed afterward with some amusement. Now,therewas surely a young woman who had no interest whatsoever in choosing a husband just yet. He did not ask for the honor of a dance with her—or with anyone else either, to his shame. He had made his escape as soon as he decently could after an hour had passed and his hostess’s back was turned.
He was going to have to do better in the future.
His invitation to the kite launch was indeed awaiting him at Arden House. Apparently his aunt and his sister had received one too. As he himself had suggested, the greeting and the closing were in the large handwriting of a five-year-old who reversed a few of the letters and mixed capitals indiscriminately with lowercase letters. The body had been written with painstaking neatness by his younger nephew.
“The pleasure of our company,”Aunt Kitty said, chuckling as she quoted some of her own letter. “That boy is eight years old going on thirty-eight.”
“He read me one of his stories a couple of days ago,” Jenny said. “It was remarkably good for a child his age. It had a beginning, a middle, and an end and did not let go of the suspense until the last possible moment. I was quite terrified that the villain was going to vanquish the hero, but of course he did not. There was no heroine, alas. Susan remarked upon it, but Raymond merely rolled his eyes and asked why therewouldbe a heroine when it was anadventurestory. Alas for the bland fate of women, who are not allowed to have adventures or participate in anyone else’s.”
“Pippa and Stephanie Ware are going to come with us,” Aunt Kitty said. “Clarissa too if I can persuade her to change her mind. I am sure the children would welcome her. It was very sweet of them to include Pippa’s sister in her invitation after Jenny had suggested it to them.”
“They would be delighted if the Prince Regent were to put in an appearance,” Lucas said. “It would not surprise me to hear they had sent him an invitation.”
“Well,” Aunt Kitty said, laughing, “I just hope for the children’s sake that tomorrow does not turn out to be one of those still days that will not even flutter a feather in one’s bonnet. Howdisappointed they would be. I hope too it is not so windy that all the feathers would blow completelyoutof one’s bonnet and away to the ends of the earth. And rain would be something of a disaster.”
