“Oh, very well.” Sophie set aside the parasol and pulled off her gloves. “Just a moment!”
“Be careful,” he warned. “The rocks can be slippery.”
Remembering her shoes and stockings, Sophie hesitated.
Noticing the direction of her gaze, he patted the blanket beside him. “Come closer. I’ll help.”
Her face heated. “Thank you, but I can do it myself.”
He said in a low voice, “No one is near. And we are playing roles, remember?”
He slid nearer, grasped her half boot, and—laying one ankle onto his own outstretched leg—began untying and loosening the laces.
Embarrassed, Sophie protested, “That’s quite all right, Captain. I am perfectly capable of—”
“Shh.” He made quick work of removing one half boot, then shifted to the second. Her face burned at the thought of him reaching up her skirt to roll down her stockings. No. That would not do. Not here. Not... anywhere. When he set aside the second boot, she scrambled to her feet.
“Th-thank you, Captain.”
She stepped behind a stout evergreen for privacy and removed her stockings herself. Avoiding his gaze, she discreetly tucked them into her boot tops before turning toward the bank. The captain, she noticed, had yanked off his own boots as well.
By now, Kate and Angela had reached the other side of the stream and were waving her over.
Sophie stepped carefully onto the first rock, then to the next with ease. But the farther out she went, the farther apart the rocks were spaced, something she had not realized from shore. She hopped from one rock to the next, and wavered, stretching out her arms as Kate had done to balance herself. She judged the distance to the next rock—it was even farther away. How had Kate and Angela made it look so easy? She felt suddenly dizzy and off-balance. She would go back. But when she tried to turn on her narrow perch, she teetered, almost losing her balance. The rock she had just come from suddenly seemed too far away. What was wrong with her? Perspiration itched along her brow, and she tasted bile.
Splash, splash, splash.Footsteps slapped through water and suddenly Captain Overtree was there, hands on her elbows, steadying her, heedless of the water darkening his buff trousers.
“Steady. I’ve got you.”
“Oh no, your clothes. I’m sorry. I have lost my balance and my nerve. Foolish of me, I know. It’s only water.”
“Are you all right?”
“Of course. I...” Her skin prickled, and spots dotted her vision like a lace curtain. She felt herself sway.
A moment later she found herself lifted in his arms. She uttered a little cry of protest and, fearing she might fall, wrapped her hands around his neck. His arms supported her knees and back, her side pressed to his abdomen. She was in Captain Overtree’s arms—her husband’s arms, she reminded herself—and felt off-balance for an entirely different reason.
“What’s wrong?” Kate called. “Is she all right?”
Sophie faltered, “I am well, just—”
“Just a ploy to get me to take her in my arms,” the captain called back in teasing tones.
Sophie looked at him askance, but inwardly applauded his tact in easing Kate’s anxiety, and her own.
Well played, Captain. Well played.
The picnic ended soon after that. The footman and groom packed up, and Mr. Keith returned to shore empty-handed, not managing a single catch—fish or female.
chapter 14
The next afternoon, the girls had another dress fitting to endure. As Sophie left her bedchamber for the appointment, she noticed Captain Overtree climbing the stairs to the attic and assumed, or at least hoped, he was going to visit Miss Whitney.
Mrs. Pannet and her assistant returned with the tacked-up dresses, which, in her estimation, were coming along nicely. Kate’s gown had remained simple, as planned, but the dressmaker had decided to embellish Sophie’s, since the new Mrs. Overtree would be an honored guest for the party. She had added chenille embroidery, and ribbon trimming at the shoulder for height and elegance. Blue rosettes adorned the bodice, and the white skirt was shot through with the same blue threads. She also planned to add a flounced hem of the same blue, if madame approved.
Both Mrs. Overtrees heartily did so.
When her fitting ended some twenty or thirty minutes later, Sophie went up to Miss Whitney’s room. She assumed Captain Overtree would still be there and decided to join them, taking the ginger biscuits she’d saved from the picnic the day before.
