“No, we have a quiet supper planned at the Lindens’ home tonight.”
“How unfortunate for the rest of us! You always find something witty to say. Well, what about Thursday, then? Lord and Lady Pearson are having a ball after Ladies’ Day. You mustn’t disappoint me twice in one week.”
“I believe we’re attending that.” Jane smiled. “Though Lady Kerr is the one maintaining our social calendar. I’ll need to check with her.”
Enough of this.
“Shall we go up to our seats?” Eli cut in, extending his arm to Jane. “It must be almost time for the procession. I’m sure your uncle and cousin are waiting on us.”
In fact, Mr. Bishop was laughing over something with Mr. Linden a few feet ahead, while Lady Kerr held a necklace up to herself in a mirror. Neither of them looked particularly bothered over the time. No matter. They would be happy to go up once he suggested it.
MacPherson blinked in surprise. “Oh. Yes. I suppose we should all find our places. I’ll see you later, Miss Bishop. I hope you enjoy the races.” He lingered over his goodbye long enough that Eli made a point of looking at his watch and clearing his throat midway through.
Once they were finally rid of the man, they gathered up the others and climbed the stairs to the balcony.
“How do you know Mr. MacPherson?” Eli asked in what he hoped was a nonchalant tone as he led Jane up the first flight.
“He’s simply a friend.” She pursed her lips and offered no further insight on the subject, where a few more words might have been welcome. Something like,I think of him as a brother I’m not fond of,or, Terrible shame about his festering syphilis.
As they came out on the balcony, Jane clutched his arm tightly, pressing against his side. The unexpected contact made his blood pump a little faster, until he realized what had prompted it. The view from up here was a dizzying sight. No roof shielded spectators from the sky, nor did anything much in the way of rails or walls protect those on the upper- and outer-most levels from a fall.
That’s right. She’s afraid of heights.
“I’ve got you,” Eli assured her, placing his hand atop hers for good measure. “There’s my father near the middle. We won’t be on the edge. Will you be all right?”
“I—of course.” Jane looked up at him in surprise, a nervous laugh escaping her lips. “It’s silly of me.”
“Not at all,” he murmured.
She continued to hold him tightly as they navigated the crowd to their seats, and then she released him all at once, pulling her hands back into her lap as though they’d never touched. Eli swallowed. He supposed it made him a bit of a bastard to have enjoyed the contact when it was born out of fear. But he couldn’t help it after the way she’d kissed him. He could smell her scent again. Lilacs andsomething more essential that was only her. He wanted to bend his head down to rest on Jane’s hair and inhale until she filled his lungs. And after that, he wanted to do several things that would require a good deal more privacy.
Instead, Eli waited until she stopped twisting her hands in her lap and some of the tension left the set of her shoulders. She seemed to have settled into her place and gotten over her nerves at being on the balcony now.
He leaned toward her ear and spoke in a low pitch that wouldn’t carry in the hum of the crowd.
“I still intend to talk to you.”
Jane tensed at the words. His voice was too inviting. It did things to her. Not to mention, she’d been clinging to Eli for dear life only a moment before. It was terribly inconvenient, her natural tendency to turn toward him when she should be pushing him away.
She replied a good deal more loudly than Eli had. “Certainly. Do you have any favorites for the races, Lieutenant?”
What a stupid question. She knew he didn’t. They’d already talked about this. Her brain seemed to have stopped functioning.
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.” The muscle in his jaw was working, which Jane found irrationally attractive.
She didn’t reply.
Eli persisted in a whisper, without any regard for the crowd. “If you won’t speak with me at the house, then I’ll have to do it here. I only ask you to have the decency to put an end to my confusion. One minute you seem to hate me, the next you…don’t. What are you playing at, Jane?”
“It’s Miss Bishop,” she hissed. No one seemed to have overheardthem, but even so. Cecily flanked his other side, in conversation with her husband. What if she were to turn her attention back this way? “The procession is starting. You’ll miss it.”
Eli burned her with his gaze before he turned back toward the heath, where several landaus were rolling slowly out in parade before the eager crowd. The guard came first, followed by the royal kennel master with his hounds, the royal stable master, and all manner of other royal persons in the coterie, all very finely dressed.
Jane’s thoughts were racing loud enough to swallow the murmurs that rose up from the stands. How was she to answer Eli?
I have no idea what I’m playing at.The feelings he provoked in her were very different from hatred, but in a strange way, they weren’t different at all. When he hurt her, it stung fiercely. When she kissed him, it ached. Either way, it pierced straight through her.
The Queen passed below them, resplendent in her finery. Her dark hair was parted down the middle into ringlets, and she wore an elaborate gown of emerald green with silver lace and a matching silver hat. Jane couldn’t see her jewels from here, only that she wore some, and they sparkled. Her mother sat beside her, looking out upon the crowd imperiously.
