“I know that,” Lavinia said. “I would change your partnership if I could, truly, but the hunt has already begun. Look. Everyone else has found their partner and begun to search. It’s too late to make a trade.”
“So, you really are going to do this. You’re going to stick me with the Duke when you know that all I want is to be separated from him.”
“Edwina, I didn’t do it on purpose. You know that I didn’t. If I could change it now, I would.”
“Why didn’t you change it when the names were drawn? You must have known how I would respond!”
“I guessed. But I wanted to give you the chance, Edwina, and see whether you might take it well,” Lavinia explained.
“I am not taking it well.”
“No, I can see that you’re not. Edwina, please, for me…please don’t make a scene about this. It’s only for a short while. Do you really want to sit out the treasure hunt over something like this?”
“No, of course, I don’t want to sit out—I want to play! But I just can’t believe that I have to play withhim.” She sighed. “This is a calamity.”
“Do you want me to intervene? You could always be my partner. I could send Seth to partner Allan.”
“No, it will be all right.” Edwina had only been complaining for the fun of it, really, enjoying the look on her sister’s face. In truth, this was not the worst situation she had ever faced. Itwasonly for a short time. She would survive it.
The Duke was awaiting her beneath an oak tree. She joined him. “I suppose I ought to thank you for waiting and not simply going ahead without me,” she said.
“I wouldn’t have done that.”
“I never know what you would or wouldn’t do. You seem to have no low to which you wouldn’t stoop.”
“I want to speak to you about that,” he said. “About my behavior last night.”
“There’s no need.” He was either going to apologize or else he was going to explain to her why his words had been justified, and she didn’t want to hear either one. There was no excuse for the way he’d spoken about her—insinuating that she was a fool because she was a woman and a spinster and because she believed in love. Love was theonlyreason to marry, in Edwina’s opinion. She knew it existed because she had seen her sister find it. She had seen how happy it had made Lavinia.
Her offhand comment last night about how marriage was something that should only come from love—she hadn’t meant to start a debate with that, nor had she been particularly interested in the Duke’s opinion on the topic. Truth be told, she had said it as much to dissuade Lord Kentrow from thoughts of marrying her as anything else.
If only she had been paired withhimfor today’s treasure hunt! That would have been so much less objectionable—so much more tolerable.
“I do want to talk to you about last night, though,” the Duke insisted. “If you would permit me…”
She shook her head and turned away before he could say anything more. “We ought to begin, Your Grace, or we won’thave any luck,” she said. “The other teams have started without us. Come, let’s go.”
She hurried away from him, forcing him to chase after her.
She knew she was making it impossible for him to talk to her, and she was glad of that, for she had no desire at all to speak to him. She did want to participate in the treasure hunt, but if she had not so powerfully wished to do that, she would have returned to her room just to avoid this encounter.
He caught up with her. “Lady Edwina,” he pleaded, “please. There’s no need to rush around in this way.”
“It’s a competition, Your Grace. Surely you don’t wish to lose.”
“I don’t care if we win or lose,” he admitted.
“That’s not the kind of man I took you for. I thought proving yourself was of the utmost importance to you. That’s certainly what you always made me believe,” she said. “That’s the reason you put so much time and energy into trying to win me over, is it not? You didn’t wish to admit defeat. Am I wrong?”
“I’ve certainly admitted defeat when it comes to you at this point,” he replied. “We’ve agreed to move on from all that, so there’s no need for us to go through this any longer.”
“And yet here we are,” she observed, “partnered together for the scavenger hunt. Quite the coincidence, wouldn’t you say?”
“I hadn’t thought about it. What of it?”
“You didn’t know that we would be made partners for this? You didn’t have your hand in it somehow?”
“Are you accusing me of arranging our partnership?”
