The carriage announced itself before Alice could identify its occupants, an open barouche of evident quality, its lacquered panels gleaming with a luster that suggested both expense and excellent maintenance. But it was the woman standing in its interior, waving with the unapologetic delight of someone who had never learned to temper joy for propriety.
"There you are!" Eden Langley, Marchioness Blacstone’s voice carried across the promenade with cheerful disregard for public decorum. Her dark curls had escaped their pins, and her hazel eyes sparkled with the brightness of a woman who had found happiness and refused to apologize for it. “We have been circling for twenty minutes. Gabriel, I told you they'd be walking rather than sitting like sensible people."
Gabriel Langley, Marquess of Blackstone,brought the carriage to a halt with the competence that characterized everything he did. His dark hair caught the sunlight as he descended, revealing strands of copper Alice had never noticed before, and his green eyes held a warmth reserved for his wife and closest friends. The transformation in him since the previous summer, since the kiss that had bound him to Eden and seemingly rescued him from his brooding habits, remained one of the more remarkable changes Alice had witnessed.
"Lady Blackstone has theories about everyone," Gabriel observed, offering his hand to help Eden down from the carriage with careful attention that suggested he still marveled at his right to touch her. "Most of them unflattering."
"Not unflattering." Eden landed on the path with the grace of a woman who had spent more of her life outdoors than society strictly approved. "Simply accurate. There is a distinction."
She embraced Alice warmly, and Alice returned it with equal fervor. The friendship that had blossomed between them over the years, nurtured through letters, visits, and the bond of women who had chosen unconventional paths, had become one of the unexpected gifts of her life.
"You look startlingly happy," Eden declared, pulling back to examine Alice with the frankness ofsomeone who had never learned to disguise her opinions. "Both of you. It is almost offensive."
"We aim to offend," Samuel replied, nodding to Gabriel in mutual recognition between men who had discovered they liked each other despite initial skepticism. "Though I confess, the happiness was unexpected. I had been led to believe marriage would be considerably more miserable."
Gabriel's laugh was low and genuine. "You were misinformed. As was I."
The four of them fell into step together, moving along the promenade with the easy coordination of people who enjoyed one another's company. The park pulsed with the energy of a London afternoon, the rustle of silk gowns as fashionable women strolled beneath parasols, the distant strains of a military band playing something stirring, and the murmur of conversation punctuated by bursts of laughter.
"Tell me everything," Eden demanded, linking her arm through Alice's and leaving the gentlemen to follow. "Clara's letters have been maddeningly brief. What’s the news of the Season? Who has scandalized whom? Has Lord Weatherton finally proposed to that dreadful Pemberton girl?"
"Lord Weatherton proposed to his valet," Alice replied, relishing Eden’s shocked expression. "Metaphorically speaking. He’s fled to the Continent with a pointed letter declining all future social obligations. His mother has taken to her bed."
"No!"
"I have it on good authority." Alice inhaled the summer air, filled with the scents of grass, flowers, horses, and the unmistakable aroma of elaborate dresses. "The Pemberton girl, meanwhile, has turned her attention to that young baron with the unfortunate teeth. Her mother seems optimistic."
Eden's laugh rang out, the sound of a woman who had escaped London’s strictures for the relative freedom of Yorkshire and now viewed the ton's machinations as entertainment rather than an obstacle. "I do miss this," she admitted. "Gabriel would happily never attend another London event, but I find the gossip rather enjoyable."
"Speaking of events..." Alice glanced back at Samuel and Gabriel, walking in comfortable silence, their long strides in sync. "Clara's charitable venture is moving forward. She’s organized something for next month, an auction, I believe, with proceeds to benefit something worthy that I have forgotten."
"Orphans," Samuel supplied, having apparently been listening more closely than his distant expression suggested. "Or possibly widows. Clara's causes tend to blur together."
"The woman is a saint," Gabriel remarked dryly. "Crispin must find it exhausting."
"Crispin finds nothing exhausting except the company of boring people." Alice smiled at the thought of her dear friends husband, whose boundless energy and scheming had contributed to her happiness. “He is already planning something for autumn, a hunt, I believe, with complications I do not pretend to understand."
"Complications meaning matchmaking," Eden translated.
"Naturally. He has decided that everyone he knows should be as happily paired as he is, and he is prepared to manipulate extensively to achieve it."
Samuel made a sound that could have been disapproval or amusement. "Crispin has an alarming tendency toward orchestration."
"My husband," Alice corrected, leaning slightly into his side, feeling his arm adjust to her, "has learned to tolerate a certain amount of frivolity since our marriage. I consider it one of my greater accomplishments."
"Tolerate?" Samuel’s eyebrow rose with precision. “I have learned to enjoy it under duress."
His lips curved into a smile that contradicted his words, and Eden made a sound of exaggerateddisgust. “I believe you two are worse than we are," she announced. "Gabriel, are we this nauseating?"
"Undoubtedly." Gabriel’s response was immediate, and the warmth in his voice when he looked at his wife suggested he found the nausea entirely worthwhile.
A pair of young women passed them in the opposite direction, their pastel gowns and neatly arranged curls marking them as debutantes navigating their first Season. They glanced at the Blackstone’s with barely concealed fascination. The scandalous marriage that had been last summer's gossip still held public interest, and Alice felt a flicker of sympathy. She remembered what it had felt like to be young and uncertain, desperate to mask the chaos within.
She did not miss it.
"The music's changed," Eden observed, tilting her head toward the distant band with pleasure. "Something with an actual melody. Gabriel, remind me why we left Yorkshire?"
"Parliament," he replied. "Your mother. My solicitor."
