“But surely as Duke he should attend,” Adeline said. “The people in the village will include many of his own tenants, will it not?”
The door opened at that moment, and Winston came in. He stopped as the words left Adeline’s mouth. His dark blue eyes came to rest on her, his expression cold.
“My tenants?” he asked.
“Adeline was just saying that the village will include many of your tenants, Papa, and it would be a good reason for you to attend the fete with us,” Louisa said, hopefully.
The ice melted, and Winston took his seat, running a hand over Lousia’s head fondly. He sat and shared a glare between Cordelia and Adeline.
“I imagine many good reasons have been posited. You know I dislike such occasions, Mother.”
“I think it would be good for Louisa,” Adeline said, feeling as though she were speaking to a different person than the man who had sat on the floor of her bedroom with her.
“You are taking your duties seriously,” Winston said.
“I am, and I do.”
“Please, Papa…” Louisa began.
Adeline cut her off firmly. If she were to act as the girl’s governess, she did not think that she could also be her best friend. And Winston might take her seriously in the role if she showed some firmness. She gently put a hand on Louisa’s arm.
“Louisa, it is not for a child to persuade her father. Particularly not when he is a Duke. Let's not harangue him.”
Winston’s eyes narrowed, and he opened his mouth to speak. Then, he closed it again.
I do believe he intended to gainsay me. If I said the sky was blue, he would argue with me!
Adeline looked at Winston with an open face, inviting his frostiness or his hostility. She would accept both.
I will prove to you that I can be a useful addition to this household. An indispensable one. I must if I am to survive the damage that Robert Grebe could do to my standing.
“Very well. I will attend in the morning only. I will not spend all day there. I have too much to do.”
That was enough for Louisa who launched herself at her father and hug him. Adeline caught Winston’s eye as he smiled in response to his daughter’s excitement. He wiped the smile immediately. But Adeline had seen it. He was human after all.
Chapter Ten
The village of Greytonwic was rarely quiet, but on the day of the fair, it seemed to positively boil. Stalls crowded the cobbled streets, bright with bunting and ribbons. The scent of spiced cider and roasting meat drifted through the air, mingled with the cries of merchants competing to be heard over the fiddlers and drummers. Children darted about with sticky hands, women bargained fiercely over bolts of cloth, and a pair of jugglers dropped flaming brands to delighted shrieks.
“Oh, your money has been used to marvelous effect by the Parish Council!” Cordelia enthused. “And mine too, of course.”
“I have funded this?” Winston asked.
“An endowment was created ages ago by your great-grandfather to supply five pigs and twenty barrels of cider for the fair. I created my own endowment so that the village might have the funds to employ acrobats and musicians and such. Oh, what a spectacle. Well done, Winston!”
She grinned mischievously. Adeline felt as though she had stepped into another world, a world that was chaotic, loud, and unrestrained in a way a great house could never be permitted to be.
Though I have known a chaotic house but not the joy that accompanies this chaos.
She had the impression that Winston would have been content to watch from the safety of the carriage, but the Dowager Duchess and his own daughter had insisted on alighting and walking among the common folk. Cordelia claimed that she had been cooped up far too long with dusty footmen and tired sermons. Louisa was certainly ready for a diversion. It had been three days since Winston had agreed to attend, during which she had diligently learned the lessons that Adeline set for her, always with her eye on the fete to come.
Cordelia walked ahead, escorted by her footman and playing the role of the Queen of the Fair to the hilt. She was dressed as though for a ball and clearly reveled in the attention she got. Adeline weaved through the crowd with Louisa at one side and Winston at the other.
He had offered his arm to his daughter, but Louisa’s path was too erratic. Her desire to see and experience everything led her to set her own pace. Adeline was left walking beside Winston, their shoulders perilously near as the crowd pressed them together. He smelled faintly of tobacco and leather, scents that clung stubbornly to him and made her pulse jump against her will.
Tobacco is bitter and leather musty. They are not pleasant aromas, and I would not linger in a room that smelled of them. So why should I be attracted to such scents when they are stuck to a man?
“Do you always frown so ferociously at merriment?” she asked, tilting her chin to glance up at him.
