Briefly, she wondered if he was teasing her again, but his eyes were shuttered against the bright sunshine, and he was behaving like a perfectly respectable gentleman. She inhaled deeply. She had to be reasonable; only fools would go their separate ways now because of propriety.
‘I believe Lady Aurelia was trying to entertain everyone,’ she offered, as they turned a new corner.
It wasn’t a complete untruth, she reasoned, though she knew Aurelia was thinking mostly of herself. Lord Rotherby smiled politely, yet she felt the oddest impulse to keep talking and filling the air between them.
Fortunately, at that same moment, the hedge followed around a wide corner and brought them face to face with a gleaming white sculpture, set back in a small alcove.
‘Oh, how beautiful!’ she exclaimed. ‘Does it have a name?’
‘It does,’ Lord Rotherby confirmed, as they came to a standstill. ‘It’s Canova’sCupid’s Kiss, and is supposedly the moment Psyche is awakened from a death-like sleep with a kiss from Cupid, her husband.
‘But why was she in the death-like sleep?’ Sophie quizzed. ‘What happened to her?’
‘I believe she lost a forfeit,’ he replied, pan-faced. ‘Or perhaps it was a wager?’
Sophie noticed his lips twitching and chuckled, despite herself.
‘I don’t believe she lost anything,’ she countered. ‘Look at her face. She’s sublimely happy!’
‘Appearances can be deceptive,’ he mused after a beat, ‘though I believe Psyche was supposed to have opened some kind of forbidden box. It’s the part of the story that has always fascinated me, for how many of us wouldn’t do the same?’
Sophie stared at the sculpture, pondering how sorely tempted she would be to lift the lid on any forbidden box. It was hard enough when a letter arrived addressed to one of her sisters.
‘Curiosityisa part of human nature,’ she murmured, mostly to herself.
‘Indeed, though society rarely forgives it,’ he returned.
She glanced up then, suddenly aware of his subtle cologne. It was entirely unlike her brothers’, with soft lavender and citrus notes, and for some reason it prompted a faint warmth to steal across her cheeks. He glanced back, and for just a second his eyes gleamed with something other than amusement.
‘Fortunately for us, Apuleius wrote a happy ending,’ he continued in a brighter tone, ‘and I believe we shall have the same because this corridor leads directly to the folly. Shall we?’
Sophie nodded, suddenly needing to be among more people, even if they did number Aurelia. Lord Rotherby was witty and knowledgeable, but he was also distinctly unnerving, with a talent for making her feel like a hapless ingenue.
Which is what you are, after all,she muttered to herself, as she hurried down the last length of yew, before finally emerging in the centre.
Exhaling in relief, she swept her gaze around the small, enclosed area to spy the rest of her party beneath an old cherry tree that was just beginning to bud with tiny pearls of spring.
‘Well, look who decided to grace us with her company,’ Aurelia called from the pretty gazebo beneath the tree.
‘I do believe you arethelast, Miss Fairfax, which means you must pay the winner’s forfeit as a matter of honour. And since I am the winner…’
She broke off to smile triumphantly, while Sophie cursed all noblemen and their concepts of honour in a very unladylike mutter.
‘In fairness,’ a low tone interrupted, ‘and if you will accept a wild-card entry, I may actually be last?’
Conscious of a blur of gratitude and annoyance, Sophie glanced back to see an unruffled figure emerge from the maze behind her.
‘Lord Rotherby!’ Aurelia exclaimed, starting forward amid flounces of shimmering lavender.
‘Accompanying Miss Fairfax…how exceptionally diverting! Your wild-card entry is most certainly accepted, and as the very last, it looks as thoughyoumust pay a forfeit instead. Do you wish to know what it is?’
‘Wish may be a trifle strong,’ he drawled, coming to a standstill, ‘but pray do enlighten me all the same.’
‘Well,’ she paused, her eyes gleaming,’ your forfeit is to tell us who broke your heart, for that is the usual reason a bachelor becomes a rake, is it not?’
There was a moment’s shocked silence around the space, before everyone turned their gaze to Lord Rotherby, standing alone with a flint smile.
‘Oh, it’s not that terrible, is it?’ she cajoled. ‘After all, we ladies need to know if there’s any prospect of a vacancy at Rotherby House any time soon.’
