“What vigil?”
“The one that had you seated alone making forlorn sounding sighs as you pined after those handsome young officers.” The accusation sent blood rushing into Diana’s cheeks.
“I wasn’t pining.” She sat up straight, shifting her gaze from his arms and hands up to his face. A breeze floated across the lake, but his hair remained perfectly fixed in place.
“Of course you weren’t.” His mouth twitched, and Diana glanced away from him. He’d been pulling the oars through the water so easily that she hadn’t realized how briskly they were moving. Despite the marquess’s embarrassing observation, the refreshing feeling of floating across the water delivered a thrill she hadn’t expected. She released her hold on the bench and brushed a stray curl out of her eyes.
“Chaswick should ensure that you and your sisters learn to swim.” Greystone flicked a glance at her hand still clutching the bench, a shadow crossing his face so quickly she must have imagined it.
“Do be serious.” Floating on top of the water was one thing. Submerging oneself in it, quite another. “Lakes are always dirty. I doubt all those bugs and fish would appreciate me invading their territory.” She joked before realizing the marquess was quite serious.
“They’re more afraid of you than you are of them.” But then he shrugged, drawing her attention to his shoulders. They were just broad enough to be masculine but not so bulky as to ruin the effect of his finely cut jacket. “Besides, you needn’t learn in open water. Blackheart has a swimming bath,” he offered.
“You mean a pond at his country estate?”
“No. A man-made swimming bath here in London. It’s indoors—behind the ballroom at Heart Place. I’m sure Chaswick can make arrangements for you to learn there.”
But her brother already did far too much for them. “I don’t want to be a bother.” And because she was curious and because there was no need to impress him, she had to ask. “How did you know I was pining for someone?”
“Oh, nothing really.” He shrugged. “Aside from your lovesick expression and the not-so-covert glances of longing you sent across the lake.”
“I did no such thing!”
“Of course you didn’t.” He turned the boat and then began stroking in the opposite direction so that she was facing backward now. “So you make it a habit of sitting alone and pouting prettily at Garden parties. An interesting strategy, indeed.”
“Strategy for what?”
“Landing a husband. Isn’t that why you are here?”
It was precisely why she was there. But from her results so far, her lack of success was painfully obvious.
“And are you here to land a wife?”
He held her gaze with more than a little humor in his silvery eyes, not missing a beat as he pulled on the oars. But he did not deny it.
Which led her to believe that he was, in fact, in pursuit of his own marital partner.
“You are one of the only gentlemen amongst your friends, aside from Blackheart, who is, as of yet, unmarried. Which lady are you pining after, my lord?” It was cheeky of her to ask, but he was her brother’s friend, after all, and it wasn’t as though he hadn’t teased her first.
