My gaze strayed to my left, where I saw Owen observing my conversation with Mr. Baines. My heart leaped, and I almost missed Mr. Baines’s next question.
“And where did you travel from?” he asked.
“Silton, in Dorset.”
He looked upward in thought. “Hmm, I have never been there. Would you recommend it?”
“I find it quite boring compared to this place,” I said with a laugh. “The rose gardens alone are more worth seeing.”
“Is that so? Perhaps you could show me?” As he asked the question, he offered me his arm. I glanced at Mrs. Kellaway, who gave me quick nod.
I wrapped my hand around his elbow, and he led me at a sedate pace across the grass. We passed Owen, and I made the mistake of looking at him again. A new woman and her husband had now captured him in conversation, but his face was a mixture of politeness and distraction.
Several guests had already gathered around the rose bushes. Mr. Baines asked me which roses were my favorite, and I lied and said the white ones.
He seemed deeply interested in me and our conversation as we walked a circle around the bushes and back toward the tables. He was good-humored and polite, and I found that I had nothing to dislike about him.
When I came within Mrs. Kellaway’s grasp again, she introduced me to a young man named Mr. Abney. He didn’t take me for a turn around the gardens, but he did speak with me for several minutes.
After meeting Mr. Fields, I had to agree with Mrs. Everard’s assessment that he was a bit grey. He seemed even older than Mr. Frampton, though he did have a pair of kind blue eyes.
They didn’t compare to Owen’s, though.
I scolded myself for comparing any of these men to him. He was incomparable; I knew that. And today, Owen’s eyes didn’t look kind. They looked irritated. Each time I glanced at him—which was more often than I should have—he seemed like he would have wished to be anywhere but at the party.
Eventually, Mrs. Kellaway gave me a break from so many introductions, and pulled me into the tent. The extra shade was refreshing, and I was finally able to catch my breath.
“You have done so well,” she said with an encouraging smile. “No one would ever know you lacked experience.”
I grinned, a wave of relief crashing over me.
“Have any of the gentlemen impressed you?”
I filled a plate with a few small cakes and a triangular cucumber sandwhich. I chose my words carefully. “Mr. Baines was…agreeable.”
Mrs. Kellaway gave me a secretive smile. “He seemed to like you. I wouldn’t be surprised if he calls upon you soon.”
Away from the crowd, I could finally sense an emptiness in my chest, a lingering fear like the one I had felt after receiving Mr. Frampton’s proposal. Did I want Mr. Baines to like me? That was a good thing, wasn’t it?
My heart ached with uncertainty, and a bit of disappointment. I couldn’t find the reason behind it.
I followed Mrs. Kellaway and Mrs. Everard to a table. Three women were already seated there, and they each had an aloof glance to dart my way.
My smile was pressed down to nothing by the weighted disdain on one woman’s face as she swept her gaze over me, appraising me with that one look. I thought I saw a hint ofa challenge in her eyes. My attempt at a confident entry was completely halted. I smiled again for Mrs. Kellaway’s sake and took a seat beside her at the table.
Mrs. Kellaway introduced the women to me. When she introduced the third woman—the one with the haughty, disdainful eye, she said, “Might I make known to you Lady Pembury. She and her family live at Eshersed Park just a mile beyond the woods. And I just received word that Alice will be bringing Charlotte to stay here for a few weeks?”
“Indeed,” Lady Pembury said. “They make their arrival tomorrow, do they not?”
Mrs. Kellaway nodded. “That is what Alice wrote.”
I glanced at Lady Pembury, and even included a smile, but her eyes were still fixed on me with such scrutiny that I dashed my gaze away as quickly as I could.
“My daughter is most delighted to have the opportunity of visiting,” Lady Pembury said. “She adores your home immensely, as well as its occupants, of course. Your entire family is so very agreeable and charming.”
Mrs. Kellaway smiled. “Well, she is very welcome to visit whenever she would like. She and Alice are practically like sisters, it seems.”
“Perhaps closer to it than we think,” Lady Pembury said with a sneaky smile.
