“He’s lying.” Philippa set down her teacup with a delicate clink, her eyes twinkling with suppressed laughter. “He made up that story to scare his cousins when they came to visit. He made poor Margaret cry for an hour.”
Dominic shrugged, reaching for another sandwich with complete unconcern. “They deserved it. Margaret put a toad in my bed.”
Lily giggled, the sound bright and unexpected. She clapped a hand over her mouth the way the laugh had escaped against her will. “I would have put two toads.”
“I like you.” Dominic’s mouth twitched at the corner. It was the closest thing to a smile Nell had seen from him, and something in his face softened in a way that made her heart clench.
An hour passed. The afternoon sun was warm on the terrace. The children relaxed in his presence with a speed that surprised Nell, and Lily chattered about books and ghosts and castles while Dominic listened with apparent interest. He asked questions that showed he was actually paying attention rather than merely tolerating her. Oliver gradually thawed enough to ask about the pike in the lake. He wanted to know how big they grew, how to catch them, and whether Dominic had ever been bitten.
Nell kept her eyes on her tea, on the gardens, or on her children, looking anywhere but at him. Even so, she felt him watching her like heat from a fire, tracking her movements and lingering on the bare skin of her shoulders. Every time he shifted in his chair, she grew painfully aware of the movement, for every time he spoke, his rough voice seemed to vibrate through her very bones. She didn’t look at him. She couldn’t. If she looked, everyone would see what she was feeling, and she was not yet ready to name those emotions, even to herself.
“The grounds.” Dominic pushed back from the table and rose to his full height, his frame towering over the party and momentarily blocking out the sun. “I shall show them to you.”
The children scrambled up from their chairs before Nell could speak. Lily grabbed Oliver’s hand and dragged him towardthe terrace steps, already chattering about the lake and whether there might be toads hiding in the garden.
“Everyone come.” Philippa accepted Martha’s offered arm and rose more slowly, her joints creaking audibly in the quiet afternoon. “These old bones stiffen if I sit too long.”
They set off across the lawn, the grass soft and springy beneath their feet. Dominic led the way with the children flanking him like eager lieutenants. The women followed at a more sedate pace, Philippa leaning on Martha’s arm while Daphne walked beside Nell, her eyes fixed suspiciously on the viscount’s broad back.
Philippa’s voice dropped to a murmur meant only for Nell’s ears. “He is not usually like this, you know.”
Nell kept her gaze fixed on her children’s retreating backs, her pace steady. “Like what?”
“Social.” Philippa watched her nephew crouch to show Lily something in the grass, perhaps a flower or an interesting beetle. “Since the war, he barely speaks to anyone outside the household staff. He rarely leaves the house except to ride alone across the moors. I have been quite worried about him.”
Nell said nothing. She simply pressed her lips together, not trusting herself to speak.
At the lake, Dominic crouched at the water’s edge with Oliver beside him. He pointed toward a dark, languid shape moving through the depths beneath the overhanging willows. “See that shadow?” The question drifted across the still air, carrying a low, patient quality. “That’s a big one. Three feet at least.”
Oliver picked up a flat stone from the shore and flung it at the water with all the force his thin arm could muster. It sank immediately, vanished by the depths without a single bounce, though the boy’s face fell.
“Flatter.” Dominic scanned the stones at his feet, selected one that was thin and smooth, and held it out on his open palm.“Sideways. Like this.” He demonstrated the motion with a sharp, controlled flick of his wrist, catching the air at just the right angle without releasing the stone.
Oliver took the stone and tried again, his brow furrowed in a knot of concentration. The stone took two bounces before it sank, while his whole face lit up with a rare, brilliant smile. He turned to Dominic, his eyes wide with wonder. “Two!”
“Not bad.” Dominic gave a single, approving nod, his expression remaining neutral even as a subtle warmth flickered in his eyes. “Not bad for a first try.”
Nell watched from a distance, her ribs feeling too tight for her lungs. She knew it in her soul: her dead husband would never have crouched in the dirt to teach a boy anything. He had never looked at another person as worth knowing—only worth using.
This was dangerous. It was dangerous for him to be kind, to be human, and to treat her children like they mattered. It had been easier when he was cruel; easier to hate him and easier to resist.
Lily had wandered toward a patch of wildflowers blooming in the shade of an ancient oak. Martha crouched beside her, helping the girl gather a small bouquet of purple asters and goldenrod. Daphne stood nearby with her arms crossed, watching Dominic with narrowed eyes that promised violence if he stepped wrong.
The maze loomed ahead of them, its dark green walls rising like a fortress against the pale autumn sky.
“What is in there?” Oliver nodded toward the entrance, the question intended to sound casual even as his eyes danced with curiosity.
“Paths.” Dominic straightened, brushing the lakeside dirt from his trousers with a brisk swipe of his hands. “It’s easy to get lost if you don’t know the way.”
“Do you know the way?” Oliver stepped closer to the towering hedges.
“Every inch.” Dominic’s piercing eyes moved to Nell and held her gaze, a dark, knowing weight behind the words. “I spent half my childhood in there. Hiding from tutors, from my mother, and from anyone who wanted to make me do something I didn’t wish to do.”
They stood near the entrance where the hedges were thick enough to block out the sky. A breeze stirred the leaves, a dry whispering sound that felt like secrets Nell couldn’t understand.
Philippa lowered herself onto a nearby bench with a grateful sigh, fanning herself with one hand. “I think I’ll stay here for a while. You young people go on. Explore and enjoy yourselves.”
“Let’s play hide and seek.” Dominic threw the suggestion out to the group, his posture relaxed while his eyes remained locked on Nell’s face.
