“You couldn’t even if you tried,” Eloise scoffed.
And they were off again, and in fact their argument lasted until they drove through the gates, and into the park.
Chapter Ten
He wasn’t surewhy he’d done it, and was now regretting his actions, but Jamie had asked Miss Devlin when he arrived in the park if she wanted to take a walk with him.
It was that bloody list, of course. Miss Devlin’s name had been on there, along with Lady Alice, and Miss Timothy. He wanted to rid his mind of Lady Alice, and to do that he thought, foolishly, that walking with Miss Devlin might help. It hadn’t.
“I always find a walk in the fresh park air invigorating,” she said.
They’d been walking for ten minutes, and to Jamie, it was turning out to be the longest ten minutes of his life.
“Extremely invigorating,” he agreed.
“Here you cannot easily smell the more unpleasant scents you could if you were walking a London street.”
She then proceeded to wave to everyone she met, in between talking to him about a variety of topics he had no interest in.
“Miss Primrose is quite a gossip, you know, my lord. Why, just last week I had to tell her I had no wish to hear such things about society members.”
Miss Devlin then went on to explain the things she hadn’t meant to hear, but clearly had, as she was very detailed. And this was why he didn’t take young, innocent women walking in the park. Their conversations were mind numbingly boring.
Glancing around them, Jamie saw plenty of colorful parasols to shade women from the sun, as they wandered closer to theSerpentine. Vendors called out their wares, and a few servants scurried to them to secure refreshments for those in carriages. It was a typical scene, and one he’d taken in many times, yet today it felt different. He felt different, and could not quite put his finger on why.
“Of course, I never gossip, as it really is not done, Lord Stafford.”
Jamie let her rattle on with the occasional noise when it was required of him. He knew not all were like Miss Devlin, and in fact it was likely she was nervous walking with him. Maybe he was just too jaded to be in the company of innocent people.
The hand life had dealt him by putting him in Blackwood Hall had darkened his soul. He wasn’t sure that would ever change.
He knew for his family’s line to continue, he was expected to marry, but never to someone like Miss Devlin. Lady Alice slid into his head.Absolutely not.He did not want passion with his future wife. He wanted companionship. She would not be comfortable—far from it in fact.
They would do what they must to seek out the monster that was Kenneth Jackson, and then he would be keeping his distance from that woman.
“Lord Stafford?”
“Sorry, I missed that, Miss Devlin. What was it you said?”
“Are you to attend the Fotheringham house party? I heard it will be quite the occasion, and everyone is going.” This was followed by a trill of laughter which confirmed to Jamie, if he’d needed confirmation that was, that no way in hell could he face this woman across his breakfast table.
“I am unsure at this stage.”
“Oh, you must.”
“And here is your mother.” He didn’t exactly drag her across the grass to the woman smiling at them with a smug look on her face, but it was a near thing.
“My daughter is so accomplished, Lord Stafford. Why, just this morning I listened to her playing a sonata by Mozart, and her performance was faultless.”
Lady Devlin was no different to many who had daughters in society. Their main goal was to secure them good matches, and it was for the young women to present themselves in just the perfect light to achieve that. Jamie knew this was the way things worked, even as he disliked it. Mainly for the young women. He wasn’t sure why this was suddenly bothering him when he’d been witnessing it for years…but it did.
“Wonderful. I always think pianoforte playing an excellent skill. I’m quite hopeless at it,” Jamie said. He then bowed deeply. “Thank you for the walk, Miss Devlin.” Before either lady could speak another word, he’d headed the other way, his eyes searching for someone, anyone, he knew and was comfortable with. They landed on her.
Lady Alice was walking with the Thomas twins.
“Well now, this is fortuitous.”
Turning to the right, he saw Anthony, Evie, Toby, and Liberty approaching. Slowly, he unclenched his muscles and made himself focus on them, rather than Lady Alice. Jamie also made sure the bruise on his chin was not facing his friends.
