Bess looked askance.“I thought you missed it.”
Arrested, Gemma paused and thought about what she’d just said.“I thought so, too,” she replied thoughtfully.“Hmm.Perhaps it’s just as well that I’ve developed a liking for country living.Stonehaven isn’t the type to want to attend countless balls and soirées.I imagine once we’re wed, we’ll spend much of our time at his estate in Hertfordshire.”
“So you’re still planning to accept the earl’s proposal, then.”
Bess’s tone was neutral, but Gemma found herself bristling defensively.As if there was any other choice to be made.“He returns from London today, and I will give him my answer.Until then, I’d like to simply try to enjoy the fête.”
Her friend appeared to hesitate before saying in a rush, “You know Hal will be here later, don’t you?”
All of Gemma’s muscles tensed, her insides turning to jelly.She had not seen Hal since that awful morning.Nor had he made any attempt to contact her.Just as she’d demanded—so why did it feel so dreadfully wrong?
It wasn’t wrong, she reminded herself firmly.It was what she wanted.Nevertheless, she had realized sometime in the past few days that as the area’s largest landowner and a true pillar of the community, the Duke of Havilocke would undoubtedly have a role in one of the county’s most important annual festivals.
She was fully in command of herself; she would face him with utter equanimity.And if the sight of him killed something inside of her, well, no one but Gemma would ever know.
“What is that to me?We are nothing to one another,” she declared, head held high.“Perhaps there was a brief moment when I thought we might be…friends, but clearly he did not feel the same.”
“I’m sure that’s not true…”
“It is true,” Gemma insisted.“Friends do not lie to one another.”
“I lied,” Bess pointed out.“We all did, in keeping Hal’s secret from you.Yet you forgave me.Can you not forgive Hal as well?”
Gemma was shaking her head and pulling away from Bess before she’d even finished asking the question.“No, no.No!Bess, please, do not ask it of me.What you and the others did—it’s different.It was not your idea to deceive us, you only went along with it as a favor.To Hal.Hal, to whom I told things that I’ve never admitted to another person…and all the while, he hadn’t even told me his real name.”
The humiliation of it stung the surface of her skin like a swarm of bees protecting their hive, but the sense of betrayal…that went far deeper.
“That’s not completely fair, he’s always gone by ‘Hal’, since he was a wee babe.”Bess sighed.“But the rest is true enough, I suppose.It was a mad, foolish thing to do, and you can be certain we all told him so.Repeatedly.But you can’t tell a duke anything; even one who knows how to thatch a roof.”
Gemma snorted.“I suppose he’s no different from most men in that respect.”
While they’d been talking, the courtyard had been filling up with townspeople and families from the tenant farms dotted around the village.It was a sea of girls in white dresses, running through the gathering throng, laughing and waving red ribbons.The music from the Morris dancers in the approaching parade filtered through the buzz of the crowd, pipes and drums and clacking sticks setting up a beat that got toes tapping and hands clapping.
The air was full of the scent of flowers and flaky pastry, the mood of the crowd infectious.When Lucy ran up to grasp Gemma’s hands and swing her into a quick dance, Gemma found herself able to laugh and enjoy the moment.
Even Henrietta had been prevailed upon to forego her widow’s weeds for the day of the celebration, and the white dress and red sash went very well with her pink cheeks and sparkling blue eyes.She’d chosen a hat that stood nearly two feet tall, wide-brimmed and cheerfully trimmed with bunches of cherries.
Gemma smiled to see Henrietta looking so much like her old self again.Actually in some ways, she looked better than she ever had.There was a new focus to her eyes, a sharp attention as she looked around herself and found her daughters in the crowd.The woman who waved at Gemma was the same woman Gemma had always known as her mother—but she was also a woman who was coming into her own, learning to live again.It made Gemma happy to see it.
That happiness lasted until Gemma looked past her mother’s towering layer cake of a hat to see the so-called Hal Deveril, in actuality the Duke of Havilocke, at the head of the parade procession entering the courtyard.
The dark green coat he wore was better fitted than his usual rough garb and made his eyes appear intensely green, swallowing up the flecks of gold.
Gemma stiffened and started to turn away, but their gazes caught and tangled across the crowded square.She felt as though she’d been struck by lightning, singed and scorched to the spot, unable to move for the shock of it running through her whole body.
On the dais, the blacksmith and town elder, Mr.Cartwright, was saying a few words to welcome everyone to this year’s celebration of the May, acknowledging the work that had been done to make it all possible, and thanking everyone in the village for taking part.
The enthusiastic cheers and applause from the crowd startled Gemma into blinking, breaking the hold Hal had on her.Swiftly turning her back to him, she made a concerted effort to focus on what her mother was saying.
“I haven’t wanted to make a fuss of it to you girls before, because, oh, I suppose I didn’t know if I’d have anything ready to show.You know I’ve only dabbled in the past, but dear Bess has been so encouraging, and you know, I have found such refuge in my walks these past few weeks and I’ve seen so many interesting things.”
Gemma blinked.“In what?What are you talking about, Mama?”
Henrietta opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, Mr.Cartwright was calling her name from the dais.Coloring prettily, Henrietta swept her skirts up and mounted the low platform to stand by the blacksmith and other town elders.
Confused, Gemma and Lucy exchanged questioning looks and shrugs.
On the dais, the dowager duchess fidgeted nervously as Mr.Cartwright’s son, Peter, the little dark-haired lad who worked for the Five Mile, moved to the back of the platform and took hold of the green cloth Gemma had assumed was merely a backdrop.With a flourish, the two pulled the cloth away to reveal a trio of paintings hung on the stable wall.
