Gamely, Mama gathered her skirts and accepted Fitz’s offer of help in standing up.“I’ll keep you company, dearest.Not that you’ll even know I’m there!Once you spy one of your birds and begin sketching, a gun could go off beside your head and you wouldn’t pay it any mind.”
It was no more than the truth, and for the first time, Caroline felt a flutter of something strange at the idea that if her plan here succeeded, she would soon return to her work alone, with no companionship and no help beyond what she hired.It was what she’d always intended; she had no notion why the thought suddenly held less appeal.
She would be fine, of course.She didn’t need help, and she could hardly bear the company of most people for more than an hour.She had never been lonely before, and if the prospect of solitude felt hard to bear at the moment, it would still be worth it to see her mother happy.
It was only that she would miss…well.She would miss her mother, of course.That was all.
Lord Alfred, who had managed to sit at table straight-backed and stiff, creaked a little as he pushed to his feet.Seeing that he intended to accompany Caroline’s group, Lord Weatherby grimaced and clambered up as well.Caroline waited for Fitz to somehow prevent his joining them, but he said nothing, only offered Caroline his arm with a polite smile and a bland request.
“Miss Quick, why don’t you tell us something about the birds you are hoping to see?”
She narrowed her eyes at Fitz, searching his handsome face for a clue as to his motives.“Certainly.While I would love to see a Dartford warbler, as I mentioned, it’s not quite the right season for them.Woodlarks, on the other hand, are early nesters.Everyone, if you please, look out for a small brown bird, white underbelly, and with an inconspicuous fantail tipped in white.”
“They sound as if they’ll be difficult to spot,” Fitz commented, staring up into the trees.
“Very difficult, if you keep looking up,” Caroline said with a smile, the excitement of the chase beginning to fizz through her bloodstream.“Woodlarks are most unusual in that they build their nests on the ground.Look for little piles of grass, moss, and other brushwood nestled into slight dips dug into the dirt.If there are eggs, they’ll be sort of cream colored with lovey brown speckles.”
From the thicket of scrub that lined the path came a strange rustling.Caroline paid it very little heed, but she noticed that Lord Weatherby stopped in his tracks and went white with fear.
“Are you quite well?”Lord Alfred asked briskly.
“Fine,” gasped out Lord Weatherby, staring hard into the underbrush.With shaking hands, he pulled two silver spoons out of his pocket and clanged them together.
“Stop that at once,” cried Caroline, “you’ll frighten away the birds!”
“I’ll frighten away the bears too, which is all I care about,” Lord Weatherby retorted, banging the spoons again.
“Stuff and nonsense,” Lord Alfred harrumphed.“There are no bears in these woods.I should be astonished to find a bear anywhere in the British isles.”
“It escaped from the duke’s menagerie!And these spoons are the only thing that will keep it at bay,” Lord Weatherby insisted, rattling his spoons and looking an utter fool.
Helena and Caroline exchanged mystified glances.Caroline noticed that Fitz was conspicuously silent, and when she glanced his way, he appeared to be struggling to keep his countenance.
Lord Alfred made no such attempts.Lowering his bushy brows, he barked, “Good gad, get ahold of yourself, man.You’ll alarm the ladies.”
“On the contrary,” Mama countered coolly.“I’m not in the least alarmed.I know what to do if we should encounter a bear, but I have no expectation of needing to put that knowledge into practice.”
Behind them, the bushes rustled again, this time more violently.Lord Weatherby said, “That’s it!I’m going back!Lady Quick, please say you’ll come with me.”
Caroline turned to her mother to see what she would do.She could read the indecision on Helena’s face: if she returned with Lord Weatherby, to whom she’d devoted her time and attention all day, she’d be as good as admitting that she was afraid of this fictitious bear.Lifting her chin, she linked arms with Caroline and said, “I will wish you good day, Lord Weatherby.We will return when my daughter has found a woodlark.”
The bushes thrashed a bit more, emitting a low, snarling growl for good measure, and Lord Weatherby jumped a foot in the air and ran down the path without a backwards glance.
“Bad form,” Lord Alfred muttered.
They watched him go for a moment, until Helena stepped smartly over to the bush and thrust her umbrella into it.She poked it this way and that, but whatever had been in the underbrush seemed to have run off at the same time as Lord Weatherby.
Looking at the suppressed triumph lurking behind Fitz’s eyes, Caroline would have been willing to bet anything that he knew for certain it hadn’t been a bear.
ChapterEight
Fitz was quite proud of himself.He’d taken part in his share of pranks and youthful hijinks—more than his share if truth be told—but never in service to such a noble cause as this.
And it had all gone off without a hitch!Avery was owed a substantial increase in pay, Fitz decided.It wasn’t every valet who could successfully impersonate a bear.
Granted, the moment Weatherby was out of sight, Lady Quick had turned her back on poor old Father before he could even offer her his arm.Instead, she’d determinedly latched onto Fitz and towed him off the path in search of woodlark nests, leaving Caroline to Father’s tender mercies.
Fitz tried not to worry overmuch about what they might be discussing.Caroline seemed perfectly aware of all his many flaws already and, for a miracle, she still seemed to want to kiss him.So he had nothing to fret over.
