“It seems you finished it before we came along.” He hoped that was some consolation.
“I didn’t,” she snapped. “Have you seen a kingcup? It is meant to have broad leaves at its base.”
“I am sure you can find more of them. They are weeds, aren’t they?”
Lady Delia stopped short, closed her eyes, muttering to herself. She would have been alarmed to have known how nearly Star Gazer slammed into the back of her before Rupert jerked the animal aside.
“Who is to say which flower is a weed,” she demanded, “and which ought to be cultivated in a garden?”
He didn’t know the answer.Who did decide which plants were weeds?
“A gardener?” he wondered, sounding mush-brained.
“Never mind.” She started walking again.
Then it occurred to him.
“Again, no chaperone. Where is Mrs. Stallwell?”
Lady Delia sighed. “My cousin came at my mother’s behest. I do not usually do many things that require a chaperone. Sketching, for instance, is a pleasant, solitary pastime. When I venture out in London, I take my maid. Thus, I let my cousin sleep in, as is her preference. But I promise you I didn’t come out here unaccompanied. I came with Lady Miriam, who also wished to walk.”
This time, he halted. She stopped with him while Rupert looked pointedly around. She was obviously alone.What nonsense was she saying?
With a small suffering noise of frustration, Lady Delia shrugged again.
“She was here, I vow.” Then she looked at the sky. “Oh dear, it must have been an hour ago. I didn’t notice her leave.”
“Then we are alone,” he said. “Again.”
Chapter Five
Lord Perish was exceedingly handsome in the sunlight. His hair became an attractive caramel color, and his eyes looked even greener than Delia had first thought them. His tone, however, was disapprovingly flat, and his lips were now in a harsh straight line.
“We are alone,” she agreed. “But you could look at it as both of us being alone collectively.”
He narrowed his eyes, which made him look even more severe.
“If you walk a little farther away,” she said, “with your horse, then it will be almost as if we are not even together. Because we aren’t.”
He sighed. “Are you trying to trap a husband?”
What a thing to say!
“Of course not!”
“Then why do you persist in this improper behavior?” he demanded.
“Drawing plants is hardly improper.”
“You know what I mean. What if Crenshaw had come this way? Or one of the other men?”
“They did, or ratheryoudid. You are one of the other men. Must we marry now?”
Ignoring her taunting words, he said, “You ought to be in one of Lady Osbourne’s gardens.”
“I went to check the roses for damage and saw none. Since I’ve sketched plenty of them, I wanted to see if there wasanything I hadn’t seen around my family’s estate. Anyway, you may remount and ride ahead. Then my virtue will be safe.”
“It would be ungentlemanly of me to leave you alone in a field.”
