Isabelle looked over her shoulder as Lord Milton approached. She waved to him with a broad smile. “The water is lovely!”
Windham’s face turned a dark shade of red. “Miss Alden.”
“Your Grace,” she said, using the same stern tone that he had used on her. “You should also dip your toes into the water. Perhaps it might relax you.”
Lord Milton sat beside her, his face devoid of all amusement. “I would be in a far better mood if our driver was not ill.”
“I thought the carriage wheel was the issue this morning?” Isabelle asked, her eyebrows pulling together. “Now the poor driver has also become unwell?”
“Yes.” Lord Milton didn’t put his feet in the water, but some of the tension started to relax from his body. “Must you always be so outspoken?”
Isabelle shrugged, turned her face to meet Felix’s stare and grinned sardonically. “When it benefits me. I find that bluntness is a good way to weed out the suitors who only wish to marry me for my?—”
“Miss Alden!” Felix scolded. For a moment, he thought about shoving her in the lake and ending the day. That would certainly cease the torment she was putting him through.
Twelve
They had only arrived the day before and yet Isabelle was doing an outstanding job of ruining any prospects for marriage. Milton was a relaxed and fairly progressive man in his views, but Isabelle was determined to find the line that she shouldn’t cross and hurdle over it.
The little imp looked up at him, that sneaky smile on her face. “Yes, Your Grace?”
“Why don’t you go find Evangeline? I believe she mentioned wanting to play a game of hide and seek after lunch. It would be best if you spoke with her to arrange it.”
“And here I go,” Isabelle said dramatically as she rose to her feet and scooped up her shoes, “banished to the house to do chores and women’s work because I have too often spoken my mind today.”
Felix dragged his hand down his face as Milton stood, the look in his gaze distant. Milton bade her goodbye and Felix turned to watch as she disappeared into the gardens that led back to the house.
When Felix turned back to his friend, his stomach dropped. “I apologize for her. She has been nothing but trouble since she stepped off the ship and she is determined to ruin every prospect I put before her.”
“She is not as awful as you make her out to be. I think you two simply bring out the worst in each other. I shall ask the Dowager Duchess to be our chaperone later if we take a walk in the evening.”
Felix bristled at the thought. “My mother likes to retire early. I am, available to walk with you.”
Milton nodded and turned back toward the house. “If that is what you would rather, though I am sure I can find someone who would be more agreeable to the task.”
“I am perfectly fine.”
“If you keep acting this way Windham, I am going to have to wonder about your intentions with the young lady.” Milton gave him a teasing grin and nudged him with his elbow. “I jest, of course. She is far below your station and not the kind of wife a duke would bring into his home.”
Maybe I should shove Milton into the lake as well.
He didn’t know where his sudden burst of irritation had come from. “I believe that you would not know what a duke was looking for in a wife.”
Milton stopped for a moment and looked at him. “I did not mean to offend. Do you have an involvement with Miss Alden that I should be aware of?”
“No.” Felix stuffed his hand into the pockets of his breeches. “I apologize. I have much on my mind with the carriage not operational. Keeping my sisters entertained is not a task for the weary, and if we are to play hide and seek, then I suspect I will spend far too much time trying to track them down.”
Milton chuckled and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Surely it cannot be that bad. They are not children anymore.”
“You do not know how much they like to win. The last time I played hide and seek with Hyacinth was a few years ago. She hid herself inside a piano. It took the better part of an evening to find her and drag her out of there.”
“And you think she will do the same now that she is older?”
“I have more fear about where she will hide. Miss Alden is just as competitive as the others. She will likely carve open a hole in the wall and hide inside.”
“She cannot be as wild as you make her out to be.”
Felix rubbed the back of his neck as they continued walking toward the house. “She is lively and that is what I have to fear the most. I think finding her a husband is going to be difficult.”
