Martin nodded at once, clearly unwilling to oppose such a verdict. “As do I.”
From across the lawn, Benjamin’s voice carried faintly through the garden air. “Whatever ends the argument fastest!”
Diana bit back a laugh.
Alexander looked from one conspirator to the next in silence, his gaze lingering briefly on each face as though evaluating the depth of the betrayal.
Then he exhaled slowly. “I see,” he said at last, his tone filled with dry resignation, “that I have been outnumbered.”
Lady Salford smiled with immense satisfaction. “Quite thoroughly.”
The tension dissolved almost immediately after that.
Emma was still laughing softly while Martin shook his head, and Lady Salford looked deeply pleased with the outcome she had orchestrated. The small group began drifting back toward the open lawn together, their footsteps rustling lightly across the grass as the conversation returned to cheerful chatter.
Diana walked beside them, still smiling despite herself. Yet as she fell into step once more beside Alexander, her awareness shifted immediately.
The others continued ahead, their voices blending into a comfortable murmur of conversation, but Diana found that her thoughts had become unexpectedly quiet. Because even now,she could still feel the faint warmth of his earlier touch lingering against her wrist.
The sensation remained like the ghost of a memory beneath her glove, subtle yet impossible to ignore.
She kept her gaze forward as they walked, though she could sense him without looking, the steady rhythm of his stride matching hers across the grass.
Her mind returned unwillingly to the moment beside the hedges. To the way he had stepped closer and the heat in his voice when he had asked his question.
Do you find me seductive?
Diana inhaled slowly.
The air smelled faintly of cut grass and summer roses drifting from the nearby beds, yet the memory of his closeness lingered far more vividly than the pleasant garden scents around them.
Her pulse fluttered again at the thought, though she kept her expression composed as the group rejoined the others near the Pall Mall arches.
Benjamin waved cheerfully as they approached.
“Well?” he called. “Has justice been served?”
Lady Salford lifted her chin triumphantly. “Diana is the victor.”
Benjamin nodded immediately. “Excellent. I supported her all along.”
Emma laughed again. “You supported whichever outcome allowed you to avoid another round.”
“That,” Benjamin admitted freely, “is also true.”
The conversation carried on easily after that, the earlier competition dissolving into friendly teasing as the group gathered once more around the lawn.
Yet Diana remained aware of the man walking beside her. Because even though Alexander said nothing more as they returned to the game, that same faint spark traveled once more through her body.
CHAPTER 14
Diana sat before the dressing table, drawing the brush slowly through the length of her hair, though her attention had drifted far from the simple task.
The fire in the hearth had burned low, its quiet glow casting warm flickers across the bedchamber walls, and the house itself had settled into that particular stillness that came only at night, when the servants had retired, and even the corridors seemed to hold their breath.
She had been trying, with limited success, not to think about the afternoon. About the hedges. About Alexander standing far too close beside her, while the rest of the garden disappeared from her awareness.
Diana pressed her lips together as the memory returned with infuriating clarity. The brush slowed in her hand as she recalled the feeling of his fingers against her wrist, the way his voice had lowered just enough.
