CHAPTER 6
“Olive, dear. It is your turn. Olive?”
Olive started, realizing she was lost in thought, staring at the way the weak summer sunlight reflected off the windows on the manor house’s southern side. She turned back to the other women, her croquet mallet in her hands.
“Sorry,” she mumbled, then stepped up to the ball and whacked it without much attention. To no one’s surprise, it went wide of the wicket.
Tskinghappily, Tiffany jumped forward for her turn. “You shall have to do better than that if you want to best me at my favorite game!”
“Oh,croquetis your favorite game, is it?” teased Bonnie, her mallet resting jauntily on her shoulder. “I thought your favorite games involved winning a certain handsome lord’s attention!”
Tiffany beamed—beautifully, of course. “I have not given up!”
At that moment, Willow hit a perfect roquet, and as Bonnie clapped in support, Olive’s sister beamed. “Iamrather good at this, are I not? You would have to get up so early in the morning to beat me that?—”
“It would be better to not go to bed at all,” Olive and Hazel chorused together.
Although it had been a joke, Tiffany hummed and leaned a bit closer. “Youarelooking peaky. Peakish?” She waved a hand toward Hazel. “What is the word I am looking for?”
Olive’s sister smirked. “I treasure my ignorance when it comes to sufficiently advanced vocabulary. Olive is our wordsmith.”
“Well, I am not very well going to askherfor the word to describe her wan looks. Wan? Is that the word?”
Willow hefted her mallet with a huff of exasperation. “She means you look as if you have not slept, Olive. There,” she said to Tiffany, “see how simple that was?”
Bonnie, who had turned her back to them to line up her shot, made a huffing sound whichmighthave been laughter, but they all ignored her.
“Are you feeling well, Olive?” Tiffany asked in concern as she stepped closer. “Were you up late reading a particularly delicious book?”
Olive couldn’t tell if her new friend’s hopeful tone was because she wanted to borrow said book, or because she was hoping Olive hadn’t been awake all night fretting. Unfortunately, she’d have to disappoint Tiffany.
After yesterday’s remarkable interlude in her bedroom, Phineas had…disappeared. He’d held her so tenderly, so wonderfully,and had shown her more bliss than she’d ever experienced on her own.
And then, after, just when she was hoping for a cuddle or a kind word, he’d left. Well, hehadkissed her hand—which had been quite nice—and had said some nice things before he’d taken off, but what had stood out was his wince as he’d stepped away, and how much of a hurry he’d been in to leave her.
Although he’d intimated they’d see one another later to continue looking for thesphaera, he hadn’t returned. She’d laid down on the big bed to rest—and frankly, to bask in the aftershocks of that orgasm—and had fallen asleep. When she awoke, she’d been disoriented, but had still set out to find him.
Despite her best efforts, she hadn’t seen him that afternoon, or at dinner that evening, so yes, her sleephadbeen fractured and anxious.
With a sigh, she pulled her spectacles from her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I— I did not sleep well, I confess.”
As Hazel took her turn, Tiffany linked her arm through Olive’s and lowered her voice. “Were you thinking about someone in particular? Or did someone keep you up all night?”
It took a moment for her friend’s intimation to register, but instead of shock, Olive found herself chuckling. “No. He did not visit me last night.”
It wasn’t until she heard Willow’s gasp that she realized what she’d confessed.
“So I was right!” Tiffany crowed. “Heisthe one causing you all this consternation!”
“Oh dear,” murmured Hazel, throwing her arm around Olive’s shoulders. “Who do we need to hurt?”
Her sister’s immediate willingness to hobble a man on her behalf had Olive’s lips twitching once. She sighed and dropped her cheek to Hazel’s shoulder. “You do not need to hurt anyone. I am just…I hope I was not a fool.”
Tiffany squeezed her free arm and clucked her tongue. “Phineas Oliphant is an eligible gentleman from a family of eligible gentlemen. He would not dally with you.”
As Willow frowned at them all in concern, Bonnie sent her sister a glare. “Just because you happen to be holding atendrefor his brother does not mean Mr. Oliphant is without ignobility.” Her expression turned gentle when she shifted her gaze to Olive. “Did he hurt you?”
Olive jerked upright, shaking her head as she turned so she could face them all and convince them of her sincerity. “Oh, no! He is the most wonderful, most interesting man! He is, after all, Aberdeen Jones?—”
