“He said there’s nothing to tell, Lydia,” her brother hissed. He took hold of her arm to drag her away, but before Julian could draw a relieved breath an excited screech stopped him.
“Lord Findlay! Oh, Lord Findlay!”
A rotund lady in a straw hat with an elaborate cascade of pink ribbons was bearing down on them. Three young ladies, each clad in varying shades of pink, followed in her wake, looking ready to trample into dust anyone who dared get between them and their quarry.
Him.
“Egads, West,” Lord Findlay muttered with a sympathetic grimace. “Bad luck, that.”
Exceedingly bad luck, or perhaps divine retribution. Julian straightened his shoulders and pasted a cordial smile to his lips. Either way, there was no escape.
“Lord Findlay.” The lady came to a breathless stop beside them, her pink ribbons wildly askew from her trot across the lawn. “How do you do?”
Findlay had no choice but to introduce Julian. He bowed reluctantly. “Very well, my lady, thank you. Captain West, may I present Lady Wolverton and her daughters? This is Miss Wolverton, Miss Eunice, and Miss Dorothy.”
The eldest, Miss Wolverton, pounced before her mother could even acknowledge the introduction. “Oh, Captain West! Is it all true, what I’ve heard about you? Did you really save your entire regiment from certain death?”
“Save my—no, Miss Wolverton, it would be quite an unlikely scenario indeed for one man to save an entire—”
“Of course it’s true!” Miss Eunice looked offended for him. “It was in the papers, wasn’t it? He shot Napoleon’s horse right out from under him!”
Julian’s mouth fell open. Was the girl simple? “No, I did not. No one did. As I was just saying to Miss Fowler, the stories have been exaggerated, even more so than I realized—”
“I’m sure that’s not so, Captain West.” Miss Wolverton fluttered her eyelashes at him. “Do tell us all about it!”
Julian stared at them. Good Lord, was he expected to trot out each moment of battle for a herd of mindless chits who looked as if they should still be in pinafores? Should he regale them with tales of soldiers with their limbs blown off, describe the smell of decaying flesh, or explain how quickly the soil could absorb rivers of blood? “There’s nothing to tell.”
“You’re far too modest, Captain.”
“Not at all. I’m sorry to disappoint you, Miss Wolverton, but it’s the simple truth.”
Her eyes widened at his surly tone, but then she turned and whispered audibly in her sister’s ear, “Well, he’s certainly as handsome as the paper claimed he was.”
Miss Eunice gave a girlish giggle. “Yes, and that’s more important than anything else, after all.”
This was the limit for Lord Findlay, who’d been squirming with embarrassment since the conversation began. “It looks like they’ve just brought out more cold lemonade, ladies. Shall we go and see? You must all be parched.” He didn’t wait for an answer, but took his sister by the arm and offered the other to Lady Wolverton, who was more than ready to abandon testy Captain West for charming Lord Findlay.
Findlay nodded to him. “Good afternoon, West.”
Julian bowed, then hastily retreated to a shady spot at the far corner of the lawn next to a bush abuzz with a swarm of fat, striped bees. Young ladies were frightened of bees, weren’t they? Surely the bees would be enough to keep them away—
“Well, Captain West. We’ll have you to thank for it if we get trampled in a stampede of silly chits, won’t we?”
Julian started, then looked down to find Lady Chase at his elbow. He sighed. Apparently the bees had no effect onoldladies. “I beg your pardon?”
She eyed him for a moment, then shook her head in disgust. “It’s to be false modesty, is it? Humph. I thought better of you than that. You know very well, I imagine, that all the young ladies here are angling for your attention.”
Julian looked out across the lawn and barely restrained a grimace. Stampede, indeed. Even the bees weren’t protection enough, for there was a staggering number of young ladies present today. He cleared his throat and changed the subject. “It’s a lovely afternoon for a picnic.”
Lady Chase snorted. “Nonsense. Dreadful idea, a picnic in this heat, but my granddaughters wanted it, and I am but a slave to their every ridiculous whim, Captain.”
Julian raised an eyebrow at the idea of Lady Chase being a slave to anything, but he nodded politely. “You’re very good to indulge them, my lady.”
“Yes, well, I’m the indulgent sort, and since they’re obliged to stay in town with me over the summer, a picnic seemed the least I could do for them. I’m as fair-minded as I am indulgent you see, Captain.”
“I don’t doubt it, Lady Chase.” For God’s sake, didn’t anyone retire to the country anymore?
“I detest the country,” she said, as if she’d read his mind. “I never go when I can help it. My granddaughters are silly enough girls, but even so I can’t spare them, and so here we are, forced to picnic, and there’s Lady Sutton looking as if she’s about to fall into a swoon from the heat.”
