Page 57 of The Duke and His Jilted Bride

“He must be a very large dog,” Aurelia said, obviously trying hard not to laugh.

“And apparently enterprising,” Evander added.

“Nike has always had good taste,” Aurelia said, and Frederick, who had been quiet throughout all of this, made a sound against the back of his hand.

Briggs left with the information that Nike should be kept comfortable and watched from about six weeks hence. Howes went to have a conversation with the groundskeeper about the lurcher. Frederick excused himself for lunch, which left Evander and Aurelia alone in the stable yard.

She was still looking at Nike. “Lurcher puppies,” she said. “They will be enormous. Mrs. Foulger is going to have a view about this.”

“Well, Mrs. Foulger has a view about everything,” Evander said.

Aurelia smiled at that, and they stood quietly for a moment, just the yard and the warm morning and Nike attempting to sit on Titan in the distance.

Then Titan apparently decided he had been sat on long enough. He stood abruptly and walked with great purpose directly into the back of Aurelia's legs.

She pitched forward with a gasp. Evander caught her by the arms and she ended up against his chest, which was not what either of them had planned.

But it wasn’t unwelcome either.

She looked up at him, blinking, still half upright and clutching onto the lapels of his jacket. Titan sat down behind her and examined the horizon with complete serenity, while Aurela let out a startled laugh.

“There are other ways to get my attention than getting Titan to do your bidding,” Evander joked, sounding less confident than he intended.

“How did you know?” she joked in return. “We rehearsed this all of yesterday.” She steadied herself and he released her. His pulse was racing from the moment, and he cursed himself, hoping she couldn’t tell.

Then, before he could really think about what he was saying, he announced, “If you want to walk this afternoon, it should be with me.”

She held his gaze for a moment, her expression unreadable “Because you would like to walk with me, or because you don’t want me walking with anyone else?” she asked.

“If you walk with me, perhaps I’ll tell you.”

Titan returned and whined, ready for his lunch too, his work obviously done.

Twenty

Tact was not her strong suit. Music, yes. And animals at times. But not tact. Aurelia told Annie she was going for a walk, and she made sure she said it loudly enough that Mrs. Foulger, who was passing in the corridor with a stack of old magazines, could also hear. She mentioned the south lawn specifically – yes, she had said, past the middle gardens – even though no one had asked for details. She said she expected to be out for an hour but maybe two. She did not say what was most important: that she was hoping someone specific would follow her, because that would have been embarrassing.

In the south garden, most of the rose varieties were further along than they had been when Frederick and Seraphina had first arrived. Another week and some of the flowers would have fully bloomed, and then surely Mrs. Foulger would insist on cutting them and bringing them indoors. Aurelia walked the gravel path between the beds and tried to look at the roses instead of back at the house.

But obviously she looked back at the house – only to see that no one was coming down the lawn after her.

She walked further, past the rose beds and down the slope toward the crumbling Roman wall at the southern border of the property, where the land dropped away. The Norfolk countryside spread out in every direction without interruption. Aurelia had discovered this spot in her second week, with her sketchbook, and she returned to it often when she wanted to be alone. The other side of the house was all woods and wild heather. But this was the kind of view that made London feel like it was from a different world entirely, open and unending.

Aurelia sat on the remnants of the wall and looked at the view, trying to think about something other than whether or not he was coming. It was a relief she had been holding the wall when she finally heard a voice behind her.

“Aurelia,” the voice called.

She turned, digging her chin into the puffed muslin at her shoulder and trying not to react.

Evander was twenty feet away on the path in a herringbone walking coat, slightly out of breath in like he had walked too quickly and was trying not to let it be known. Neither of them said anything for a spell. Migrant birds continued singing to one another nearby, and the wind whistled past them, not quite as loud as her racing thoughts, but loud enough.

“I thought you might be here,” he said with a smile that comforted her.

He was on to her, and she knew it. She played along for the moment, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes from beneath her plain bonnet. “Mrs. Foulger told you?” she asked. “How strange. I was very quiet about my designs this afternoon.”

“Really? Because from what I heard, you were insistent about your location. Your maid told Mrs. Foulger your whereabouts, and Mrs. Foulger told me as I was coming through the hall.” He came closer, boots brushing against the grass where it grew long. “She seemed to think it was exceedingly important information. I cannot fathom why she stressed it so much. You are often out walking alone, aren’t you? Unless it has something to do with my earlier request, and you can take orders after all.”

“I’m very good at taking orders, when it pleases me. And I may have mentioned my intentions at some volume, yes. And perhaps that was what worried her enough to bring the matter to your attention.”