Chapter 12 #2
Diana felt it instantly. It was subtle, so subtle that most people present might not have noticed it at all. Yet there was something faintly cooler in Alexander’s voice now, something restrained that had not been there only seconds earlier when he greeted the others.
Surely, she had imagined it.
Then, Martin stepped toward her.
“Well,” Martin said with an easy smile as he came to stand beside Diana, his attention shifting casually between the two of them, “it appears you have adjusted quite well to Rosewood House.”
The remark was directed toward Alexander. There was no challenge in his words, no provocation, only the natural friendliness he had always shown her.
Something in Alexander tightened, like a faint stillness that settled over his shoulders as his gaze moved briefly toward the space between Diana and Martin.
Anger.
Diana’s pulse flickered with sudden awareness.
She let out a soft laugh, light enough to dissolve the tension that had begun to form.
“It has been… an adjustment,” she said, glancing between the two men as though the remark were nothing more than harmless conversation.
Martin chuckled. “I imagine it has,” he replied, leaning slightly closer as he spoke.
The movement was perfectly innocent, the sort of casual familiarity shared between old friends.
Yet the moment it happened, Diana felt the quiet weight of Alexander’s attention settling over the space between herself and Martin, steady and watchful in a way that stirred a faint unease beneath her ribs.
At last, she glanced sideways.
Alexander stood only a few paces away, his posture still perfectly composed, his hands loosely clasped behind his back as though he had been nothing more than a quiet observer of the entire exchange. A sudden alertness in the look stirred a small ripple of curiosity inside her.
It was gone almost as quickly as she noticed it.
By the time their eyes met, his expression had already returned to its usual calm, the faintest trace of polite composure settling once more over his features as though nothing at all had passed through his mind.
If anything had stirred within him in that moment, he gave no sign of it.
Curious.
The thought passed quietly through Diana’s mind as she watched Alexander for a moment longer, trying to make sense of the faint tension she had just felt ripple through the air between him and Martin.
The look she had glimpsed in his eyes had been brief—so brief that she might easily have convinced herself it had never been there at all.
Still, she told herself it meant very little.
Alexander had lost his memory. That fact hovered constantly at the edge of every interaction between them, shaping each moment in ways she was still trying to understand.
The entire gathering must feel strange to him, surrounded by people whose names and faces carried no meaning in his mind.
Emma, Benjamin, Georgina, and Martin—all of them were strangers to him despite the easy familiarity with which they greeted her.
It was only natural that he might seem reserved. Perhaps even guarded.
Was it not?
Before she could dwell on it any longer, Lady Salford clapped her hands sharply together. The sound cut cleanly through the garden chatter, immediately drawing everyone’s attention.
“Well then,” the older woman announced with cheerful authority, her eyes sparkling as she surveyed the small gathering. “Enough standing about like statues. The weather is far too fine for serious conversation.”
Her gaze swept across the garden with deliberate satisfaction, the sunlight catching in the silver strands of her hair as she lifted her chin with unmistakable determination.
“If you intend to visit my grandson’s house,” she continued briskly, “you will do so properly.”
Emma’s lips curved with interest. Benjamin looked instantly suspicious.
“And what,” Benjamin asked cautiously, “does that involve?”
Lady Salford smiled. “Competition.”
Emma brightened immediately. “What do you suggest?”
Lady Salford’s eyes gleamed. “Pall Mall.”
“Oh no.” Benjamin groaned.
“Yes,” Lady Salford said firmly. “I refuse to entertain guests without competition.”
Within minutes, the garden lawn had been transformed into a lively game, gardeners and footmen arranging the field with military precision. The wooden arches were set across the grass while mallets and colored balls were distributed among the players.
Diana stood beside Lady Salford, suppressing a smile as the older woman surveyed the field with the intense concentration of a military strategist preparing for battle.
“Remember,” Lady Salford whispered conspiratorially. “We must defeat my grandson.”
Diana laughed softly. “That hardly seems fair.”
“Nonsense. He is young. He can recover from humiliation.”
Across the lawn, Alexander watched them both with quiet suspicion.
“I assume,” he said dryly, “that I am the subject of this alliance.”
Lady Salford lifted her chin proudly. “Quite correct.”
The game began. And chaos followed almost immediately.
Benjamin missed his first swing entirely. Emma struck her ball so lightly it barely rolled three feet. Georgina became distracted halfway through her turn while describing a new bonnet she had purchased.
Lady Salford, however, approached the game with the grim focus of a general entering battle.
Diana had barely finished positioning her own mallet when the older woman marched decisively toward her ball, her expression set with such fierce determination that it was immediately clear this was no longer a simple garden amusement.
“Out of the way,” Lady Salford declared, waving her hand impatiently as though the rest of them were merely obstacles cluttering her battlefield.
Benjamin obediently stepped aside with exaggerated caution. “Yes, General.”
Diana bit the inside of her cheek to suppress a smile.
Lady Salford planted her feet firmly on the grass, narrowed her eyes at the ball as though personally offended by its position, and raised the mallet with surprising confidence for someone who had moments earlier been complaining about her joints.
Diana leaned slightly toward Emma and whispered, “Should we be concerned?”
Emma whispered back, “Terrified.”
The mallet swung.
The sharp crack of wood striking the ball echoed across the lawn as the ball shot forward with far more force than anyone had anticipated. It rolled smoothly across the grass, passing through the first arch with perfect precision before continuing several more feet beyond it.
Alexander lifted one brow. “Impressive.”
Lady Salford straightened slowly, smoothing an imaginary crease from her sleeve as though such accuracy were entirely routine.
“Experience,” she replied with great dignity.
Diana laughed softly, though she could not quite tell whether Lady Salford was joking.
When it was her turn, she stepped forward with a little more caution.
At least she intended to be cautious.
She positioned the ball carefully before the arch, inhaled slowly, and tried very hard to ignore the fact that Benjamin, Emma, and Georgina had already begun to gather behind her with expressions that suggested they were expecting entertainment.
Diana raised the mallet and tried to focus.
And swung.
The moment the mallet connected with the ball, she knew she had misjudged the strength of the strike.
“Oh no.”
The ball flew forward with alarming enthusiasm, racing past the arch entirely without even pretending to acknowledge it.
It continued rolling across the lawn, then across another stretch of grass, until it finally disappeared triumphantly into a patch of low hedges at the far edge of the garden.
Silence fell for one full second as everyone stared in the direction the ball had vanished.
Benjamin was the first to recover.
“Well done,” he said cheerfully.
Emma burst into laughter.
Georgina covered her mouth, though the laughter shaking her shoulders made the attempt at composure entirely ineffective.
Diana stared helplessly at the hedge. “I may have miscalculated slightly.”
“Only slightly?” Benjamin said.
Lady Salford sighed deeply, shaking her head with theatrical disappointment.
“My dear girl,” she said, “we were meant to defeat Alexander, not relocate the equipment.”
Diana groaned. “I will retrieve it.”
She set down the mallet and walked toward the hedge, pushing aside the branches until she spotted the ball resting deeper in the grass beyond.
Just as she bent to pick it up, she heard footsteps behind her.
Her pulse quickened before she even turned.
Alexander’s voice came from directly behind her. “I thought you might need assistance.”