Chapter Four
The light breeze carried the scent of the waterlogged plants that were now stretching their leaves happily in the sun.
Selena tilted her face to the light and followed suit.
Breathing it in. Reveling in it. Despite the crowds she normally eschewed.
After three long days of rain, the graveled paths threading throughout Kensington Gardens were clogged with people, seemingly as delighted as the foliage to be getting a bit of sun.
“I cannot tell if you are happy to be outdoors or not,” Jane said, squinting her eyes quizzically. “You are smiling yet frowning at the same time. I cannot say I have ever seen that expression before.”
Selena laughed. “I am glad of the sun and fresh air. All the people…a little less so.”
“Hmm, I do understand that,” Jane said.
“Not that I mind a crowd when the occasion calls for it, mind you,” Selena said, her eyes glancing around the crowded paths. “The stares and whispers I could do without, however.”
Jane giggled. “Yes, you are quite the attraction this afternoon. One would think that a stranger had never been seen in their midst before.”
Selena nodded politely at a gentleman who was startled from his gawking and gave her a hasty nod. She had no doubt it was less her newness and more her so-called mystery that drew the glances. But that couldn’t be helped. The truth of her past would only cause the tongues to wag faster.
“To be fair, I am being treated kindly enough, I suppose,” she replied with a small sigh. “But all the stares do get tiresome.”
Kind might be a little charitable, but it was true no one had been explicitly unkind.
“They’ll grow used to you soon enough,” Jane assured her, making her feel briefly mollified until she added, “though I doubt the stares will stop.”
“And why is that?”
Jane stopped walking and glanced at Selena in surprise. “You, my dear, are a beautiful young woman shrouded in an air of mystery. Your face would garner enough interest. But throw in a mysterious past that has the gossips buzzing, and you have become the talk of the ton.”
Selena pursed her lips against a moan. “I will never understand why anyone would find my past of such interest.”
“It’s because they do not know you,” Jane said with a shrug. “What they do not know, they invent. And what little they have heard, they exaggerate.”
“Lovely,” Selena said with a groan.
Jane chuckled. “As if you wouldn’t be right in the thick of it with them trying to figure out who this woman was, where she came from, and if it were true that she had ushered twenty men into their graves if your roles were reversed.”
“Twenty? Is that what they are saying now?” Selena blew a puff of air through her nose. “Surely no one believes such nonsense.”
Jane shrugged delicately. “You could put the rumors to rest.”
Selena’s jaw clenched so tightly it ached. She sometimes wondered if Jane could read her very thoughts. Or perhaps it wasn’t so difficult to deduce her current line of thinking.
But on this matter, at least, her mind was made up.
She finally gave a jerky shake of her head.
“I shouldn’t have to bandy about my pain for their curiosity and entertainment.
” Her breath left her in a shaky rush. “Besides, the truth isn’t nearly as salacious as their fictions.
They’d likely ignore it no matter what I said in favor of the better story. ”
Though…it was salacious enough to have chased her from shore to shore. All the more reason to keep it to herself.
“Unfortunately, that is doubtless true.” Jane just gave her a knowing look and looped her arm through Selena’s as they resumed their walking.
“You’re new. Which is enough to raise anyone’s curiosity.
And you’ve kept yourself mostly away from everyone until the ball last week.
Which I understand but certainly hasn’t helped with the mystery they think surrounds you.
Too few people have had the opportunity to meet you. ”
“I wouldn’t have thought I was so interesting.”
Jane chuckled again. “The attention will die down. Or some delightful new scandal will crop up to take your place. Something always does.”
“Well, that is true enough,” Selena said with a sardonic smile. “I shall endeavor to wait patiently until my turn has passed.”
“Hmm, are you sure you want all the interest to disappear?” she asked.
The tone of her voice had Selena glancing at her inquisitively and then following her gaze across the path to—
Selena stopped walking with a quick intake of breath.
“As I thought,” Jane murmured, ignoring Selena’s gasp of outrage so she could send a welcoming smile toward Lord Lockhaven.
Selena’s traitorous heart skipped a beat as he walked toward them, another gentleman in his wake.
“Mrs. Haddon, Mrs. MacLaren,” he said with a courteous bow. “How very fortuitous. I was just mentioning to Lord Goodwin that I hoped you were out enjoying this beautiful day,” he said, looking directly at her. Stunning her into silence. “A joy to see the sun after so many days of rain, is it not?”
Jane waited half a heartbeat, then answered for them in the affirmative when Selena showed no signs of doing so.
Though Selena didn’t hear what she replied.
Something suitably appropriate, she had no doubt.
Her own attention was fully taken with staring at the man like a lovesick schoolgirl.
She truly had no idea what sort of hold this man had on her.
She was no inexperienced violet whose head was turned by every handsome gentleman who crossed her path.
Many, admittedly. But not all. She had certainly grown more discerning after marrying—and burying—four husbands.
And narrowly avoiding marrying a fifth. Though she hadn’t appreciated his fickleness at the time.
And she would have greatly appreciated if he had decided to run off before the morning of their wedding rather than waiting until she was already at the church.
Still. Better jilted than widowed yet again.
Whatever this strange attraction was between her and the devastatingly handsome Lord Lockhaven, she needed to regain some modicum of control. She could not, would not, allow there to be a sixth attempt. No matter how tempting.
Then again, it was rather bold of her to presume he might actually seek a match.
She was of good family, certainly. But her father was a mere baronet; her mother the daughter of a country gentleman.
They were wealthy, thanks to her father’s investments and mother’s small inheritance.
But she was not of noble blood. And Lord Lockhaven was the heir to a duke.
His family likely had higher designs for him than the likes of her.
“You mentioned you haven’t yet been introduced to many people here, Mrs. MacLaren,” Lord Lockhaven said, drawing her from her thoughts.
“I hope you will permit me to help rectify that situation and allow me to present my good friend, Lord Goodwin. His sister, Lady Beatrice, is actually an acquaintance of Mrs. Haddon’s, if I’m not mistaken. ”
“You are correct,” Jane said, smiling benignly at both gentlemen. “She speaks very highly of you both.”
Lord Goodwin chuckled. “Knowing my sister as I do, Mrs. Haddon, I am sure you are being kind to spare my feelings.” Then he turned to Selena. “And it is a very great pleasure to make your acquaintance indeed, Mrs. MacLaren. Lord Lockhaven has spoken of little else since the Hayworths’ ball.”
Selena’s mouth dropped open slightly, at both his admission and what it meant. Her eyes strayed back to Lord Lockhaven, who was glaring at his friend. The expression was so much the same as the one she’d aimed at Jane on frequent occasion, she had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.
Jane glanced around at everyone and then honed her attention on Lord Goodwin.
“My lord, would you care to stroll for a moment? I would love to take in a bit more air, and I’m afraid Mr. Haddon will be occupied for quite some time,” she said with a nod toward where her husband stood with several other gentlemen deep in conversation.
“I would be happy to accompany you,” he said, amusement twinkling in his eyes as he flashed Lord Lockhaven a delighted grin before turning and leading her away. Leaving Selena and Lord Lockhaven to follow.
“That was subtle,” Selena murmured.
Lord Lockhaven’s chuckled heartily. “Yes, Goodwin isn’t known for his finesse.”
“Neither is Mrs. Haddon.”
“It seems we are doomed to be the object of their machinations then.”
“Apparently so.”
His smile had her breath catching in her throat, and she turned to follow Jane and Lord Goodwin before she disgraced herself with an ill-timed fainting spell.
They walked in silence for a moment, long enough for her racing heart to calm a bit.
“I must confess, their less-than-subtle meddling aside, I am grateful for the opportunity to speak to you again,” he said.
She raised her brows. “Are you?”
He nodded. “Indeed. It gives you the chance to experience all my considerable charms without the distraction of a dessert mucking about in your gown.”
That startled a laugh out of her, and she clapped her hand over her mouth until she had it under control. “You seem to have an overly robust opinion of yourself, my lord.”
“Do I?” he asked, flashing that grin that never failed to send her stomach spinning. “Or do I simply have a healthy familiarity with my effect on my audience.”
She laughed again. “I suppose that is one explanation. Though, few people are so exuberant in their praise of their own appeal.”
“This is true,” he said with a sage nod.
“Though I find most individuals’ refusal to state their mind or insistence on pretense to be other than they are maddening.
If one is a terrible bore or perhaps, on the other side of the coin, a charismatic, charming creature, for instance,” he said, pressing his hand to his chest and bowing his head with a roguish wink, “it does no good to anyone to feign ignorance of the fact.”