Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Knightswood Manor; Sir Francis’s Whole Library
Midday
It was the most hare-brained scheme she’d ever come up with, rivalling Phoebe for daring, Sophie for cheek and Matilda for downright devilry.
Yet as Josephine dashed off the note, she felt more purposeful than she had in a long while.
And Sir Francis’s response, despite a report of a headache that required he kept to his bedchamber, was swift.
Dear Miss Fairfax,
I must admit to some surprise when your solicitous note arrived. I had rather assumed Huntingly’s misunderstanding, and interference, would lead you to draw the wrong conclusion about our last meeting.
I am most reassured this is not the case, and accept your invitation to a companiable walk in the spirit it is extended.
Until 3 o’clock at the folly,
Yours,
Francis
Josephine stared at Sir Francis’s loopy, self-important handwriting wondering how she ever thought him admirable.
She had no doubt he’d encouraged both Isabella Hampton and Amelia Carlisle to believe they were special, perhaps even her brother too, yet his pompous response only emphasised the fact that he had no conscience whatsoever.
Her lips curled. Well, he had better have a care about which books he desired most to read, because some were not predictable at all.
And, if her suspicions were correct, she might be able to clear Huntingly’s name once and for all, which would go some way to appeasing her own conscience too.
As well as something else she didn’t quite understand.
At precisely ten minutes to the hour, Josephine hurried along the front lawn, towards the shrubbery that concealed the way to the folly.
The old colonnade temple had been a present from Papa to Mama, Thomas said, though in truth it had been built a long time before any of them were born.
Today, its path was bathed in dappled sunshine and bordered by a haze of sky-blue hyacinths, wild roses and blushing peonies, but Josephine paid them little heed as she made her way along.
The folly had always been one of her favourite reading spots, yet reading couldn’t have been further from her mind.
‘Good afternoon, Sir Francis,’ she called as soon as she spied him loitering just inside one of the stone pillars. ‘I am so very grateful you have come.’
A thin smile reached across Sir Francis’s golden face as he stepped out from the folly and executed a low, flourishing bow.
‘But of course, Miss Fairfax!’ he replied, with a flick of his flaxen hair.
‘It felt the very least I could do after that ruffian interrupted our tête-à-tête last night! Truly, I am relieved he had the good sense to depart,’ he added, his duplicitous eyes alight with a gleam she was starting to recognise.
‘It would have been most awkward had he chosen to remain, I would have been forced to settle the insult with my own sword, which isn’t so badly weighted as your brother’s, I can assure you! ’
‘Oh indeed, I believe you showed great sportsmanship, given the circumstances, Sir Francis,’ Josephine flattered, safe in the knowledge both Fred and Matilda were in place by now.
‘In fact, I’d go so far as to say I was much awed by your courage and your …
conviction! You have opened my eyes to truly honour, and I too was quite reassured by the news that Lord Huntingly left this morning.
I’m only sorry that I have not seen this clearly before.
’ She fluttered her eyelashes, trying not to give in to a rise of laughter.
‘Oh! Does your injury still pain you?’ she added in her next breath, channelling Miss Amelia’s pout.
‘This?’ Sir Francis replied, shrugging his arm out of Matilda’s homemade sling. ‘It would trouble most, but your company and perceptive wit have soothed it beyond the reach of any balm or compress. Allow me, Miss Fairfax?’
Then he proffered his arm in such a way that Josephine knew her plan was working. He believed they were on the best of terms again.
‘I have to say, Miss Fairfax, you truly are a breath of fresh air!’ he went on.
‘I pride myself on knowing the female mind rather well, and while I’ve always known you’re not one of the silly, fanciful types, your presence of mind and logic are quite inspiring.
In short, Josephine – I may call you Josephine, mightn’t I?
– I believe you may ruin my perception of the fragile sex forever! ’
His flattering tone had slunk lower and softer as they walked further from the main house, and Josephine had to steel herself not to wrench her arm out of his.
Never had she been more aware of the cunning nature of his words, flattering her so she might be distracted from his predatory nature altogether.
She’d no doubt he’d used such tactics on both Isabella Hampton and Amelia Carlisle, while his audacity at using her given name when he’d insulted her no less than a day ago made her boil with rage on behalf of them all.
Yet it was a sweet smile she turned upwards, knowing she had the part of her life to play if she was ever to know the full truth.
‘You are so worldly wise,’ she sighed, suppressing an image of Matilda’s vomit face.
‘I feel as though you are the only gentleman who has ever truly seen me. And please do call me Josephine…’ She glanced up coquettishly, wishing Phoebe could witness her epic performance.
‘I reserve it for quite my best friends.’
He smiled his blinding smile then, the one Josephine had watched him use on so many others with clear success, yet it only fuelled her fire. She burned to wipe it off his face with a few choice words, to put him wholly in his place, but she forced herself to smile instead.
‘As I adore the sound of my name on your lips, Josephine,’ he whispered, leaning closer.
A wave of nausea threatened, but they were so close to her destination she gritted her teeth and sighed wistfully instead.
‘It is such a warm day to be enjoying each other’s company, don’t you think?
I wish I’d known this afternoon was going to be so delightful, I would have brought a parasol and perhaps even a bathing gown for the lake!
’ She trilled off into laughter that sounded very fake, and hoped Sir Francis was too far wrapped up in his own growing expectations to notice.
‘Bathing gown?’ he mused suggestively. ‘Why you ladies burden yourselves with such layers I will never know, especially within the privacy of your own grounds.’
‘Oh truly, Sir Francis, you will make me blush!’ Josephine replied with her finest attempt at an arch smile. ‘We may have broken the rules a few times in the past, but only in truly trusted family company.’
They rounded the curve in the trail then to emerge on the side of Knightswood’s large lake, which glistened quietly in the summer sun.
It was one of Josephine’s favourite spots, not because of boisterous swimming fun with her sisters and brothers, but because of her many happy hours as lookout bookworm in case any family members ventured this far.
She swept her gaze around and was reassured by a flash of colour halfway down the trail, which gave her the comfort she needed.
Fred and Matilda were in place, which meant she could continue.
‘I hope I am starting to feel like a “truly trusted” family friend, Josephine,’ he replied, turning and catching hold of her hands.
‘It is really quite important to me.’ He lingered over his words before lifting one of her clenched hands to his lips.
‘It was what I was trying to say last night – rather clumsily, I fear, for true matters of the heart are always the hardest to articulate, are they not?’ Then he trailed a fingertip down her cheek in a way that made her want to push him straight into the lake.
‘Oh, Francis!’ she gurgled instead, feeling sure Matilda would have a fit of hysterics if she could hear her.
‘I have never met anyone like you. You make me want to throw all caution to the wind! How I wish we had our bathing suits. I vow it would be the finest way to celebrate our friendship on this glorious summer’s day!
’ Then she sighed again as Sir Francis’s eyes gleamed in a way that made her shudder.
She steeled herself: just a little longer.
‘Well, we could take one tiny little swim?’ he whispered. ‘No one need know, and it would be such a wonderful way to celebrate our friendship, as you say. It could also be a sign of the trust we place in one another, a trust that could grow into something much more special…’
‘Oh!’ She feigned a gasp at the suggestion. ‘But how could we possibly do so, when we don’t have so much as a bathing suit between us?’
His eyes gleamed again, and for the first time Josephine noticed how closely set they were.
‘You are wearing your petticoats, are you not?’ he murmured, standing so close his cologne overpowered the nearby wild jasmine.
For some reason, this irritated her more than anything, but she mustered all her self-control.
‘I could wade into the water before you?’ he added.
‘And turn away when you come in?’ His fingers reached to play with hers in a way that turned her stomach.
‘Of course, I give you my word you will be quite safe.’
‘Oh, Francis, I do declare you are far too wild for me, and yet my heart is aglow with the idea!’ she replied, rattling off a line from one of the worst novels she’d ever read.
‘I will undress behind the willow tree over there, while you do the same behind that oak, and when you are in the water, call me?’
At this, Josephine thought Sir Francis’s eyes might pop out of his head, but she continued to smile and dimple becomingly, as he caught her fingers to his lips.