Chapter 8
Eight
“Not long now! I told you I had it, Little Ashcroft!”
He had seen her before James had. It was clear from the way James raced ahead, launching a victorious mocking cry while Gabriel slowed his horse to the animal’s vocal discontent. It should not have surprised him that that was the order of things. This was becoming something of a habit this Season.
Some part of him had learned to pick out Rosalie Winthrop’s form from a distance and her voice in a crowd. He could think of no use for the skill except for making fools of them both, as the night prior had proven when she had choked, and he had held her in his arms. And then she had disappeared.
“How kind of you for helping the Winthrop girl,” one of the guests had said once she had left with her mother and father without so much as a goodbye.
“Of course, one has to wonder whether she did it on purpose... Wouldn’t be the first time with that family,” another had put in when they thought he couldn’t hear.
Meantime, Beatrice Levant had been watching him through every course.
He dashed the thoughts from his mind. Gabriel drew his horse up at the end of the trees, sketching a turn and observing Miss Winthrop as she pulled the woman beside her out of danger that never came.
James had slowed to a trot by then and had paraded past them on the path, headed southward toward the park exit.
The two women stumbled up a bank; the one who was not Miss Winthrop fell over on her knees and laughed, and Gabriel bit his lip, stifling a smile as Miss Winthrop helped her up.
Would it have been worse to ignore them or to engage them in an awkward afternoon conversation? There were no rules of propriety for the challenge raised to him and Miss Winthrop.
With a little encouragement, he directed his horse after James. But where James was stopped by two other promenading figures—after a while he realized they were Lord and Lady Winthrop—Gabriel progressed toward Miss Winthrop and her friend.
He did not miss the way she stiffened at the sight of him.
It was the same involuntary bracing he had watched her perform whenever they first met, before she softened around him like ice melting.
She always looked as though she expected him to say something dreadful and then was relieved when he didn’t.
Maybe today, he thought, she will be wrong on that count.
“Miss Winthrop,” he called when he arrived. He let his eyes rest on her a moment longer than necessary and was pleased in some chamber of himself he did not much respect to see her notice it. “I trust I am finding you in good health this afternoon.”
She gave a forced smile. “Yes, entirely, Your Grace.” She pulled her friend to a standing position.
“Thank you for your concern.” Her voice came out intentionally cool and correct for the benefit of her friend, who was watching with open delight now that she was upright—and for James too, who was fast approaching.
“Allow me to introduce my dear, but grass-stained, friend, Miss Emily Sutton.”
“A pleasure, Your Grace,” the young woman said, curtsying to the duke. “I have heard—” She seemed to stop herself—for who knew what reason—but was still smiling. “I have heard so much about you from Miss Winthrop. Really so much.”
“Is that so?” Gabriel smiled at Miss Winthrop. “I had not known my house call last week had become a matter of public interest, Miss Winthrop.”
“Your house call, Your Grace?” Lady Emily asked, staring at her friend.
Ah, he thought with a little humor. Miss Winthrop is quite good at keeping secrets after all. She has not even told her friend about our own entanglement. Good.
“I meant... about last night,” Lady Emily corrected, evidently reading some kind of invisible warning on Miss Winthrop’s face.
“Last night truly is no matter of anyone’s concern any longer,” Miss Winthrop lied with her usual unflagging politeness. She plucked a blade of grass out of Lady Emily’s hair. “You need not have worried yourself today, Your Grace. Certainly not enough to interrupt your ride over me and lose.”
“You may be right about my loss and more,” Gabriel said, enjoying seeing her out in the open air. “But I confess I have thought of little else since. It is not every day a man is given the chance to play the part of the hero. I have been insufferable about it. Ask Beaumont if you doubt me.”
“I can concur,” James said without further comment, looking off into the distance, which Gabriel thought showed considerable restraint on his friend’s part.
Lady Emily laughed outright. Even Miss Winthrop’s mouth twitched, though she seemed to be fighting the expression. A knot in Gabriel’s chest eased at the sight of her struggle, loosening much more than the occasion warranted. It tightened almost immediately as another thought came to him.
“But after your departure, I heard Mr. Sinclair proved himself highly amenable to you as well. He was quite adamant about your strong and impeachable character when he returned to the party. If not offering physical support, offering supportive words must have sufficed for the gentleman—and for you?”
Lady Emily barely flinched. So, Gabriel thought, the friend knew about Sinclair but not about me? I suppose that makes sense. And yet...
“He was a perfect gentleman.” Miss Winthrop crossed her arms, then looked over her shoulder, maybe for her parents, who were keeping their distance and watching. “Though I do not see why you felt the need to ask about his support, verbal or otherwise.”
He almost laughed but held back. She was a quick and witty creature despite her proper outward appearance.
He had been thinking about her wit and more all night.
The scene of them together at the Peachey house would hit the press soon enough.
There had been talk already. There would be more talk. Even Elisabeth knew; God knew how.
Gabriel did not relish the thought of becoming involved with a woman without receiving anything in return; maybe before they could have avoided this, but not now. Which is why he intended to make the most of the situation. Their meeting in the park that morning had proven his point.
Miss Winthrop’s repeated appearances in his life were providence.
He cast a look at James he hoped was not misinterpreted, as Lord and Lady Winthrop finally decided to arrive and formally greeted the two gentlemen. Introductions were made.
“What do you say about walking with the Winthrop party a while?” Gabriel asked James with forced nonchalance. “The horses could do with a rest. And I would like to stretch my legs.”
The suggestion was met with enthusiasm by almost everyone except for Miss Winthrop.
Undeterred, Gabriel walked with James and Lord Winthrop to tie the horses under a tall oak tree, promising them to return shortly.
Lord Winthrop offered to stay behind with his wife to ensure the horses were not stolen.
Gabriel did not bother investigating the offer.
He was used to parents making convenient excuses for leaving him alone with their daughters.
But in this case, a small privacy was what the moment called for.
Before long, he found himself walking beside Miss Winthrop a few yards behind James and Lady Emily.
Even from here, he could tell what a capable conversationalist Lady Emily was, but she was visibly disinterested in James in any romantic sense, not trying to move closer to him, not holding herself in the way young women did when they were nervous and trying to make a good impression.
Miss Winthrop was maintaining an equally platonic distance.
But while Lady Emily was loud and warm up ahead, Miss Winthrop was quiet and cold.
The path turned toward the Serpentine, notching into the main loop around the lake.
James stopped with Lady Emily and shot a look at Gabriel, nodding to indicate he was watching closely.
Gabriel drew Miss Winthrop a little further away, stopping at the beginning of a jetty.
The water rippled quietly against the bank, sand martins skipping over the water in the distance.
There was no one around except the grass mounds and their chaperones atop one.
“I don’t understand the meaning of this,” Miss Winthrop said eventually, not following him out onto the creaking jetty. “Why do you insist on finding me always and being alone with me?”
“You are mistaken if you believe I have orchestrated any part of our acquaintance except this walk, and maybe Vauxhall. Let us not forget who initiated our first meeting after all.”
“Entirely by accident.”
“That was not what you said after the fact.”
“I did not intend for the gentleman I kissed to be you exactly. How many times must we go over this? It just happened to be you. Heavens knows I would not have picked you if I knew this would be the consequence.”
Another gentleman might have been insulted by the slight.
“And are you not glad it was me and not someone less discreet?” Gabriel doubled back toward her, his hands clasped behind his back. His legs were tender from the ride, and he sighed. “I only wanted a brief moment with you, Miss Winthrop.”
“How brief is brief, Your Grace?”
“Less brief, for that question.”
“You seemed very certain a moment ago, when you waited for me to leave before you started walking. I thought you would be counting down the seconds until you relieved yourself of me.”
“Have I given you the impression that your company is a burden to me?”
She paused, then said, “Yes.”
“Then I misrepresented my opinion of you. Or I lied about it. I can’t remember.
And I find I do that rather often around you, lying, though never about anything significant.
” He turned to face her properly and found himself uncomfortably less sure of his ground than he had expected to be.
“Will you hear what I have to say anyway?”
“It seems I have no choice.” She gestured toward the lake. “It is you or the Serpentine for me.”