“We are to have a musicale. Perhaps you would care to be invited?”
“Um. Of course, Featherington and I should be delighted. You may send our invitations in care of our club. White’s.”
“Good day, then. What a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
As they drove on, Frank struggled to keep from smiling.
“Go on,” she said. “You may laugh. I did not imagine they were music lovers. I think I may safely say that I have cooled any interest they may have had in pursuing an acquaintance.” Smiling up at him, she continued, “That reminds me. Thank you so much for introducing me to the Carstairs.”
“I told you that they are close friends. Joseph and I were at Oxford together. I introduced him to Bella, as a matter of fact. She is my sister’s bosom bow.”
“You have a sister! You must tell me about her.”
“She is another enthusiastic rider like your sister, the duchess. And until she met her husband, Ross, she was not at all certain she could tolerate life as a female.”
“Like my sister, Fanny.”
“Yes. Exactly. She is now married to Ross, the Baron of Lovington, and saddled with a newborn son.”
“Does she enjoy being a mother?”
“She will as soon as Jack is old enough to sit a horse.”
Sophie laughed. “Being sports mad must run in the family.”
“Yes, I am afraid it does. My younger brother holds the new record for racing a phaeton to Brighton.”
An open carriage drew up next to them, and the Dowager Baroness of Frampton begged for an introduction. She kept his horses standing far too long while she talked fashions with his clueless angel. Fortunately, his passenger was keenly aware of this, and before too long asked to be excused, as the horses were becoming restless.
He wondered what madness had possessed him to bring his recently acquired horses to the park. He could hardly take them out and spring them with a lady aboard. Some part of him must have wanted to impress the petite lady beside him. And she had been impressed.
When they had resumed their slow pace, she asked, “Do you, by chance, have acquaintance with a Lord Oaksey?”
The question pierced him with annoyance. Did she have an interest there? Where had she met the interfering man?
“Why do you ask?” His tone was abrupt.
She colored. “I merely wondered if he were a rascal or a rake.”
“He is neither.” Frank’s voice was clipped. “He is, however, badly dipped. Pockets-to-let. Have you a fortune, I wonder?”
She had been leaning toward him, and now she drew away. “That is not a question you should ask me, I am quite certain.”
She was right. He drew a steadying breath. What was amiss with him? “I apologize for my bad manners. I merely meant to put you on your guard.”
“You are not nearly as agreeable today as you were last evening. Have I said or done something to put you out?”
“It is really not the done thing, Miss Edwards, to question your present escort about the eligibility of other men.”
“Well, then I apologize,” she said, her voice cool. She looked away from him at a willow tree drooping into the Serpentine. “I thought we were getting along moderately well with our trial friendship. Your offering to teach me archery was especially appreciated. But you must be terribly put out to call me Miss Edwards.”
Her words melted his frosty ire. “Forgive me. It was only my vanity, Angel. I would not do anything to injure my prospects as a friend to you.”
“I forgive you,” she said solemnly. “I am a bit touchy around angry people. I apologize.”
“I am still ‘on approval’ then?”
“Certainly.”
She continued to sit bolt upright. What was Oaksey to her? And why had she not realized he was merely put out, not angry?
He turned the horses out of the park gates, and they made their way to the Deals’ townhouse. Frank was happy they were spending the evening together. Sophie was certainly a novelty, and she was growing on him.
{ 5 }
“THANK YOU SO MUCH for taking me to the park. I enjoyed seeing everyone out and about,” Sophie said at her door. “If you can find an archer’s bow for me, I shall look forward to our lessons.”
“As will I. I do not think I have ever drawn as much notice in the park before,” he said, taking her gloved hand and brushing it with his lips. “And I shall look forward to this evening. Dinner at eight, you said?”
“Yes. That is right. There will be sufficient time for you to go on to a ball or rout or whatever activity you have scheduled for the evening.”
“I have nothing scheduled that cannot be ignored. I anticipate that after I hear you perform, you will not be able to tear me from your side, Angel.” He squeezed her fingers, which were still in his hand.
She smiled. “Good afternoon, my lord.”
Perkins had opened the front door and she moved through it, limping hastily into the library so that she could watch Lord Trowbridge mount his curricle and drive away.
“Is that you, dearest?” Fanny called from the top of the stairs.
“Yes, coming!”