‘She wasn’t nervous at all,’ Linette said. ‘Lady Glynnis is the daughter of an earl. She is used to moving in society and to meeting all manner of people. She might have been a little on edge when she first met us, but she certainly wasn’t nervous.’
No, she wasn’t, Emma acknowledged bleakly. She’d had no reason to be. She was beautiful and well born and she was going to be Alex’s wife. Not only that, her future father-in-law adored her. What on earth had a woman like that to be nervous about?
Emma turned to watch Alex approach the archery range. He was dressed for the outdoors and when he turned to smile at something Lady Glynnis said, Emma felt her heart turn over. Had she ever known a more handsome man? Or did he only seem so handsome because she loved him so much?
She glanced at Lady Glynnis’s laughing face and decided she must have misread the situation with Ridley last night. Lady Glynnis would have to be mad to think of giving up a life with Alex to be with Ridley. As much as Emma loved her brother, he simply wasn’t in the same league.
‘Emma, can I ask you a personal question?’ Linette said.
‘Of course.’
‘Do you have feelings for Lord Stewart?’
Emma coloured fiercely. How on earth was she to answer that? If she spoke too quickly, she risked sounding defensive, but if she took her time, Linette might think she was trying to concoct an answer. She decided on a half-truth. ‘Of course I have feelings for him, Linette, just as I have feelings for Peter. They are both going to be related to me.’
‘That’s not what I meant. I meant do you have feelings for him. Of a romantic nature.’
Not even a half-truth would suffice here, Emma thought dimly. This called for an out-and-out lie. ‘Of course not. Why?’
‘Because remember what I said about how you can tell when two people are in love?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, that’s how you and Lord Stewart were behaving last night.’
Emma felt her face burn. ‘We were not!’
‘Yes, you were,’ Linette said calmly. ‘You were standing quite close together, looking as though there was no one else in the room. He spoke to you and you blushed, and when you spoke to him, you leaned in towards him ever so slightly.’
‘I did?’
‘Yes. Then at the end, he leaned in close to you and said something that made you look at him as though—’
‘Stop it!’ Emma said quickly. ‘Immediately. Before you embarrass us both. I do not have feelings of a romantic nature for Lord Stewart. I like him as a person, but that’s all. He is as good as engaged to Lady Glynnis and I am not so foolish as to risk my heart on someone who is not free to return my affection.’
‘But they are not engaged yet,’ Linette said softly. ‘And if he has feelings for you—’
‘He does not have feelings for me, Linette. He has feelings for Lady Glynnis. And he is going to marry her as everyone expects he should.’
And she would go to the wedding and throw rice at the newlyweds, and act as though she couldn’t be happier. And with any luck, the more times she told herself that, the sooner she would come to believe it.
For that reason, Emma contented herself with watching Alex from a distance, admiring the fine figure of a man he presented. It was a lovely afternoon and, like most of the other gentlemen, he had shed his jacket and now stood in shirt sleeves, breeches and boots, aiming a very impressive-looking bow at a straw target set up some fifty feet distant. She saw him take his stance, spreading his legs to balance his weight, then watched him nock the arrow and raise the bow. Slowly he drew it back, his extended hand and his draw hand parallel to the ground. When his lips lightly touched the strings, he released the arrow. Emma watched it fly, straight as a die, landing just above centre in the red-and-white target.
A cheer went up from several of the ladies, including Lady Glynnis, who clapped her hands in approval.
‘Well, at least she seems to like and admire him,’ Linette observed. ‘I suppose that will have to be enough.’
‘People do marry for reasons other than love, you know,’ Emma murmured, keeping her eyes on the archers.
‘Yes, but love is still the only reason that matters.’ Linette watched Peter step up to the mark and take up his bow. ‘I suppose I’d hoped that given how much love matters to Peter, it might be of importance to his brother as well.’
‘Need I remind you that you were the one who pointed out how different Lord Stewart and his brother were,’ Emma said. ‘And time has proven you right.’
‘Actually, it hasn’t,’ Linette said. ‘The more I come to know Lord Stewart, the more I think he is like his brother in many ways. He simply doesn’t show it. Likely because the role he has always been called upon to play demands that he keeps his deepest feelings hidden. But I believe love matters to him every bit as much as it does to Peter. Oh, well done, Mr Taylor!’ Linette cried, clapping her hands as her fiancé’s arrow struck the target about two inches from the centre. ‘I had no idea he was so good. I must go down and compliment him.’
Emma and Linette waited until the bows were safely set aside before making their way on to the archery course. Lady Glynnis, Emma noticed, had already turned and started in the direction of the refreshment tent with two other ladies, leaving Alex alone.
‘Ah, Miss Darling,’ Alex said, slipping his coat back on. ‘I thought I saw you watching me from the balcony.’
Flustered that he should have noticed, Emma attempted a quelling smile. ‘I was not watching you, Lord Stewart. I was observing all of the archers. Including your brother, who I must say shot very well.’
‘Peter’s a keen sportsman,’ Alex said without rancour. ‘Where my talents at school ran more to the academic, his always tended towards the physical.’
Strange, Emma thought, given that Alex’s build was the more muscular. ‘You have nothing to be ashamed of. You acquitted yourself quite well.’
‘Quite well.’ His smile was slow and deliberate. ‘Thank you, Miss Darling. I am at a loss for words in the face of such blatant flattery.’
Emma felt colour scald her cheeks. ‘It was not intended as a slight, my lord. I was simply making a comment.’
‘Of course you were. Just as if I were to say that you look quite charming in that dress, or that I’ve always thought your hair quite a lovely colour, there would be no danger of it going to your head because I would simply have been…making a comment.’
He thought she looked charming? And that her hair was pretty? ‘It is not the same at all. I am making a judgement as to your ability. A comment about my dress or my hair addresses something over which I have no control.’
‘On the contrary, does a lady not specifically choose clothing to flatter her figure and complexion?’ Alex retorted. ‘Does she not style her hair in a manner most becoming to her face? Of course she does. Because the whole point of the exercise is to attract the attention of a male.’
Emma frowned. ‘You make us sound rather predatory.’
‘We all are. What do you think the purpose of these gatherings is, Emma, if not to allow us to be seen at our best by members of the opposite sex? The goal of married couples is to provide venues like this so that those of us who are single are quickly absorbed into the wedded state. There is nothing a married man likes better than to see a happily single man trapped in the parson’s noose.’
‘And what about a happily single woman?’
‘I doubt such a thing exists.’
‘Odious man, of course it does! A woman loses everything when she marries. Her property. Her money. Her identity.’
‘Ah, but look at what she gains,’ Alex pointed out. ‘A man willing to protect her virtue and honour her name. A banker who will pay her debts and keep her in the style she might not otherwise have known. And, if she is lucky, a man who will love her and make her happy in every way a man should.’
She wanted to mock him, but the words died on her lips. He hadn’t been smiling when he had spoken those last
words. He had been looking right at her. Daring her to disagree. Or waiting for her to tell him he was right…which, of course, he was. What did any woman want but a man who truly loved her? A man to whom she meant everything. She might not have believed that a month ago, but she believed it now. Linette had found that connection with Peter Taylor. Emma had not found it with anyone. Nor had Alex, who was marrying Lady Glynnis Pettle because she was suitable. Dear Lord, was there ever a colder, more emotionless reason for doing something so important? So life altering…
‘My lord,’ Lady Glynnis said, rejoining them, ‘what has been keeping you? I was waiting for you at the tent.’
Alex looked round and quickly apologised. ‘Forgive me, Glyn, Miss Darling and I were engaged in a verbal battle.’
‘Oh?’ Beautiful violet eyes turned to gaze at Emma. ‘Dare I ask who the winner was?’
‘I’m not sure there was one,’ Emma said, afraid to look at Alex with Lady Glynnis watching her so closely.
But Alex only laughed. ‘I think Miss Darling is right. It was more an exchange of opinions than an argument and it is difficult to establish a winner when there is no point to be won or lost. But now, shall we join the others in the tent for refreshments? This shooting of innocent bales of straw has made me devilishly hungry.’
* * *
On the way to the tent, Linette and Peter joined them, and somehow Emma found herself walking with Lady Glynnis behind the other three. She enjoyed watched the antics going on all around her: young men making fools of themselves in three-legged races, young girls skipping rope and tossing bowls, Aunt Dorothy imbibing champagne…
‘I am surprised your brother did not come with you this afternoon, Miss Darling,’ Lady Glynnis said casually. ‘I would have thought this type of gathering the sort of thing he would have enjoyed.’
Surprised to hear her speak of Ridley, Emma said, ‘He told me he had to do some preparatory work for a…project he has in London.’
‘A new painting, perhaps?’
When Emma turned to look at her, Lady Glynnis smiled. ‘It’s all right, Miss Darling. You don’t have to pretend you don’t know. You and your brother are very close. I’m sure he told you he did a portrait of me.’
Glad for the opening, but nevertheless aware of a need for caution, Emma said, ‘He did mention it in passing, Lady Glynnis.’
‘You must have been shocked to learn he had taken up painting as a living.’
‘We all were, given that he started out with the intention of becoming a lawyer.’
‘But he is very good. Has he shown you any of his work?’
‘He brought home a painting of a little girl with a kitten. I thought it excellent.’
Lady Glynnis smiled. ‘Lord Forrester’s daughter. He was just finishing that one when I came to talk to him about my portrait.’
They proceeded on in silence for a few minutes. Lady Glynnis walked slowly, as if to let the other three get ahead of them. ‘Miss Darling, did your brother tell you anything about the painting he did of me?’
‘Only that it took him a long time to get it exactly right.’
‘So you don’t know anything about the nature of the painting?’
‘No.’
‘I commissioned it as a gift for Lord Stewart. You must have heard that we are promised to one another.’
Emma swallowed, but kept her eyes straight ahead. ‘Yes.’
‘The arrangements were made by our parents some time ago, of course, but I had no complaint. I’ve known Alex for years. Ever since we were children, in fact, and I’ve always been fond of him. I don’t suppose there was ever any question that we would marry other people. And, this last year, we have talked about it several times. That is how I know he will be proposing very soon and why I decided to have a painting done of myself. As a wedding present. And I wanted it to be…beautiful.’
‘How could it be anything else?’ Emma asked.
To her surprise, the lady blushed. ‘You are too kind, Miss Darling. I have never thought of myself as beautiful. My cousin is the acknowledged beauty in the family. But Alex has a keen eye for such things and I wanted him to have a portrait that he would be pleased to look upon. After seeing a sample of your brother’s work, I knew he was the one to do it.’
There was a wistfulness to her voice, a sadness, that prompted Emma to say, ‘Ridley told me you were happy with the finished portrait, Lady Glynnis. Is that not the case?’
This time, it was Lady Glynnis who kept her eyes forwards. ‘The painting was…exquisite. It captured a side of me I didn’t even know existed. Yes, I was pleased with it. And had I taken it with me the day he showed it to me, everything would have been well. But he said he needed a few extra days to frame it and that he would deliver it in person to my home.’ Lady Glynnis slowed to a stop, forcing Emma to do the same. ‘Unfortunately, before I finally did receive the painting, he did the unforgivable.’
The sadness was back, along with the wistfulness. Emma knew it would be wrong to pretend she didn’t know. ‘He let someone else see the portrait,’ she said quietly. ‘That’s why you were so angry with him.’
‘The painting was to have been a gift for my fiancé, Miss Darling. As such, I felt Alex should be the first man to see it. I thought I could trust your brother in that regard. When he told me he had shown the painting to someone else, I felt betrayed. As though the level of trust I had placed in him had been misplaced.’ Lady Glynnis started to walk again. ‘I’m sure you can understand that.’
‘I can understand your disappointment at your fiancé not being the first to see the painting,’ Emma said slowly, ‘but not your anger towards my brother for having let someone else see it. Ridley told me the gentleman, who is known to you both, simply dropped by the studio one evening and happened to see it sitting upon the easel where it was waiting to be finished. And I understand that his remarks about the portrait were highly complimentary.’
‘All of that is true, Miss Darling. But the painting revealed…a state of mind,’ Lady Glynnis said, a delicate rush of pink staining her cheeks. ‘A very private state of mind. Had it been just a painting of a woman in a garden, I would not have cared, but your brother’s painting gave away more of my feelings than I was comfortable sharing with other people.’
‘But surely there is no embarrassment in seeing the face of a woman in love,’ Emma said. ‘Is that not how you wish Lord Stewart to see you when he looks upon the painting? Or anyone else who sees it.’
When Lady Glynnis made no reply, Emma sighed. She did not understand why the lady was reacting the way she was. All she could be sure of was that whatever she thought she had seen on Lady Glynnis’s face in response to Ridley’s comment last night must have been a mistake. Clearly, the lady was very much in love with Alex.
‘I am sorry, Lady Glynnis,’ Emma said finally. ‘I know Ridley had no intention of hurting you and that it has upset him greatly to know that he has. He is not a cruel or mean spirited man.’
‘I never believed he was,’ Lady Glynnis said quietly. ‘That’s why I was so surprised when I found out he had shown the painting to Mr Towbridge.’
‘And I must repeat that it was not intentionally done,’ Emma said. ‘My brother did not invite Mr…’
‘Towbridge.’
‘Mr Towbridge to come and see the painting—’
‘I understand that, Miss Darling. And I am well aware that Mr Towbridge is a good friend of your brother’s and that he was responsible for your brother receiving his first commission. But Alex…Lord Stewart, should have been the first man to see it,’ Lady Glynnis repeated. ‘The only man.’
Emma sighed. Obviously nothing she said was going to have any effect on the lady’s opinion. ‘Then I can only say again how sorry I am, Lady Glynnis.’
‘I realise this has…nothing to do with you,’ Lady Glynnis said as they drew closer to the tent. ‘But I wanted you to know so that you would understand the tension between your brother and myself. To understand why it is
so…difficult for me to be in the same room with him.’
‘I do understand. And I shall not speak of this to anyone else.’
‘You’re very kind. And despite the difficulties, I do hope your sister and Mr Taylor are able to find happiness together. They are both dear people and I honestly believe they should be allowed to marry.’
‘I think what you said last night helped in that regard,’ Emma said.
By now they had caught up with the others and were soon absorbed into the crowd of people moving along the tables weighted down with refreshments of all kinds. But Lady Glynnis’s words stayed with Emma long after they had parted, as had the tone in which they had been spoken. There had been anger, but there had also been regret, as though the lady was sorry matters had turned out the way they had. But why should she feel that way? Emma kept asking herself. Why would a lady who was as good as engaged to the heir to an earldom feel regret that a relationship between herself and the man hired to paint her portrait had ended so badly?
* * *
At the conclusion of the afternoon’s festivities, the villagers returned to their homes to talk about all the things they had seen and done, and the invited guests returned to Ellingsworth to prepare for the formal evening events. Alex had seen Emma and her family leave, though he had not gone over to say goodbye. He knew it was best he maintain a distance from her now. She was a lovely young woman and he knew himself well enough to know that he was attracted to her and that the attraction was only going to get stronger. She had such a refreshing and uncomplicated way about her. The afternoon he had arrived at Dove’s Hollow to find her painting in the garden, she hadn’t made any apologies for her appearance. She had smiled when he had offered the expected compliment, but he had seen in her eyes her awareness of its intention. He knew she hadn’t believed him, which was a pity since he really had meant it.
He’d found her appearance that day utterly charming. The white painter’s smock spattered here and there with splotches of both green and yellow paint had fit loosely, but had done nothing to disguise the sweetness of her figure. The straw bonnet had been casually undone, allowing tendrils of hair to escape, and her lips had been slightly parted as she had gazed intently at the canvas, her arm extended, bent a little at the elbow, as she moved the brush lightly over the canvas.
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