Stolen Love (15 page)

They traveled in two carriages, with Mr. Benford-Smith, Lucy, Elizabeth, Mr. Latchley, and Mr. Martindale in the first. Havoc and Mrs. Willard both had decided to stay behind with the Lillicks. There was a moment when Elizabeth thought Nicholas would go in her carriage, but at the last minute he turned to answer a question from Mrs. Benford-Smith, and Mr. Latchley climbed in to take the last seat. It was nicely timed, she thought; Nicholas appeared to have ended up in the carriage with Amelia by accident.

The day was perfect for a picnic. Only a few white clouds dotted the sky, and though the sun was out, there was just enough breeze to keep it from becoming too warm. Because they were driving in an open carriage, Mrs. Lillick had insisted they take along lap blankets, but it was far too lovely to use them.

The five of them kept up a lively conversation as they rolled past the green fields. Mr. Martindale, sitting between Elizabeth and Miss Benford-Smith, kept them amused during the hour's drive, and both Lucy and Mr. Latchley joined in the laughter at Mr. Martindale's jokes. The girls at school had talked about such excursions, or rather dreamed of them, and it was every bit as wonderful as it was supposed to be. Elizabeth knew Mr. Martindale liked her, and it was obvious that Mr. Benford-Smith admired her. Even the habitually somber Beaufort Latchley seemed almost light-hearted. It was impossible not to be happy when Mrs. Willard wasn't around to scold her for laughing too loudly or sitting too quietly, or whatever it was she happened to be doing that did not suit her aunt. She smiled at no one and everyone and peered over the side of the carriage to watch the ground go by. "Just smell this wonderful air," she exclaimed.

"Miss Willard!" cried Miss Benford-Smith with alarm. "Have a care you don't fall out."

"Oh, I won't fall," she answered.

"I daresay one of us gentlemen should essay to catch you if you did," said Mr. Benford-Smith.

"Would you run the risk of falling out yourself?" She laughed but sat back against the seat.

"There are worse things a man might do besides catch you, Miss Willard," said Mr. Latchley with a smile less like a grimace than was usual for him. "The risk seems slight in comparison to saving the life of a lovely woman."

"Mr. Latchley, are you saying you would let an ugly woman fall?" Elizabeth asked with a smile.

"I'm sure Mr. Latchley would catch whoever might fall," said Miss Benford-Smith.

"Of course, you're quite right," Elizabeth responded. "I'm sure Mr. Latchley is too much a gentleman to let a woman fall to her death solely on account of her looks." She decided to attribute his previous comment to the effect of fresh air on a man obviously in great need of it.

"Thank you for your confidence in me, Miss Willard." He smiled yet again and looked practically pleasant.

They had been driving steadily uphill for the last half hour, and finally the driver pulled the horses to a halt. "Here we are," he said, twisting around in his seat to look at them.

"Already?" It seemed to Elizabeth that they had reached the spot for the picnic in much less than an hour. "But I thought Mrs. Lillick said it was an hour's drive."

Mr. Benford-Smith took out his watch and glanced at it. "Fifty-four minutes, to be exact, Miss Willard," he said.

"We must have had the better horses," Mr. Martindale observed. "The others seem to be a few minutes behind us."

"Shall we explore, Miss Willard, while we wait for the others?" Lucy Benford-Smith asked.

"Go along, dear," said Mr. Benford-Smith when Lucy looked at her father for approval of the suggestion. "But do not go out of sight."

"Yes, Father."

"Perhaps you ladies would care for company?"

"Well, Mr. Latchley," said Lucy, "normally I would have berated you for not asking sooner, but I have something of particular importance to say to Miss Willard."

"They must be alone so they may talk about us gentlemen, Mr. Latchley," said Mr. Martindale. "No doubt we would rather not hear what they have to say about brutes such as we."

"Come, Miss Willard." Lucy drew her arm though Elizabeth's and the two set off over a path headed downhill from the road. "Miss Willard," Lucy bubbled, "you are exceedingly nice. I believe I shall like you a great deal."

"Thank you. I certainly hope that is the case."

Lucy inclined her head toward Elizabeth's shoulder as if she meant to impart a confidence and said in a significant tone, "Well!"

"Yes?" said Elizabeth.

"Mr. Latchley seems to have formed an attachment to you."

"Oh, but you are mistaken, Miss Benford-Smith." She laughed.

"I think not. I am rarely mistaken about such things."

"As with most men, Mr. Latchley's attachment is to my cousin."

"Still, he likes you a great deal. He has made that abundantly clear." Lucy stopped walking.

"What does it signify," she asked, "if Mr. Latchley is determined to make a friend of someone who may one day be his relative?"

"Nothing, I suppose, but the relation may be a different one than you imagine, Miss Willard." Lucy, who had stood so she was facing Elizabeth, suddenly clutched her arm. "Goodness! Here comes Mr. Villines. He's so handsome," she whispered. In a slightly louder voice she said, "I used to be afraid of him, but now I'm no longer frightened by handsome men. I quite adore him." She delivered this last in a whisper again. "Good afternoon, Mr. Villines," she said when he reached the spot where they stood.

"Miss Benford-Smith. Elizabeth."

"Did you have a pleasant drive here, Mr. Villines? I should be very sorry to hear you did not."

"It was pleasant, Miss Benford-Smith."

"Of course, it must have been. Miss Amelia Willard was in your carriage, was she not? She is most amazingly beautiful. Do you know, Mr. Villines, I was just telling Miss Willard"—she put a hand on Elizabeth's arm—"that she has succeeded in stealing Mr. Beaufort Latchley away from her cousin. What do you make of that?"

"Have you, now, Elizabeth?"

"I'm afraid, Miss Benford-Smith, that Nicholas thinks I am incapable of such a thing."

"Oh, Mr. Villines!" Lucy cried. "How can you? Why, Miss Willard is just the sort of woman Mr. Latchley might want to be his wife."

"And what sort of woman is that, Miss Benford-Smith?"

"Well, she is clever. No matter what you gentlemen say, that is generally an advantage in a wife. And she is beautiful."

"But," said Nicholas with a broad smile, "do you not think she is too young for Mr. Latchley? For that is what I think of the matter."

"Oh, no. Heavens, Mr. Villines, you talk as though she is a child. Why, I've had a proposal from a man Mr. Latchley's age, and I am a year younger than Miss Willard."

"You merely prove my point, as you did not accept him."

"But it was not on account of his age, Mr. Villines. Though I shan't tell you why I refused him, I think I may safely say he was neither as rich nor as handsome as Mr. Latchley."

"Then perhaps you ought to marry Mr. Latchley yourself."

"I daresay I would," Lucy giggled, "only he is in love with Miss Elizabeth Willard."

"How can you be sure? It seems to me Mr. Latchley spends a great deal of time with Miss Amelia Willard."

"Here come the others," Elizabeth said, relieved to have the chance to change the subject.

Mr. Martindale was the first to reach them. "We thought we ought to take your lead and go exploring," he said to them. "Mr. Lillick was good enough to tell me there is a wondrous view of the valley just a mile or so from here, and the others have agreed we ought not to miss it. It would be an ideal place to have our picnic."

"I should love to see the view, Mr. Martindale," Elizabeth said.

"Ah, Miss Willard. I did expect you would be of a kind to appreciate nature, and here I am, proven right."

It took some twenty-five minutes for the group to reach the vantage point, but it was more than worth the time. They walked partway up an incline until they reached a spot where the ground leveled out. There was a view of the valley, and to the north Greenweald could just be made out. They admired the view while the two servants laid out the blankets and took the food out of the baskets. Miss Benford-Smith sat with her father and Amelia, while Mr. Martindale sat near Mr. and Mrs. Aston. Elizabeth hung back until Mr. Latchley finally positioned himself between Amelia and Lucy. Nicholas was the last to join them, and to Elizabeth's surprise, he did not sit with Amelia. He sat beside her and accepted the plate of food she handed to him. The luncheon was admirable; there was chicken, cold ham and beef, fresh rolls, fruit, and lemonade. Both Amelia and Lucy were talking to Mr. Martindale, and their laughter was the predominant sound for some time.

"Was that a new dress you wore last night, Elizabeth?" Nicholas asked after he had started on another piece of chicken.

"It used to be Amelia's." She handed him a napkin.

"Thank you. Would you pour me a glass of lemonade?" He held out his glass. "It looked well on you," he said when she handed him back his full glass. When he finished it, he put down his plate and lay on his back, hands clasped under his head, watching while Elizabeth cut a peach. "You ought to feed it to me," he said suddenly.

"Feed it to you? You lazy thing. Feed it to yourself." She held out a slice for him to take.

"Mr. Latchley will be jealous if you feed it to me."

"Not according to you."

"Do you love Mr. Latchley?"

"No." She laughed, dropping the fruit onto his plate.

He grabbed her hand and turned onto his side. "He's looking at us this very moment, Elizabeth," he said dramatically.

"Nicholas, don't." She tried to pull her hand away.

He pressed his lips to her hand. "There, now he shall be properly jealous."

"Nicholas!"

"If you don't love Mr. Latchley, why are you so distressed?" he demanded.

"It is cruel to tease me so."

He lay on his back again, still holding her hand. "I love to tease you, Elizabeth." He smiled.

"I don't know why."

"I can't very well tease Amelia." His eyelids drooped closed. "No, it simply wouldn't do to tease Amelia the way I tease you." He pulled her hand to his chest and covered it with both of his.

"Mr. Villines!" Lucy Benford-Smith called out. "Do come along, we are off to explore."

"Are you going, Elizabeth?" Nicholas asked in a low voice. She shook her head. "No, thank you," he called back to Lucy. "I am far too comfortable just now."

"Miss Willard?" Lucy implored.

"I think I will stay here."

Nicholas watched Lucy, Amelia, Mr. Martindale, and Mr. Benford-Smith walk away until they were out of sight, then let his eyes slowly close.

Elizabeth looked at him. His slight smile softened his mouth, but otherwise there was a hardness to his features that puzzled her. The years after his father's death must have been difficult for him, she thought, to have given him such a hard look. She reached to touch the thin scar on his cheek. "How did you get this, Nicholas?" she asked.

He opened his eyes, and for a moment she could not tell what she saw in them. "If I could tell anyone how I got it, it would be you."

"Poor Nicholas," she said.

"Do you pity me?"

"No. But things have been difficult for you, haven't they?"

"Yes."

"It's changed you."

"Experience will do that, Elizabeth."

"Was it as awful as that?"

"Sometimes I thought it was. Until I learned to like being alone, I was damned unhappy. I discovered one must like oneself in order to keep from going mad." He turned his head to look at her. "If it hadn't been for you and Ripton," he said, "I don't know what would have happened. You two were the only ones to stand behind me."

"You would still have survived," she said.

"I know I would have." He laughed. "But I would have been bitter, I think. I might have come to hate everyone. You kept me from that, Elizabeth, and I'll never forget it. I might have ended up a sour man like Beaufort Latchley."

"You don't like Mr. Latchley much, do you?"

"Latchley's bank held some of the mortgages on my father's property, so perhaps I dislike him by association. He was never malicious about it, but he never gave me so much as an inch in which to breathe. Not a bloody inch! There's no compassion in the man, that's why he became rich in direct proportion to my becoming poor. The most satisfying moment of my life was seeing the expression on his face when I paid off the last of the debt." He sat up. "Come, Elizabeth, let's go explore a little ourselves." He held out his hand when he had risen to his feet. "You've been awfully patient about listening to me."

"I wouldn't be your friend otherwise."

"And you are my friend, aren't you?" He stood very still, looking at her with an intensity that puzzled her.

She smiled at him. "I always have been," she said.

When they got back to Greenweald at nearly four o'clock, it was to find that Ripton had arrived during their absence. He and Mrs. Lillick had been busy making arrangements for dancing after supper and had made enough progress that they were awaiting only agreement from the musicians. Before tea was over, their confirmation arrived. Everyone thought it would be a perfect way to end the day, and the ladies retired to change somewhat earlier than would otherwise have been necessary.

Elizabeth stood in her room looking wistfully at the rose dress, wishing she had another gown even half as nice. She did not, and there was no help for it. For what seemed like the hundredth time, she wore her green watered silk.

When she joined the others in the drawing room, Amelia was already the center of attention. The arrival of Ripton Rutherford was just what her cousin needed to revive her flagging spirits. The dress she wore made the most of her figure, and she was shamelessly aware of the fact. She was busy promising dances to the men when supper was announced. Not even Lucy Benford-Smith could rival Amelia for her contributions to the conversation. Amelia sparkled. Nothing brought her to life like the prospect of an evening with handsome men about.

Several local families had been invited to attend the dancing, so there was a respectable number of people crowding the drawing room by the time the gentlemen came out of the dining room. The musicians were soon ready to play the first set. They proved to be surprisingly good, and by the second set of dances everyone was smiling almost as brilliantly as Amelia. She did not sit out a single dance, though it was no great wonder since there were slightly more gentlemen in attendance than ladies.