Chapter 15

Chapter 15

It was like music to Mark's ears to know that Miss Fairchild took such an interest in his daughter. Within minutes of their conversation starting, she knew all of Eva's likes and dislikes as they planned the tea party of the century for his daughter.

Around them, the garden seemed to close in, tucking them away from the party and the chaos within the house walls. Anna kept near enough but not so close that she could listen in on their conversation.

"Eva will be so pleased to know you've taken an interest in her," Mark said. "She asks about you all the time, and I'm afraid I hardly ever have the answers."

"Is that so?" she asked. "Why don't you ask me some? Then, when you get home you can tell her the answers."

He liked that idea. There was no better way to get to know someone than to have the chance to simply fire some questions away.

"Alright," he said with a nervous chuckle. "The first thing she wanted to know was if you like to travel."

Diana sighed. "I haven't travelled much, I'm afraid. Although it is something I've always been interested in."

"Why haven't you?" he asked.

She motioned back towards the house. "I have a lot to keep track of here," she said. "I don't want to know what would happen if I left my family to take care of things here."

Mark laughed. "If I left my mother at home, I'd come back, and nothing would look the same."

"The next thing Eva really wanted to know was what your favourite colour is," he said.

Diana leaned backward. "Ooh, that's a tough question. I haven't thought about this very often. I think I'd have to say blue."

"Why blue?" he asked.

"I guess the colour holds a lot of feeling," she answered. "It can be calm or deep like the scariest parts of the ocean. Blue can be the bright sunny sky or the dark night."

"Spoken like a true artist," he said.

Part of him was worried when he started asking questions. He worried that perhaps she would give him an answer that he didn't like. Instead, he only liked her more.

Not only did she answer his questions, but she also gave him the information that the answer required. Diana really allowed him to get to know her.

"Right, next question," he said.

She tilted her head back with laughter. "Alright."

"These don't come from me," he said, removing responsibility. "These are directly from Eva."

"Fire away," she said with a determined nod.

"Evangeline really wants to know what your favourite food is," he said. "She's been helping the cook in the kitchen and is deadly afraid that you might show up for dinner one night, and she won't know what to cook."

"Quail," she answered quite plainly.

Mark nodded. "Thank you," he said. "She will be very pleased with the results of this conversation, I think."

The pair kept speaking about the things that interested them. She learned about him, too. Things that most people didn't care about at all. They laughed easily, and the conversation flowed without any struggle.

"Thank you for cheering me up," she eventually said. "This party has me a little nervous."

"What could you possibly be nervous about?" he asked.

"I'm afraid I don't belong in the members of society that are currently in my ballroom," she confessed. "I don't even know most of them."

"Oh, don't say that, Miss Fairchild," he said with a smile. "You are more than worthy of their company. They would be lucky to get to know you as I have."

She turned her face away so that he would not see her blush, but Mark could see it anyway. It bothered him that she felt she wasn't worthy of the people in that room when she was significantly better than them.

"I'm serious," he said. "I know the people in that room, and I've run away from them. I'd choose your company over theirs any day, at any time."

"Thank you," she said softly. "That's very kind of you."

"It's not kindness," he reminded her. "I mean every word of it."

The silence that fell over them was a comfortable one as the swans glided over the pond water, casting a beautiful reflection of the moonlight.

"One last question," he said.

"Go ahead," she said with a chuckle.

"Why does a woman like you show such kindness to everyone around her when they do not always return the favour?" he asked.

Diana seemed taken aback by the question. "Are you sure that's one of Eva's questions?"

Mark shrugged. "Alright, so it's one of mine," he answered. "But I'd really like to know. You deserve only kindness in this life."

"I don't know," she answered. "Isn't that just the way the world works? People are people, I suppose. I can't choose family. I can, thankfully, choose friends."

"You know, family isn't always everything," he said. "The responsibilities you feel towards your other family members should also be returned by them. That's what you deserve."

She smiled. "That's what my father used to say to my mother all the time," she confessed.

"He was a smart man," Mark added.

With that, he ended the serious part of the conversation. The last thing he wanted was to push her away by getting too involved in her personal life. But he had overheard her cousin complaining about her and it had shocked him.

He was comfortable next to her, and when he adjusted his coat, Mark inched a little closer to her side. It wasn't like him to be so interested in someone so fast, but something about Diana made him feel like he was not the man he'd always been.

She made him want to take a few more risks in life, and he liked the way that felt.

*

Lady Elizabeth marched back towards the house. The entire night had been a waste of time for her. She had not had a good time, and worse, the man she'd been there to see was sitting cosy next to a woman who wasn't even worth his time.

She had followed the duke into the gardens with the idea that they could finally spend some time alone together. She had never been more disappointed in her life. Her desires aside, she had a bet to win, and she would not let Lord Starling win that competition.

But now, it seemed as though they were both at risk of losing.

She burst into the crowded ballroom again and immediately was in a worse mood. It didn't take her long to find the viscount among the crowd. He was taller than most people there.

The dowager duchess of Blackwood seemed eager to get her attention again, but Elizabeth blew her off and carried on her path. She was far too concerned with what she'd seen to make any kind of small talk. She marched right up to Lord Starling and tapped him on the shoulder.

"We need to talk," she said sternly.

Elizabeth didn't even wait for him to respond before she started heading towards the balcony. She knew he would follow because he always did. She stopped at the railing on the balcony and took a deep breath to help her fix her composure.

"What?" he asked, sounding annoyed. "This better be important. I was having a perfectly pleasant conversation."

"That sad girl you were dancing with earlier," Elizabeth said. "Is that the one you're determined to win over?"

She wanted to spit out that it was the same woman who had embarrassed her earlier in the party. Elizabeth bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from scowling.

"It is," he said. "Is that important?'

Elizabeth scoffed. "We're both about to lose this bet if we're not careful," she said. "I've just seen your lady cosying up to my man in the garden. Sitting awfully close together, and I don't like it."

"I see. So, that's where she disappeared off to," Lord Starling said with a chuckle.

"You need to do something," Elizabeth said. "Go and get her back somehow before the two of them fall in love with each other."

"Why don't you do something?" he asked. "You seem a lot more threatened by this than I do."

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "You had her literally in her arms, and she couldn't wait to run away from you. This was your fault, I'm certain of it."

"You could work a little harder to win over the duke," he argued. "Have you tried making yourself pleasant to be around?"

"You sound like a fool," she snapped. "And this is not a joke, so what are we going to do about this?"

Lord Starling leaned against the railing and looked out over the starry night sky. She might have found him to be an attractive man if he didn't annoy her so much.

"How do you feel about taking some more calculated measure in this bet?" he asked.

"What do you mean by that?"

A sly smile broke over his face as he turned to face her. She knew that look; she'd seen it once before when he was about to do something he wasn't supposed to.

"Let's change the game up a little," he suggested. "Let's allow some gossip and clever schemes to help us both out. It will up the stakes a little."

It wasn't like Lady Elizabeth to take such extreme measures, but she had her eyes on the duke, and she didn't want anything to stand in her way. If there was one thing she truly hated, it was losing.

"I like that idea," she said. "What did you have in mind?"

"I'm sure there were more than a few people who saw me leave this room with her," he answered. "That could easily become a rumour on its own. But I can't spread it myself."

"I'm not spreading it," she snapped. "I'll do nothing to help you win this bet."

"It will help you, too," he said, amused. "The kind of rumour I'm talking about will almost certainly drive a wedge between Miss Fairchild and the Duke of Blackwood."

She thought about it for a moment. It wasn't the worst idea. Not only would it stop the duke from pursuing other avenues, but it would also make those other avenues look like a bad choice for just about anyone.

Miss Fairchild was not a member of the peerage, so nobody really cared anyway. Until that day, most of the people in the room didn't even know who she was.

"Alright," Elizabeth agreed. "I'll do it. What do you want me to say?"

"Tell them what usually happens when I steal a woman away to the sidelines," he said with a knowing look.

The conversation ended then, and he walked away from her. Lady Elizabeth thought about it for a while longer then. It was a lot to ask of her, and she wasn't usually one to start rumours, only to spread them.

But how hard could that be?

She looked out over the garden and remembered how the duke had shuffled himself closer to her. They had seemed so comfortable with each other, and the conversation flowed. Meanwhile, Lady Elizabeth had to struggle to get even a few sentences from him.

It made her furious to know that a nobody like Miss Fairchild could not only get him to converse easily, but he laughed.

Elizabeth had never heard him laugh. Not at anything she had said anyway.

There was no doubt in her mind that she had to do something to part them. And she no longer cared if her method was the right or wrong thing to do. So, when she entered the party again, she had a new piece of fabricated gossip for anybody who would listen.