Chapter 26

CHAPTER 26

“ L avinia, no .”

“I can’t help it, Edwina. The pairings are random.”

“But you can’t force me to partner with him . You know perfectly well that I don’t wish to associate with him any further!”

“I know that,” Lavinia said. “I would change your partnership if I could, truly, but the hunt has already begun. Look. Everyone else has found their partner and begun to search. It’s too late to make a trade.”

“So, you really are going to do this. You’re going to stick me with the Duke when you know that all I want is to be separated from him.”

“Edwina, I didn’t do it on purpose. You know that I didn’t. If I could change it now, I would.”

“Why didn’t you change it when the names were drawn? You must have known how I would respond!”

“I guessed. But I wanted to give you the chance, Edwina, and see whether you might take it well,” Lavinia explained.

“I am not taking it well.”

“No, I can see that you’re not. Edwina, please, for me…please don’t make a scene about this. It’s only for a short while. Do you really want to sit out the treasure hunt over something like this?”

“No, of course, I don’t want to sit out—I want to play! But I just can’t believe that I have to play with him .” She sighed. “This is a calamity.”

“Do you want me to intervene? You could always be my partner. I could send Seth to partner Allan.”

“No, it will be all right.” Edwina had only been complaining for the fun of it, really, enjoying the look on her sister’s face. In truth, this was not the worst situation she had ever faced. It was only for a short time. She would survive it.

The Duke was awaiting her beneath an oak tree. She joined him. “I suppose I ought to thank you for waiting and not simply going ahead without me,” she said.

“I wouldn’t have done that.”

“I never know what you would or wouldn’t do. You seem to have no low to which you wouldn’t stoop.”

“I want to speak to you about that,” he said. “About my behavior last night.”

“There’s no need.” He was either going to apologize or else he was going to explain to her why his words had been justified, and she didn’t want to hear either one. There was no excuse for the way he’d spoken about her—insinuating that she was a fool because she was a woman and a spinster and because she believed in love. Love was the only reason to marry, in Edwina’s opinion. She knew it existed because she had seen her sister find it. She had seen how happy it had made Lavinia.

Her offhand comment last night about how marriage was something that should only come from love—she hadn’t meant to start a debate with that, nor had she been particularly interested in the Duke’s opinion on the topic. Truth be told, she had said it as much to dissuade Lord Kentrow from thoughts of marrying her as anything else.

If only she had been paired with him for today’s treasure hunt! That would have been so much less objectionable—so much more tolerable.

“I do want to talk to you about last night, though,” the Duke insisted. “If you would permit me…”

She shook her head and turned away before he could say anything more. “We ought to begin, Your Grace, or we won’t have any luck,” she said. “The other teams have started without us. Come, let’s go.”

She hurried away from him, forcing him to chase after her.

She knew she was making it impossible for him to talk to her, and she was glad of that, for she had no desire at all to speak to him. She did want to participate in the treasure hunt, but if she had not so powerfully wished to do that, she would have returned to her room just to avoid this encounter.

He caught up with her. “Lady Edwina,” he pleaded, “please. There’s no need to rush around in this way.”

“It’s a competition, Your Grace. Surely you don’t wish to lose.”

“I don’t care if we win or lose,” he admitted.

“That’s not the kind of man I took you for. I thought proving yourself was of the utmost importance to you. That’s certainly what you always made me believe,” she said. “That’s the reason you put so much time and energy into trying to win me over, is it not? You didn’t wish to admit defeat. Am I wrong?”

“I’ve certainly admitted defeat when it comes to you at this point,” he replied. “We’ve agreed to move on from all that, so there’s no need for us to go through this any longer.”

“And yet here we are,” she observed, “partnered together for the scavenger hunt. Quite the coincidence, wouldn’t you say?”

“I hadn’t thought about it. What of it?”

“You didn’t know that we would be made partners for this? You didn’t have your hand in it somehow?”

“Are you accusing me of arranging our partnership?”

“I’m not accusing. I’m asking. Did you do that?”

“I can’t fathom why you’d think I would be so desperate to partner you that I would do such a thing,” he said.

But Edwina noticed that he didn’t meet her eyes when he said it, and she couldn’t help wondering whether there might be some truth to what she had suggested. She had mentioned it on a whim, not really thinking that it was true, but by the way he was responding to her…maybe he had arranged it.

Why on Earth would he have done such a thing? She could hardly fathom it, and yet here they were, and she had to concede that it was, at the very least, a possibility.

It made her deeply curious. It made her want to abandon the scavenger hunt and ask him all the questions she now found herself turning over in her mind about what his motives could possibly have been.

And it also made her want to get away from him.

If he had done this, arranged for them to be partners, she certainly didn’t want him getting his way about it.

She turned and began to walk toward the water.

“Lady Edwina!” The Duke chased after her. “Are we truly going to spend all day fighting with one another?”

“No,” she said. “We don’t need to do any such thing, and I certainly have no desire to.” She kept walking, not looking back in his direction, though she had to admit to herself a certain curiosity about what she might do if he stopped following her. She was walking away from him, but honesty compelled her to admit that she was glad he wasn’t letting her go just yet.

Perhaps it was because he had let her go so easily after the kiss they had shared in the hedge maze. Self-indulgent as it was, it felt good to realize that he would fight for her attention. Even though she didn’t want to give him that attention, she liked that he was trying.

She wondered what that said about her. It did seem a bit fickle, and she thought that if she were to hear of another lady behaving in such a fashion, she would have been very unimpressed by it. But she didn’t seem to apply the same standard to herself.

“I wish to speak with you,” the Duke said.

“And is that why you arranged for us to be partners today?”

“Oh, very well—I’ll admit to it if I must. I did do that. And yes, you’re correct about the reason why. Is it truly so shocking that a gentleman would do such a thing? I daresay I’m not the only one here who made an arrangement to spend the day with a lady whose attention he hoped to capture.”

“Are you listening to yourself? You don’t hope to capture my attention. You’ve no interest in my attention. The only interest I hold for you is as a prize in a game you are playing by yourself. You’ve made that perfectly clear. Don’t compare our situation to that of the many gentlemen who have chosen to spend their time with young ladies they admire because it’s also very clear what you think of the concept of love. You couldn’t have been more transparent, Your Grace—about any of these matters. You think people who court and marry out of genuine affection for one another are fools, and all you care about is finding your perfect duchess. We both agree that I am not that lady, so why do you continue to trouble me?”

“I only wished to apologize to you,” he said. “I was rude at dinner yesterday. Everything you’re saying now—it was wrong of me to say those things to you then, and I wish I hadn’t done it. I wanted to partner with you so that I could ask your forgiveness for my behavior.”

“Oh.”

“So…will you forgive me?”

“It’s not necessary. I’m not angry with you.” In fact, she was angry, but to admit it would be to let him know that his words had affected her. It would be far better to simply let this disappear. “I appreciate your effort, but truly, I haven’t thought twice about it.”

“I certainly hope not. But if you have, you can tell me. I know that I was discourteous.”

“Your Grace, I hardly recall what was said at dinner last night. I was too preoccupied by the fine meal.”

“Yet you were so disturbed that you got up and left the table.”

“Not disturbed, merely finished eating—did you think I left because of you?” She shook her head. “You don’t have the impact on me that you seem to think you do, Your Grace.”

“Perhaps not. In which case, I must apologize again for thinking otherwise.”

“No, there’s nothing to worry about. But perhaps we can resume this treasure hunt now if your conscience has been assuaged?”

She turned and hurried down the hill to the river before he could say anything more. Her mind was racing, and her heart was pounding. It had been a bit of time since she had been alone in his presence, and she had forgotten the effect he had on her. But now she felt dizzy, almost sick with the desire for him to put his hands on her, to take her in his arms and kiss her as he had once before. It wouldn’t happen, but it shocked her how much she wished it to.

Her shock and anger were so overwhelming that she didn’t even realize she was approaching the river at far too quick a pace—and by the time she noticed it, it was too late to slow herself down.

“Lady Edwina!” The Duke’s voice was closer than she had realized it would be.

She felt his hand on her arm just as she missed her footing, and she had time to register how very pleasant it was that he was touching her. She had time to wish this would somehow turn into a kiss, and she had time to understand that, of course, that wasn’t going to happen—and then, with a splash and a sudden chill that seemed to penetrate to her bones, they were in the river.

The water washed over them. The current was mild, nonthreatening. And as Edwina looked over at the Duke, lying in the river beside her and looking every bit as shocked at their predicament as she was feeling, the only thought on her mind was that she had taken everything far too seriously.

The water seemed to wash away all her worries.