admitting to their meetings since.
By then, the countess was introducing Mr. King and inviting everyone to sit. “Juliet ring for more tea,” she added.
Of course, there was no need to ring. The well-trained servants were already providing another pot and more cups, and Juliet and Kitty ferried tea to everyone.
“Why did you not tell me you were coming?” she murmured to Dan under cover of a smile as she presented him with his cup and saucer.
“Didn’t know,” he replied. His lips twitched. “I thought it might be a pleasant surprise. If we were allowed to see you.”
“You’re lucky,” she murmured.
“So are you. I almost brought Gun.”
At the thought of the dog galumphing among the porcelain, she had to turn away to hide her laughter.
Fortunately, Ferdy wandered in at that point and had to be introduced to everyone. “It’s such a beautiful day,” he observed. “Can’t we move into the garden?”
“There’s no reason why you young people shouldn’t go out,” the countess replied. “I daresay we’ll join you after tea.”
As they all traipsed out onto the terrace garden, which sloped down to a wider lawn, Ferdy breathed a sigh of relief.
“Don’t know how they can bear to be so cooped up indoors,” he remarked.
“It’s a large, airy room,” Mr. Cornwell suggested.
“Not like this,” Ferdy said, waving his hand toward the sky and the gardens. “Though I suppose you might be fed up with the sun, Lawrence, since you rode over here.”
“I’m content wherever,” Lawrence replied, his gaze on Kitty, who smiled back.
“Don’t start that, or I’ll be sick,” Ferdy advised, much to Mr. Cornwell’s startlement.
“Do you care for the outdoors, Lady Juliet?” Colin asked.
“Of course,” she replied. “Who would not on a day like this?”
“The last time we spoke, you were hoping to accompany Her Highness into Europe,” Colin recalled.
“Sadly, she chose someone else, but now that the war is over at last, I suppose we may all go where we please.”
“And where would you go if you could decide?” Colin pursued.
“Oh, where would I not go? First, perhaps to Rome, Florence, Greece, Egypt…”
“You are a curious young lady,” he said, apparently amused. “But what on earth would you do there?”
“Look, learn, marvel.” She regarded him. “Do you have no spirit of adventure, Mr. Cornwell?”
He smiled indulgently without answering, saying merely, “It is unusual to find it in a young lady.”
“There I have to disagree with you.”
He looked slightly stunned that any female would disagree with him about anything, even the opinions of her own sex.
Fortunately, Kitty the peacemaker, spoke up. “I prefer the comforts of home. But we are all different. Perhaps, you have been abroad, Mr. Cornwell?”
“Indeed, I have not,” he said as though defending his honor. “Daniel, however, was born abroad.” He made it sound comparable to being born in prison. “His father was an army captain.”
“Colonel,” Dan said mildly from where he had stretched out on a wooden bench.
Colin frowned. “What?”
“Nothing. What is rank between cousins?” He sat up and stood. “Will you show me your peonies, Lady Juliet?”
Juliet blinked but walked past him toward the terrace steps. “I did not know you were interested in flowers.”
“I confess I don’t know peonies from pinks, but I am prepared to learn. Tempted as I am,” he added below his breath, “to stay here and see which of us punches my cousin first.”
“I didn’t realize you let him upset you.”
Dan cast her a rueful glance. “I don’t usually. I didn’t realize he was quite such a condescending prig.”
“And you don’t mind him picking on you, but he should give your father the respect he deserves?”
His lips quirked. “Something like that.”
“This is the peony. It is quite beautiful this year.”
“Ah, that’s a peony,” he said, fortunately before those following came close enough to overhear his ignorance. “What are those bands on the grass for?”
“Pall mall,” Ferdy said, opening the wooden box at the side of the lawn to reveal the wooden balls and mallets withing. “Want a game?”
Dan smiled.
It was, in the end, a hilarious game with a hotch-potch of rules and no one keeping proper score. Even Colin relaxed enough to smile, while Dan and Ferdy outdid each other with amusing trick shots and silly wagers, which saw Dan losing his handkerchief to Ferdy and then winning Ferdy’s cravat. Ferdy tied the handkerchief around his neck instead. But it was Juliet who won the game, in time to receive the applause of the older people who had wandered down to watch.
“Brava,” Mrs. Stewart exclaimed. “A notable female win!”
Juliet laughed.