as his taste is rather refined.” I shot him a smile.
“It seems I have been remiss in my duty as host,” Lord Williams replied. “I usually ensure each of my guests receives a gift. However, it is quite fortuitous that I waited, is it not? Else you might have found yourself with something quite disagreeable.”
I narrowed my eyes, recognizing his words as the ones I had spoken to him. “No doubt you have a talent for selecting quite the perfect thing.”
“You shall have to be the judge, though I believe my talents in the matter rather compare to those I have developed for lawn bowls.”
His demeanor appeared unaffected, but I thought I caught a hint of laughter in his eyes. I pretended indifference with a shrug. “Seeing as how you lost at lawn bowls, perhaps I would rather not receive a gift.”
Mr. Lundall leaned forward. “One man to another, Miss Brinton has a strong dislike of donkeys.”
Lord Williams glanced at me, eyes wide, and mouthed, “Donkeys?”
I shook my head, trying to indicate that it was not a subject that needed discussing.
“Thank you, Mr. Lundall,” Lord Williams said. “I shall take her aversion to donkeys under consideration.”
Lady Cox smirked. “Miss Brinton, do you sing?”
Startled at the change in subject, I replied, “A little.”
“That is all? What a shame. Elisa is such an accomplished vocalist. I do believe she was looking forward to a duet. Lord Williams, perhaps you would do us the honor of joining her?”
“I think a duet would be a delightful thing,” Lady Williams said. “Could we persuade you to join your daughter, Lady Cox?”
“Me? I admit I have not so fine a voice as Elisa’s. It is one of my greatest regrets that I was not trained as she has been.”
“I needn’t sing, Mama,” Miss Perrin said, obviously embarrassed. I felt sorry for her. My mother had never put me on display the way hers did.
I would sing with her, if only to spare her further discomfort.
Lord Williams stood before I could. “It has been some time since I have sung before company, but I would very much enjoy a duet with you, Miss Perrin.”
Miss Perrin flashed him a smile of obvious gratitude.
When Lord Williams’s voice filled the room, pleasure seeped through me. I tried to ignore my response but found I was as unsuccessful as a child trying to block a river by building a dam of sand.
Twenty-Nine
Sitting on a bench near the river the next morning, I frowned at the way the water continuously tugged at the branch of the tree. The branch would eventually give way, breaking off from the power of the river’s flow. There was something to admire in the tree’s effort to stand its ground, but losing the branch was inevitable. So why struggle so desperately to retain it?
“My cousin and I used to race boats made of old newspapers out here. It was the only time I ever beat Northam at anything.”
Lord Williams stood a few steps away, a shoulder resting against a tree, newspaper tucked under his arm. He looked relaxed, at home. This was the place that showed him to greatest advantage, here beside the river, his face without any of the frowning arrogance it had carried for so long. If women saw him like this, they’d be swarming the estate for his attention. I returned my focus to the water. “Surely not the only time.”
He squatted beside the bench, picked up a stone, and threw it into the water. “The only time. He always gets what he wants.” He turned and caught my gaze. “Even when he doesn’t actually want it.”
The resignation in his eyes stole my breath. “And here I thought you were this talented man,” I said quietly.
His lips turned into a small smile. “I apologize for last night. I’m afraid I wasn’t my best self.”
Forget the blue dinner coat. That smile could make a woman wish things—the look in his eyes, and his lips curved just so.
If he asked me at that moment to refer to him as Gregory, I don’t think I could have resisted. The title of Lord Williams no longer seemed to fit.
I turned back to the river. “Neither of us seems to make the other perform to our best selves.”
“And yet what we have together works, does it not?”
“Does it?”
Gregory sighed. “I did not set out to prove a point, though perhaps I should have. It would have avoided all of this.”