Page 52 of The Duke and His Cinderella
Lady Hannah took the mallet and delivered a mighty whack to the ball. She wasn’t skilled at the game—the ball veered off course and missed the wicket. She stamped her foot. “That wasn’t fair,” she said. “Lady Eleanor distracted me. I should get to take another turn.”
“That’s all right with me,” Lady Eleanor said mildly. “If I stand over here, Lady Hannah, will I be less distracting to you?”
“Perhaps you had better go stand by your sister,” Lady Hannah said.
Lady Eleanor shrugged her shoulders and went over to Lady Marina. Nicholas saw Lady Hannah’s machinations at once, for this was the move that took Lady Eleanor as far as possible away from him. Lady Hannah hadn’t been distracted by thesightof Lady Eleanor—she’d been distracted by the realization that Lady Eleanor was close to Nicholas. He thought she was sure to drive herself mad with her own jealousy—but that wasn’t his problem. She was creating a problem for herself, and he wasn’t going to involve himself in that.
Instead, he crossed the lawn to stand beside Lady Eleanor as well.
“Your Grace,” Lady Hannah complained, “aren’t you going to watch me take my shot?”
“I can see you perfectly well from here,” Nicholas told her. “And besides, you said that Lady Eleanor was a distraction to you when she stood where I was standing. You’ll be much better off if I get out of the way so that you can focus.”
There was nothing for Lady Hannah to do but to take her shot. She lined up and hit the ball again, and again it went wild.
She scowled and threw down the mallet. “This game is boring,” she said. “I don’t think I want to play anymore.”
Lady Eleanor picked up the mallet “It’s my turn,” she said with a smile. “I happen to be fairly good at this, so I hope none of you will feel too intimidated by my abilities.”
“Oh, Eleanor, you always show off,” Lady Marina laughed. “But it’s true,” she added for the benefit of the others. “She is quite good at this game. Jacob and Phineas know, don’t you?”
“I don’t even play with her when I can avoid it!” Phineas said with a laugh. “I’m not too proud to be beaten by a lady on occasion, but I confess it does get old.”
“I doubt she’ll beat me,” Nicholas said with a smile.
“Oh, we’ll see about that,” Lady Eleanor said. “I would hate for you to underestimate me, Your Grace, and discover that you had made a mistake by doing so. If you’re counting on the fact that I’ll be an easy victory for you, I suggest you rethink things. I’m not going to make this easy on you at all.”
“I think you may have underestimatedme,” Nicholas said. “I haven’t lost a game of pall mall in years, and I don’t intend to lose this one!”
“Well, I wish you the best of luck,” Lady Eleanor laughed. “But truly, I feel you have your work cut out for you if you intend to try to get the better ofme, Your Grace.”
“Take your shot. We’ll see about that.”
Nicholas was enjoying the banter between the pair of them. Lady Eleanor was pleasant to talk to, and he was fond of her. It made it worthwhile to spend time with Lady Hannah, even. Having her here was an uncommon gift, and he was happy to be able to make the most of it.
She lined up her shot—and then she paused.
“What is it?” he teased her. “Feeling a lack of confidence, are you?”
“Not at all,” she said smoothly. “It’s only that I feel I need to remove my gloves so that the mallet doesn’t slip out of my hands. I’d hate to miss my shot and have to redo it.”
It was a clear jab against Lady Hannah, though Lady Eleanor hadn’t spoken her name, and Nicholas suppressed a smile, wondering how she would react to the fact that Lady Eleanor had spoken against her. But if Lady Hannah had noticed the slight, she said nothing. Her attention was now on a flower bush nearby, and she seemed to have nothing to say to Lady Eleanor, which Nicholas thought was probably for the best.
Lady Eleanor removed her gloves and tucked them into her pocket. Then she re-gripped her mallet with bare hands.
As she went into her swing, something caught Nicholas’ eye, and he almost fell over with the shock of it.
She had a scar on her hand.
He couldn’t see much of it with her hands wrapped around the mallet as they were, and yet he felt sure of what he was looking at. He knew what he would see if she were to let go of the mallet and allow him to see her palms. That wasthescar, the one he had been fixated on—the one he had been trying to find. She was the lady who had met with him in two different gardens on two different occasions.
He’d found her.
He wanted to go to her at once, to let her know that he knew it was her. But he hesitated.
She already knew that he was the oneshehad met. At least, she knew it had been him in the garden here at her own home the other night. He wasn’t sure whether or not she was aware she had meet him at the masquerade. But she certainly knew she’d met him here, because he hadn’t been wearing a mask that night. Her face had been covered, but his had not.
She had known all this time that the two of them had shared that night, that connection, and yet she’d chosen not to mention it. That could only mean one thing—she had considered whether or not to talk to him about it and had decided against it.
