Page 46 of The Lady Who Said No to the Duke
Hal had been right to be concerned and to warn her to watch out for Helena’s spite in retaliation.She shivered, hating the thought that someone out there would be hating her.
* * *
The next three days passed calmly enough.There were no more balls, but Thea was entertained well enough with a musicale, a reception, a dinner party and two art shows, one at the Royal Academy and one in Spring Gardens.
She did no more than glimpse Lady Helena at a distance at the reception and the musicale, and the other woman was not invited to the dinner party and apparently was not much interested in art.It was a relief and Thea began to relax a little about how Helena’s spite might show itself.
On the other hand, there was little sign of Hal either.Thea did see him in conversation with one of the artists at the Royal Academy, and at a distance at the reception, where he arrived late and left early, so there was no opportunity to exchange even a greeting.
Was he avoiding her, or was she giving herself far too much importance and the obvious explanation—that he was simply not interested in, or invited to, the same events—was the correct one?
Her composure was not helped by the weather, which blew wet and blustery every day, stripping the trees bare of leaves and piling them in soggy heaps in every corner, or making roads treacherously slippery for horses.
Finally the rain stopped and, after a day of brisk breezes and sunshine, even Hopkins, Thea’s protective groom, declared it was safe enough under foot to ride out.
* * *
‘Should have taken her out meself and shaken the fidgets out of her,’ he worried as Lara bounced, shied and fidgeted her way towards Hyde Park that afternoon.‘You keep you heel down good and firm and don’t take any nonsense from her,’ he warned Thea as they negotiated the traffic.
Despite his grumbling they arrived safely in the park which was, by then, empty of children and their attendants and beginning to attract quite a number of riders and carriage drivers.
Thea chose a different ride for the one where she had encountered Hal and the little lad with his hoop, and kept Lara to a controlled canter towards the Queen’s House in the far south-west of the park.
Ahead was quite a knot of riders, perhaps a dozen in all, and Thea slowed to a walk, not wanting to ride off through the longer grass to detour around them, for fearof her mount slipping.She was hailed by the nearest rider facing her, who she saw was one of the Chelmsford twins, and reined in close to her.
‘Good afternoon!What a relief to be out in the fresh air again, is it not?’she said and her greeting was returned by several people she knew.
The group opened up, people shifting their mounts in clear invitation for her to move in amongst them.It was not until she had done so, finished greeting acquaintances and turned her mare to face into the group, that she realised she was opposite Lady Helena and a lanky young man who she guessed from the likeness, was her brother, Randolph, the compromiser of the clergyman’s daughter.
Her immediate instinct was to make some excuse, back Lara out of the group and canter off, but that would seem exceedingly odd when she had only just arrived and she would be snubbing a number of her friends and acquaintances.Thea looked right through Helena then smiled at Major Lord Harper to her right.From the corner of her eye she could see Helena lean over to whisper something to her brother and he shifted slightly to stare at her.
It was awkward, but she managed to speak to enough people around the group for it not to be obvious that she was avoiding Helena.
Randolph made some remark to Lord Harper, who answered him rather shortly, Thea thought, and wondered if gossip about the young man’s behaviour was now widespread.
She had begun to feel she could move on now without it seeming awkward when another rider joined the group.
Lara lifted her head and whickered a greeting to the big grey mare.Hal, who was exchanging greetings with two ofthe other men, looked across, saw them and rode through the group to her side.
He raised his hat.‘Lady Thea.’His smile was warm and she could not resist the answering curve of her own lips.
‘Duke.’
Hal halted Juno when they were stirrup to stirrup, the two animals facing in opposite directions.‘An awkward encounter,’ he murmured.‘Who is that with her?’
‘Brother,’ Thea murmured back.‘A bad lot, I gather.’
Hal continued to ride right around her until he was facing back into the group.‘He looks it.I suggest we do not linger.May I offer you my escort once we have established that we are not being chased away?’
‘Thank you,’ she said with some feeling.She should be above caring, Thea knew, but she felt increasingly uncomfortable under the hostile gaze of Helena Linton and the equally unsettling assessment of her brother.It felt as though he could see right through her riding habit to her underwear, and his insolent regard made her skin crawl.
Hal was talking to the couple on his other side, and Thea nodded along to the raptures of the rider on her left whose name she could not recall and who was waxing poetical about the bare branches of the trees against the blue sky.
‘I have an appointment,’ Hal remarked as the chimes of a church reached them across the park.‘I should leave.’
‘Goodness, is that the time?I must go too,’ Thea said.‘Good day, everyone.’She began to turn Lara.
‘May I ride with you to the gates as we appear to be heading in the same direction?’Hal asked, turning Juno with one hand and tipping his hat to the group as he did so.
