Page 53 of The Nature of a Lady
Libby’s lack of reply was covered by Lottie’s next burst of giggles, even as Willsworth tucked the bloom into her hair and then quickly retreated.
It probably should have brought heat crowding her cheeks, as Oliver’s nearness had. But it didn’t. It just left her feeling awkward and ready to go home.
He proffered an elbow. “I believe we’ve been paired for the meal. If I may lead you to our table?”
Others, she saw now, were meandering toward the cloth-covered tables. Four small ones were set up around the edges of the clear space.
She rested her fingers lightly on his arm. “Yes. Thank you.” They walked a few steps before she realized she should probably say something to start an actual conversation. “Lottie mentioned you’re interested in science? She didn’t know what branch has garnered your interest.”
“Paleontology, primarily.” He beamed down at her, perhaps as happyas she to be able to talk about something other than who was seen flirting with whom at a dinner party. “My family seat is in Oxfordshire, and I stumbled upon a fossilized bone when I was just a boy. It’s since been identified as aMegalosaurus. I’ve been intrigued with dinosaurs ever since and have led many an excavation throughout the area.”
“Fascinating.” Prehistoric animals had never really interested her as much as living ones did. She preferred being able to observe them in their natural habitats than simply guessing at their musculature and skin and patterns of movement. But she would have been intrigued to discover ancient remains in her own garden, without question. “I had the opportunity to view the skeleton of theScelidosaurusonce.”
“I’ve seen it several times. And I was just talking with Lord Scofield about the fossils on display in the British Museum. Isn’t that right, my lord?”
Libby looked up to see to whom he was talking and offered a small smile to the older man approaching the same table they were, a woman on his arm who, given the scarlet hair that matched Lady Emily Scofield’s, must be his wife. And they her parents.
“We’ve some of the most remarkable examples in the empire there.” Lord Scofield smiled, pride in his eyes.
“Lord Scofield has the honor of presiding over the board of trustees for the museum.” A bit of his awe at this seeped into the viscount’s voice. “Lord and Lady Scofield, please allow me to introduce my companion for the evening. Lady Elizabeth Sinclair.”
To her utter amazement, Lord Scofield’s eyes lit with recognition. “Lord Telford’s sister?”
“Yes, my lord.” Because Lord Willsworth held her chair for her, she sat, a second behind Lady Scofield, who deserved the first honor. “Do you know him?”
He laughed, a jolly rumble in his stomach. “I saw him just last week. Had an energetic conversation with him when we dined together at Sheridan House.”
Of course, that explained it. Lord Sheridan, with his love of anythingold and encrusted with dirt, would naturally have befriended anyone he could find at the British Museum. He probably was jockeying for a place on the board of trustees himself.
“They mentioned that you and he would be sharing a special announcement soon.” Lord Scofield gave her a fatherly wink. “Needed a bit of holiday before all the bustle of wedding preparations, did you?”
Now her face flushed, far hotter than it had with Oliver. And it only got worse when she saw how stiff Lord Willsworth went as he lowered himself to the chair beside her. Not that she cared whether or not he thought her attached, per se. But Scofield had just said she was engaged when Charlotte Wight was within a mile, which meant all of England would hear about it before two seconds were out. Andthenwhat would she do?
Her fingers curled into her palm, tucked safely away in her lap, under the tablecloth. “I believe my brother may have overstated it, my lord. He may wish for such a match, but—”
“It wasn’t your brother who said it, my lady. It was Sheridan himself.”
She’d always known she didn’t like him. Why didn’t he have the gumption to stand up to Bram from the start? He couldn’twantthe arrangement. He didn’t like her any better than she liked him—she was certain of it. And while she was confident he’d come to the same conclusion given enough time, that was with the assumption that he wouldn’t have bound them both with the fetters of society’s expectations in the meantime. Blast him. “Well, there is certainly nothing official, regardless. I haven’t even seen Lord Sheridan recently.”
Lucky for him. When next she did, she might just borrow a bit of Mabena’s salt-inspired surliness and kick him in the shin.
Then she might as well fly to the moon to hide, if she were dreaming of impossible things.
Her discomfort must have been obvious. Lady Scofield interjected herself into the conversation and deftly changed the subject, asking Willsworth about his latest excavation. Given that he went on todescribe animal bones and what he was hypothesizing about them based on fusions in the vertebrae—rather than Sheridan’s inexplicable fascination with shards of pottery and Druid ruins—it would have been an interesting conversation. If only her mind weren’t an absolute muddle and her stomach a matching knot.
Every time she moved, she caught a whiff of the jasmine in her hair, bringing back those terrifying moments on the road. And she’d no sooner shake that off and look over at Lord Scofield than she’d hear Sheridan’s name in her mind again and see Bram’s self-satisfied smirk as he announced that he had the perfect solution to their woes.
As if the thought of her simply remaining at home unmarried any longer was awoe.
The meal finally dragged to its conclusion, which unfortunately meant that the string quartet went from soft serenades to livelier melodies that they’d be expected to dance to.
She couldn’t bear that. Not tonight. The moment Willsworth pulled her chair out for her again, she sprang to her feet, excuses ready to trip off her tongue.
“Well, what a pleasure it has been to make your acquaintance, Lady Elizabeth,” Lady Scofield said. She wore a gracious smile that said she forgave her for completely failing to hold up her end of the conversation.
“Quite so.” Lord Scofield helped his wife to her feet as well. “And when I see your brother next week for our squash game, I’ll be sure and tell him you were looking well and happy, that the seaside agrees with you.”
Escaping to the moon was sounding better and better. “You needn’t trouble yourself, sir.” She kept her tone casual—she hoped. Perhaps he’d forget by then that he’d ever met her and Bram would be none the wiser that she was in the Scillies. “I’ve been giving my mother regular updates.”
