Page 36 of The Duke of Kisses
“Yes,” Sarah said. “Lavinia is going to race her curricle.”
“How exciting!” Lucy adopted an apologetic tone. “I am also racing, and I’m afraid this phaeton is hard to beat.” She gestured to “Daring.”
“You’re driving Dartford’s phaeton?”
Lucy narrowed her dark eyes. “Oh, it doesn’t just belong to him.” She laughed. “When I married the Duke of Daring, I’m afraid I became the Duchess of Daring rather effortlessly.”
“Who are we supposed to support now?” Sarah asked.
“Both of them.” Fanny looked over toward Lavinia, who still stood near her curricle with Beck. Felix had joined them. “But if you’re wagering, put your money on Lucy,” she whispered.
Sarah laughed but nodded with determination. “I’m going to ask Felix how I can do that.” She took herself off, leaving her with Lucy, who was eyeing David’s phaeton, which was next to theirs. “St. Ives has a beautiful new phaeton. But it needs personalization.” Lucy winked at Fanny who imagined the word “Kisses” in bright red letters along the back of David’s phaeton. Perhaps she’d suggest it.
Fanny blinked at Lucy. “I look at these vehicles and wonder how in the world you don’t pitch right over the moment you attempt a turn.”
“It is rather challenging, but that’s what makes it fun—learning how to master the sport. Andrew designed the suspension himself so that it would take corners more smoothly at higher speeds.”
“Did he? How enterprising.”
Lucy’s gaze settled on her husband. “He’s rather brilliant.” As if they were somehow connected, the earl turned his head and sent his wife a provocative smile that made Fanny feel as though she were intruding. He beckoned for Lucy to join him.
“Will you excuse me?” Lucy asked.
“Of course.” Fanny walked around the flashy phaeton and came face-to-face with David.
He grinned at her, and again her heart skipped. “Good afternoon, Miss Snowden.”
“Good afternoon, my lord.” She glanced toward his vehicle. “Your new phaeton is splendid. Would you show it to me?”
“It would be my pleasure.” He offered her his arm.
She placed her hand on the sleeve of his bottle-green coat. “Are you truly going to race? You just purchased this phaeton. How can you possibly be ready?”
“I am not new to racing,” he said, surprising her. “In my younger days, I was rather obsessed with it. I did practice yesterday, and I’m happy to say it all came back to me rather easily.”
“You were obsessed with something other than birds?”
He looked down at her with a glint of mischief in his eye. “It’s been known to happen.” The response seemed tinged with innuendo. She found herself wondering when they could possibly kiss again. She hoped it would be soon.
She’d been about to tell him that she’d gone walking in the park in search of him, but a bell sounded, prompting them all to turn toward the source.
Felix stood on a small platform and spoke through a horn to amplify his voice. “Good afternoon, racers and spectators! If you’d care to place a wager, come over and see Mr. Kinsley.” He indicated a gentleman seated at a small table to his right. Sarah was there, and Kinsley was writing something in a ledger.
“That’s my secretary,” David said.
“Mr. Kinsley?”
David nodded. “Ware was in search of someone who was available to record the wagers and keep the funds. Graham is a wonder with numbers. With anything, really. The man’s intellect is astonishing.”
“Wherever did you find him?” Fanny asked.
“Kinsleys have been secretaries to the Earls of St. Ives for generations. After my father passed away last fall, Graham’s father retired.”
Kinsley didn’t look like the bookish sort. Though he was seated, the impressive breadth of his shoulders was evident. He tilted his head up toward Sarah and smiled in such a way that every woman in the park would have sighed if they’d seen it. Fanny certainly did.
“Oh dear, don’t tell me you’re going to develop a tendre for him too,” David said.
Fanny laughed and turned her head to him. “Definitely not.” How could she when her heart was already being pulled in another direction?
