Was he going too fast? He didn’t think so. Still, he decreased his pace until he felt as if he were walking through a swiftly moving stream.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
“I like to walk quickly. I enjoy a long, robust constitutional most days.”
“I prefer a more sedate pace.”
“I can see that.” His mother would say he was being terse. However, he couldn’t help who he was or the fact that he preferred to speak without censoring himself. His future wife needed to understand and accept that.
They’d reached the lake, a small but pretty spot of blue surrounded by flowers and greenery and in one area, a muddy beach. That would be an excellent location to enter the water for a refreshing swim, which sounded quite pleasant. If it was an activity to be done outside, Dare enjoyed it.
“Oh!” Lady Marina took her hand from his arm and danced away, waving her arms madly.
He watched her in dismay. “What the devil is wrong with you?”
“There’s a bee!”
“It won’t hurt you,” he said calmly. “The more you move, the more you’ll agitate it.”
She continued to flail her arms as her hat became dislodged. She was also moving precariously close to the edge of the lake.
“Careful,” he warned, reaching for her just as Mrs. Langton moved between her charge and the water. Dare’s hand collided with the goddess’s shoulder, and she fell straight back into the lake.
“Christ!” Dare didn’t think twice before launching himself in after her.
Thankfully, the water wasn’t deep, and he quickly found his footing, his boots squishing into the muddy bottom. The goddess slapped her hands in and out of the water as she struggled to stand. It had to be much harder in a gown.
Dare swept her up into his arms out of the water. “All right?”
“I don’t swim.”
“I do. Perhaps you should learn.”
“If that was an offer of instruction, I think I’ll pass. I can’t imagine you’d be a pleasant teacher.”
Her words struck him like a stone.
“Nevertheless, I am glad you swim so that you could rescue me,” she said.
“Swimming wasn’t required. The water here doesn’t even reach my waist.” Cradling her in his arms, he lifted her onto the bank amidst a patch of now-crushed daisies.
She wobbled slightly on her feet, but found her balance. Looking down at herself, she laughed. “Good heavens, I’m a mess.”
Her laughter shocked him. He expected annoyance or upset but not humor. A smile tried to tug at his mouth, so he deepened his frown.
Lady Marina took her companion’s hand and pulled her away from the lake. “I’m so sorry, Juno!”
Juno. Dare would never tire of hearing that name. In fact, he refused to think of her as anything else from now on. He pulled himself onto the bank and straightened, water dripping from every part of him, particularly his hair. He reached up and patted the top of his head, realizing he’d lost his hat.
Looking toward Juno, he nearly lost his breath too. Her gown was plastered to her petite, but incredibly shapely, form. The image left little to his imagination. Actually, it gave him all sorts of ideas. His body was already moving in that direction. He swore violently, and as the two women jerked their attention toward him, he realized he’d done so loudly enough that they could hear him. He swore again but silently this time.
“Mrs. Langton.” A footman handed her a blanket, which she wrapped around herself.
“Are you all right?” Lady Cosford asked, having arrived just behind the footman. Lady Wetherby was following, but still had a few yards to go.
The goddess tried to adjust her hat, which was hanging askew from her head. “Just wet.”
“We must thank the duke,” Lady Cosford noted, looking toward him with gratitude.
“I suppose so,” Juno murmured as she sent him a stunning glower that should have eviscerated him. Instead, he felt strangely and wonderfully alive.
And if that wasn’t absolutely terrible, he didn’t know what was.
“I’ll walk back to the house with you,” Lady Marina offered in her timid voice as she put her hand on her companion’s arm.
“You can’t go back,” Lady Wetherby said, appearing winded as she drew sharp, fast breaths.
“I’m sure the duke must also return to the house, Mother,” Lady Marina snapped in a rare display of emotion.
Juno looked upon her with a glow of admiration. “I need to get out of these wet clothes.”
Dare nearly groaned at the thought.
Lady Marina and the goddess—she could be Aphrodite now, he realized a bit absurdly—started toward the house, but not before Juno sent him another perturbed glance. She was annoyed with him, and why shouldn’t she be? He’d knocked her into the lake in the first place. He owed her an apology. Yes, he’d make sure to do that later.
First, he needed to get out of his wet clothes. And probably make use of his hand lest he spend the rest of the day with a towering erection.
Chapter 4
Juno had emerged from the lake smelling like a pair of boots that had sat outside in the rain for a week. Perhaps a month. She felt much better after a warm, fragranced bath. She felt better physically, anyway. Mentally, she was still angry with the duke. Not because he’d accidentally pushed her into the lake, but because he’d behaved like an obnoxious boor while promenading with Marina.
There was simply no way Juno could support a match between her charge and the Rigid Duke. And now she needed to convey that to Lady Wetherby.
Squaring her shoulders, she marched to the countess’s chamber and knocked on the door, hoping she wasn’t disturbing the woman’s predinner toilette. Her maid answered and admitted her inside. Lady Wetherby sat with her hair half-styled.
“You’re dry,” Lady Wetherby said. Was she surprised that Juno had cleaned up after falling into the lake? “What a mess that was, ruining Marina’s picnic.”
Juno gave her head a light shake. The countess could be rather difficult to track. “Yes, it was quite frustrating, but I suppose we have the duke to blame for that.” Juno was not above pointing out that he’d been the one to cause the “mess.”
“Why would we blame him?” Lady Wetherby waved her hand as the maid returned to styling her hair for dinner. “Oh, he knocked you in, didn’t he? I heard mention of that.” It seemed an afterthought to her.
“Yes. That was after he was quite uncharitable to Marina when she was being harassed by a bee.” Marina had been stung several times a few years ago—a story she’d related after they’d had a similar encounter with a bee last month—and was deathly afraid of them.
“Goodness, Marina needs to stiffen up. She was stung a few times and recovered quite well. That girl is stronger than she thinks.”
Juno blinked. While she didn’t always agree with Lady Wetherby’s demeanor toward her daughter, it was moments like this that reminded Juno of two things: the countess didn’t have a poor opinion of Marina, and she knew her far better than Juno did.
Moving closer to where Lady Wetherby sat, Juno changed her approach. “I wanted to speak with you about this proposed match. I’m not at all sure it’s working out.”