‘Will and I were saying the same thing earlier today. Subtlety is not their strong suit, I’m afraid. I hope you are not offended at the way they are pushing us at each other. Aunt Adelia means well, I’m sure.’

  ‘How could I possibly be offended that your aunt thinks I am worthy of you?’ He stopped, stooped to pick up a stone, then gave it a toss, skipping it across the lake.

  ‘That was very well done!’ She was impressed—four full skips before the stone sank.

  ‘I taught William how to do it when we were younger. He never got past two skips, though.’

  ‘Are the pair of you always so competitive?’

  ‘Not always. In the things that really matter we are not.’ He nodded, smiling his easy smile. ‘We have worked out the running of Hawkwood rather well...who is responsible for doing what. Practically speaking we both bear the title. It really is more of a job than one man can accomplish on his own. He does not try to advise me on Parliamentary business and I do not try to direct the operation of the estate.’

  ‘I hope...’ and she truly did hope this ‘...that if you choose a lady among us, she will not...’ How did she say this and have it come out right? She half wished she had not begun the thought.

  He must have known what was on her mind because he said, ‘She will not come between me and my brother, do you mean?’

  ‘Because it does happen, you know.’

  ‘It did not for me and Cora. If anything, she promoted my relationship with William...the two of them got along quite well so there was never the tension of having torn loyalties.’

  Torn loyalties were a wicked thing for a family to bear. One would live every day on edge. The very last thing she intended to do was cause such a rift.

  But perhaps he would not choose her and she would go home, where her confused feelings for Will would not matter.

  ‘I think Cora was a lucky woman.’

  ‘It is flattering that you think so. She always told me I was the lucky one.’

  ‘Well, I think that you both were.’

  ‘I wonder,’ he said softly, almost as if he were speaking to himself, but then he looked at her. ‘Will I be lucky again?’

  She was spared from having to answer by a bell being rung from the front porch.

  ‘Ah... Mother’s signal for everyone to return.’

  Walking towards the house, they were joined by other couples, laughing and chatting.

  William fell into step beside her, Lady Della on his arm. From the sound of her voice it seemed she was gossiping about someone.

  Will glanced over at her, rolling his eyes.

  Before they went up the porch steps, Phillip pressed her elbow, stopping her.

  ‘I want to say, referring back to what we were speaking of, if you were to marry into the family, I am confident you would not come between me and my brother. Just in case it was a concern to you, it need not be.’

  With that, he escorted her up the stairs and into the house.

  Was he suggesting he had made his choice? That he had picked her? But, no...that was not what he had said, exactly. Only that he thought she would fit into the family.

  With a tiny pinprick to her heart, she wondered if it was true.

  Once inside Lady Della and a couple of others rushed for the Earl, all of them nattering on at the same time.

  ‘Did you enjoy your walk?’

  Will smelled good. She recognised his outdoorsy, masculine presence beside her even before he spoke.

  Glancing up, she noted the mischief in his grin.

  ‘Of course. Far better than you enjoyed yours, I imagine.’

  ‘Did you know that Lady Mary stuffs her bosom with stockings? That Lady Edna sings off key and Lady Myra’s breath is not fresh?’

  ‘No, but I did learn that when you skip stones you have never achieved more than two bounces.’

  ‘Says Phillip...but come out to the dock later. I’ll prove him wrong.’

  Chapter Eleven

  It was late.

  Which was only the first reason she ought to ignore Will’s invitation to watch him skip stones. Not to mention, she had already put on her nightclothes.

  She wriggled her bare toes on the rug, deciding it was far wiser to remain in her chamber. Wiser and far safer.

  Spending time alone with Will was beginning to make her feel off kilter...rather as if she were a big, soft, longing sigh pacing about her room on two uncertain legs.

  What an odd image!

  No respectable woman would consider going down there in the dark, her good judgement influenced by moonlight and magical starlight. Clearly fate was against her resisting temptation because, first...it was hot, which meant she had been forced to leave her chamber window open.

  And then, clearly, she would not get cool air on her skin until she walked closer to it. Naturally, the closer she was, the more likely it was that she would look down.

  Will might be there...on the dock. He might be stripping off his clothes for a swim. She might have been able to ignore the draw of cool air. Ignoring her natural curiosity was another matter altogether. So here she was, carried by no longer uncertain legs to the window.

  As she suspected, he was out there, standing on the dock. But unlike in her imagination he was clothed...except, she thought his feet might be bare.

  A small stack of stones lay on the deck within his reach. He stooped, picked one up, then gave it a toss without standing. One skip...two skips...sink.

  She imagined she heard him grumble, but the shoreline was too far off to know for sure. Unable not to, she laughed.

  Will pivoted slowly on the balls of his feet as if he had heard her. Oh...his feet were bare.

  He glanced up at her with a grin, waving at her to come down.

  According to societal rules, it would be vastly improper. The very last thing a girl ought to do. But she was not a girl, not in the same way as one newly debuted in society. Rather, she was a woman possibly making a decision about marriage.

  She had questions. What made for a good marriage? Love and respect, clearly that. She did respect Phillip, admired him greatly and enjoyed his company.

  Wasn’t that all Mother felt for Father when she wed him? It was what she had told them. But she also loved to tell how, hours into their wedding night, she became completely besotted with Papa and by morning she was deeply in love.

  But was she not already besotted with Will? He certainly made her heart beat hard and her stomach flutter. When she was with him...

  Well, perhaps only Will held the answer to the question which mattered most. What did he feel for her? Friendship, yes, but was there more to it? If there was more, she needed to understand what it was. How could she even contemplate marrying Phillip until she did?

  When Mama fell in love with Papa after only one night, there had not been Papa’s charming brother to confuse her. Not only that, Papa was a man who’d wished to marry while Will claimed he did not wish to.

  While society’s rules did have their use, they did not for her...not tonight.

  Being as late as it was, she doubted anyone was gazing out their window, anyway. Again, he waved for her to come down, a wicked and dimpled smile stretching his lips. Spinning about, she raced across her chamber, snatching her robe from the bed on the way. She did not take the time for slippers.

  Will was barefoot so she would be, too.

  It was a good choice to leave them behind. Her toes felt happy and free while she dashed across the grass. She heard no gasps of dismay coming from the windows above her. Glancing over her shoulder, she was relieved to see that no lamps were glowing.

  She joined Will on the dock where he stood tossing a stone in the air and catching it.

  ‘Your brother can make four skips,’ she said.

  ‘In his dreams.’

  ‘No, I saw him do it only hours ago.’

  ‘It was no doubt a trick of moonlight that made two skips look like four.’

  ‘Ha! I heard four splashes. No trick of moonlight, Will.’

  ‘Show me his technique.’

  He glanced at the windows, just as she had, probably assuring himself that they were not being watched and their reputations would survive.

  The thing of it was, she knew she was safe with him. A hundred chaperons would not make her any safer.

  ‘I’d hate to give away his secrets.’ She hugged her robe tighter about her because, feeling safe or not, she had never been in the presence of a man wearing her nightclothes.

  Oh, but the night air did feel so fresh on her skin without heavy undergarments to keep it from whispering up her legs, over her hips and tummy.

  ‘I already know his secrets.’

  ‘And yet I saw you only make two skips,’ she pointed out. ‘But perhaps you will manage to once I show you how he did it.’

  Her eyes slipped from his confident grin to the place where his shirt gaped open. He had smooth skin, slightly darker than most gentlemen’s due to the time he spent out of doors. It gave him a decidedly masculine appearance which greatly appealed to her.

  It was fascinating to see the muscles in his throat constrict and then relax, as if he was about to say something, but then did not.

  Did it matter that she did not feel the same flutter for Phillip? Would it be something that came to her after the vows, the way it had for Mama?

  ‘Show me,’ he said.

  Now she was good and stuck. She really had not paid attention to the way Phillip tossed stones.

  With a wink he bent to pick up a flat oval-shaped rock. It felt cool and smooth when he placed it in her hand.

  She stroked her fingers over it, then tossed it at Lake Ullswater. The stone sank without a splash.

  ‘How odd,’ she muttered. ‘I was certain—’

  He put another rock in her hand. This time he cupped his hand around hers and stood quite close.

  ‘Let it rest in your palm, just so.’ His instructions tickled her ear. ‘Put your thumb here...your finger there.’

  ‘All right, I’ve got it.’

  And he had her. His fingers skimmed her wrist, leisurely up her arm to her elbow. He tugged down then sideways.

  ‘The trick is to give it a good sidelong throw...spinning it some when you let go.’

  Spinning when you let go? Well, she was doing that, clearly...only it hadn’t to do with throwing the rock.

  The stone plunked on water, again sinking without a skip. Except to the one it gave her heart.

  How could she be standing here breathing when Will was so close...when she felt as though she was wrapped up by him? Hadn’t the air been cool? Oddly, it felt as though she was breathing steam. She could hardly fill her lungs.

  ‘Ginny, you seemed flushed.’

  She nodded because her mouth had gone far too dry to utter words. Not that she could think of any to utter.

  ‘Do you know how to swim?’

  ‘Yes.’ Oh, good, she could utter a word after all...but perhaps not the best one in the moment.

  Before she could blink, he swooped her up in his arms. Giving a muffled whoop, he leapt off the end of the dock.

  * * *

  If he had been thinking, he would not have done it.

  But he hadn’t been thinking. Having landed in a situation where he was about to lose control and do the unthinkable, he carried them both into the water.

  In his imagination he heard the water sizzle when they went under. It was a sizzle which had to be put out, ruthlessly drowned.

  Now here he was, treading water face to face with the most endearing, dripping wet woman he had ever seen.

  ‘Cooler?’ he asked.

  ‘Wetter, at least.’ She blinked waterdrops from her lashes. She stroked backwards a few strokes. ‘That is an extreme way to get out of trying to hide your inferiority at skimming stones.’

  ‘Sometimes a man has no choice but to jump off the deep end.’

  ‘Apparently, sometimes a woman has no choice but to go with him.’

  ‘Are you sorry?’

  Lifting her arms over her head, she sunk beneath the water. A second later he felt a playful pull on his big toe.

  Bubbles dotted the water before she surfaced. ‘No...not yet, at any rate.’

  ‘What would need to happen to make you sorry?’

  ‘A fish nibbling my toes.’

  ‘Trout or pike?’

  ‘I will be sorry if anything living in the water nibbles me.’

  Would she really? What if the nibbler didn’t actually live in the water? What if—?

  But, no...he should not have let the image flash in his mind, let alone nurture the blamed picture of him doing the nibbling.

  It was a lucky thing she could not read his mind.

  ‘I think maybe we should go back now. It is rather late,’ he said, grateful that he still had that much sense.

  With a nod, she swam towards the shore. He stroked after her. When they reached the spot where deep water gave way to the shelf, they waded out.

  Chest deep in water, the current surged around him. He stopped, only now realising the depth of the peril he had landed himself in. Going into the water, he had not given enough thought to what soaked night clothes would reveal coming out of the water.

  There were certain things a man should not know about his brother’s wife—if Ginny did become that. Even if she did not, there were certain things William was not meant to know.

  If he saw her walk on to the shore, her gown clinging to what had to be a sweetly formed body, he would not be able to scour the image from his mind.

  ‘I’m not ready to go back,’ he said. ‘I’ll swim around for a few more minutes.’

  ‘Will, I did not come down to teach you how to beat your brother at skipping stones.’

  ‘And a lucky thing, too.’

  She waded a step closer to him. ‘I need to ask you...there is something I need to know.’

  ‘Ask me anything. You know you may.’

  ‘I hope I can trust you to give me an honest answer.’

  ‘Always.’

  She lifted her face, gazing at the spangle of stars over Lake Ullswater while she spoke.

  ‘Earlier tonight Phillip and I spoke about how your family used to be...he and Cora...and you. How you all got along well and there was no tension in your family. He told me you and Cora got along very well.’

  ‘It is true. She was my sister... I loved her.’

  ‘Would it be the same for us? Your brother thinks so...but, Will, what do you think? Can you accept me as a sister?’

  If there were exceptions to always, this was one of them. He would not lie, but neither would he admit to her what he would not even admit to himself.

  ‘Has he declared his intentions to you?’ This was the last thing he wanted to know, but blamed if he did not need to know it.

  ‘He has not.’

  She turned her gaze upon him, the starlight now lingering in her eyes.

  ‘I need for you to kiss me, Will.’

  If a giant fish swam between his legs, carried him across the lake, he could not be more stunned.

  No! He would not...could not! Kissing Ginny would betray everyone. Even himself...his sense of honour.

  But she touched his cheek, trailing one finger along the line of his jaw. She cupped the back of his neck, went up on her toes. The lift pushed her bosom above the waterline. He did not dare look anywhere but into her eyes. But, no, that was worse. He saw way too much of her heart in her eyes.

  ‘Will...’ Her breath warmed his lips, then—

  Then she kissed him.

  Caught in it, he thought to make it chaste and sweet, but she leaned against his chest where his wet shirt was plastered to his skin. Where her gown and robe were no more than a glistening gossamer smear.

  He set her away, calling upon a cavalier smile.

  ‘There, you see?’ He hoped his voice sounded nonchalant and not devastated. ‘Just like before...proof that we are and will remain friends.’

  ‘You feel you can be my brother?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Good, then...thank you for...’

  She looked down, clearly not wanting to meet his gaze. She must have only then noticed the way her wet gown clung to her for she spun away from his gaze. His gaze, which was not focused on her, but a spot over her shoulder. He was not sure what the spot was since it was a blur...everything was a blur.

  Only one thing was clear. He had a choice to make...admit to himself what the kiss meant or deny it...to himself and to her.

  By confessing that he was shaken by what happened would change his life. Doing so would mean he could not remain here at Hawkwood. He could not live every day, fearing that by a glance or a word he might give his feelings away.

  But if he managed to push the draw he felt towards Ginny deep down into his soul where it would never cause harm, he could remain here, be a loyal brother, to both Phillip and to Ginny.

  If the time came when he found he could no longer bear it, then he would leave. If he had harboured a doubt that his brother intended to ask Ginny to be his bride, he no longer did.

  Surely Phillip would not have spoken to her about fitting into the family, mentioned Cora, had Ginny not been the one to capture his heart.

  ‘Better hurry back to the house. Never know when a pike might get hungry,’ he said playfully. He grinned and it hurt.

  With that, he turned, stroking away into deep water as if the kiss meant nothing. Worse, as if seeing it meant something to her meant nothing to him.

  Only one thing mattered in the end. Phillip’s happiness...and that William be a part of it. He desperately wanted to remain at the home he loved...with the people he loved.

  Perhaps one day he would take a wife. All four of them would live happily ever after, watching each other’s children grow.

  And perhaps a giant fish really would surface between his legs and carry him across the lake where just maybe he would escape the sick feeling cramping his gut.

 

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