Page 45 of His Temporary Duchess

The next social engagement Sebastian and Eleanor attended was a picnic by the side of the Thames. Sebastian joined Eleanor out of a sense of obligation—or at least, that was what he told himself. In actuality, he found the riverside, with the picnic blankets and parasols and small boats, oddly charming.

That was, until Luke joined them at their blanket. “Sebastian, old boy,” he said altogether too cheerfully. “Just the fellow I was hoping to see.”

Beside him, Eleanor beamed up at the man. “Lord Greycliff! I am so glad you could make it.”

“I was delighted to receive your invitation, ma’am.” Luke bowed gracefully over Eleanor’s hand as Sebastian scowled.

“Youinvitedhim?” he demanded.

“And Miss Ashby,” Eleanor said, standing on her tiptoes and looking through the crowd. “I believe she is attending with her mother, but she should be here soon, and she can join us in our boat.”

Sebastian blinked. “Boat?”

“But of course.” She looked at him innocently, all large eyes and fluttering eyelashes and butter-wouldn’t-melt smile. When she did that, she looked positively angelic, which did not help matters. “Why would we attend a picnic if we did not also have a boat ride? ThisisLondon, you know, and I have it on the best authority that boating is the height of fashion.”

“On whose authority?” Sebastian growled.

“Mine.” Luke stretched out beside them both and plucked a grape from the basket the servants had spread out. The day was a lovely one, and Sebastian had thought it was shaping up to be a charming one—until he had been assaulted by his old friend.

Your current friend.

No. One man’s determination did not equal friendship, and Sebastian could not forget the way Luke had abandoned him, without so much as a by your leave. No explanation, just a note to explain he was going right when Sebastian had needed him the most. If he’d still had one person in his corner, the business with Lady Lydia might not have—

But it was useless to think of those things. Luke had left, just as Lydia had ended their engagement, and everyone in the world he knew left him. That was just the way things were, and better he had learned that lesson then so he would not have to suffer the pain of that loss again.

“Olivia—that is,Miss Ashby—also says that it is the height of fashion,” Eleanor said, taking his arm and squeezing it. “I thought it would be such fun.”

Sebastian thought ruefully of the clothes he had picked out for her, waiting in her bedchamber at home. An apology of sorts for the wardrobe he had left her at the beginning of their marriage. And considering she had not worn the clothes, he hardly thought it made a difference regarding whether she would want to leave the marriage or not.

Besides, he thought she would look charming in the blue gown he had selected for her. When he’d seen it, he had thought of her dusky curls and known that he must see her in it. Really, the gift was more for his benefit than anyone else’s. He would enjoy seeing her in it, and he would enjoy the way he suspected her face would light up when she saw the gift.

Until then, he would have to endure this company.

Eleanor waved at Miss Ashby, who came to join them, auburn ringlets gleaming like burnished copper in the sun, and her blue eyes merry and amused.

“Your Grace,” she smiled, curtsying so deeply, he felt the urge to snap his fingers at her and tell her to rise. “It issuchan honor to make your acquaintance again. When Eleanor—that is to say, Her Grace—invited me to come boating with you I was quite aflutter. And Lord Greycliff, too, what a pleasure to see you here. My friend did not tell me you would also make one of the party.”

Luke grinned. “I take it I am not a disappointment?”

“Ohno, my lord. How could you think such a thing?”

“I am relieved to hear it.”

Sebastian glanced between the two and wanted to groan. Eleanor beamed, more radiant than the sun itself. No doubt this outcome, a connection between their two friends—acquaintances—was another thing she had been hoping for.

“Is it not wonderful?” she whispered to him. “Lord Greycliff and Olivia got on so well when they met in Hyde Park that I thought it would be a crime if they were not to meet again, and do you not think that today is so very romantic a setting?”

Sebastian thought that he would rather like to kiss his wife, and he thought it a great shame that he would not be able to. He also thought that he had no particular desire for Luke and Olivia to fall in love, though he suspected he would have no opportunity whatsoever to influence this.

“Do you have Scrunch with you?” he asked instead.

She wrinkled her nose. “Here? He would just get lost. I left him at home in his nest where he will sleep most of the day and be happier. Why, do you wish he was here?”

“Where does he sleep?”

“In my bedroom, in one of the drawers. I have already told the servants not to go in there, and Abigail will tell any future maids we have.” She accepted the change of servants without so much as batting an eyelid, though he knew that when she first arrived at the manor to stay with him, she had been confused and dismayed by the overhaul.

“Would he not benefit from somewhere more secure?”