Lily, unfortunately, did not have that same freedom of choice. Something she should surely have thought of before making love with Giles! Maybe she had thought of it, but at the time had just not cared? However, it had been a rash moment she would no doubt have plenty of time to regret during the coming days and weeks!
Her more immediate problem was to find some way—although goodness knew how it was to be found—of getting through the next few days at least, without finding herself alone again in Giles’s company. Something which, Lily knew, with the well-dressing celebrations to take place at Castonbury Park in two days’ time, was going to be extremely difficult to achieve.
‘Would you like me to help ye rearrange your pretty hair?’
Lily gave a pained wince at the kindness she heard in Mrs Lovell’s gentle tone. ‘I would, thank you.’ She distractedly gathered up her hair and coiled it up onto her crown.
The older woman moved round the fire to begin putting in the pins to hold it in place. ‘I can’t believe— Lord Giles is a good man. An honourable man…’
‘Oh, he is,’ Lily assured hastily, having seen the genuine fondness between Giles and the elderly Romany on her previous visit here.
‘Then I don’t see what the problem is.’ Mrs Lovell moved back to her seat on the opposite side of the fire.
Lily imagined that life must be so much simpler for Mrs Lovell, stopping to camp when and where she liked, travelling on when she became bored or restless, eating and sleeping to no other clock but her own.
Unfortunately Lily’s life was not the same, the stigma of her birth having already given her a precarious position socially, as well as having attached preconceived expectations to her character. Expectations which she had surely only confirmed with her behaviour today with Giles.
‘I am sure you are right, and I am worrying unnecessarily.’ She stood up dismissively. ‘I really must go now, my dear Mrs Lovell. But I will see you at Castonbury Park for the well-dressing?’
‘Ye will. But—’
‘I really must make haste.’ Lily secured her bonnet about her now-tidy hair. ‘Father will be expecting me.’ She hurried off before Mrs Lovell had a chance to say anything further.
With any luck, by the time she returned to the vicarage Giles would already have been back to collect Genghis and would by now be safely on his way to Castonbury Park.
Chapter Fifteen
It did not take a glance into Mrs Lovell’s crystal ball—if indeed she possessed one—for Giles to realise that Lily was deliberately avoiding him. That she had been successfully avoiding him for the whole of the two days since they had made love together beneath the willow.
Not that Giles had too many hours to spend brooding over the reasons for that. He had found the time to visit the vicarage yesterday, only to learn that Lily was not at home, and so he had spent an hour talking with Mr Seagrove instead. Otherwise Giles’s attentions had been completely taken up by the problem of the increasingly pressing financial situation now besetting the whole of the Montague family. A problem his father seemed to have chosen to ignore by once again withdrawing to his rooms and retreating into silence.
Giles had paid another visit to the lawyers on the day following his lovemaking with Lily, after which he had been forced to once again send word to his man in London to advance more of his personal funds.
But the letter which had been delivered to him earlier this morning, if it should prove to be genuine, made all of those other problems pale into insignificance!
None of which Giles could allow, or would allow, to be seen during the well-dressing celebrations. His instructions to Mrs Stratton, as well as Monsieur Andre, were that all arrangements for those celebrations were to proceed with the Duke of Rothermere’s usual largesse.
But beneath all of those other problems was still the knowledge that Lily was deliberately avoiding him.
Even now, on the day of the well-dressing, she had managed to stay away from him by keeping herself busy outside in the garden, helping to put up the tables and chairs, as well as preparing the numerous stalls necessary for the celebrations later today.
It did not please Giles in the least that when he did finally chance to meet up with her it was in the company of that charming rascal Judah Lovell!
The two of them appeared to be arranging the covers over the poles for the tent where Mrs Lovell was to do her fortune-telling; Lily was laughing softly at something the young, handsome and—damn him—flirtatious Romany had just said to her.
That humour faded the moment she looked up and saw Giles standing several feet away watching the two of them. ‘Lord Montague.’ Her curtsey was as formal as her words, her gaze lowered demurely.
His mouth tightened as he nodded in curt acknowledgement of her greeting. ‘Lily.’ His gaze was icy as he turned to the younger man. ‘I wonder if you would mind leaving us for a few moments so that I might talk privately to Miss Seagrove?’
‘Sure an’ that’s up to Lily ‘erself, don’t ye think?’ Judah’s expression bordered on the insolent as he met Giles’s gaze in open challenge.
Giles’s eyes narrowed upon hearing Judah refer to Lily by her Christian name, his voice dangerously soft. ‘Whether you choose to go or stay is your own decision, surely.’ The threat in his tone was unmistakable.
Judah held his gaze for several seconds longer before he turned to look down at Lily. ‘What do you think, Lily?’
What Lily thought was that the tension between the two men was palpable, so much so that she was forced to repress a shiver of apprehension as she looked from one to the other and saw the unspoken challenge as their gazes met and clashed.
Having managed to avoid seeing Giles for the past two days, she had no wish to speak with him now, either privately or in the company of others, but the contest for her attention was such that she was sure only her acquiescence to Giles’s request would succeed in putting an end to it without the possibility of blood being shed. ‘Perhaps, if Mr Lovell does not mind continuing on alone for a few minutes, the two of us might stroll about the garden together, Lord Montague.’ She gave a gracious bow of her head as she preceded Giles in the direction of one of the rose beds.
She was so aware of Giles, as he first walked behind her and then at her side as he easily caught up with her, his strides being so much longer than her own.
The past two days had been nothing short of purgatory for Lily.
Not only had she gone out of her way to avoid any situation in which she might find herself face to face with Giles, but as he had also warned, her father had spoken to her concerning Sir Nathan’s interest. An interest she had no hesitation in assuring her father she did not, and would not ever, return. That her father had been relieved by her answer she had no doubt, but he had also felt duty bound to point out the advantages of such a marriage.
And all the time he had done so Lily had been aware of the fact that not only was such an alliance wholly repugnant to her, but coming so soon after her lovemaking with Giles, it was now also totally out of the question for her to accept a proposal of marriage from any gentleman, repugnant or otherwise.
Leading her to question whether she had not consciously known that all along, and if it had not contributed to her recklessness that day…. Certainly she could no longer offer herself to any decent man as an innocent bride.
‘Are you well?’
She glanced sideways at Giles upon hearing his softly spoken query, but was unable to read any of his thoughts from the remoteness of his expression.
This did not stop Lily from being wholly appreciative of his handsome ensemble. He wore a dark grey superfine over a paler waistcoat and white linen, with dove-grey breeches and black Hessians, his dark hair having been blown across his brow by the warmth of the light breeze.
She turned away from that breathtaking handsomeness. ‘I am very well, thank you, Lord Montague. And you?’
‘As well as can be expected when my lover calls me “Lord Montague” in that cold t
one and has been avoiding my company for two days!’
Lily gasped softly at the directness of Giles’s attack, colour burning her cheeks as she came to an abrupt halt in order to glare up at him. ‘How dare you speak to me of such things here?’ she hissed fiercely, very aware of the dozens of other people milling around the gardens and grounds of Castonbury Park, all helping to prepare for this afternoon’s celebrations.
‘Where else should I speak of them, when I have not so much as managed to set eyes upon you?’ he came back unapologetically.
Lily turned to glare at him, the warmth of her embarrassment still high in her cheeks. ‘I believe it would be best for all concerned if you did not speak of it at all, but rather tried to forget it ever happened!’
‘And is that what you have been attempting to do?’
‘We were not talking about my feelings on the matter!’
‘Oh, no, Lily, this avoidance really will not do at all.’ Giles shook his head, more than pleased to have her full attention, no matter what the reason.
She had looked pale when he had approached her earlier, the grey of her gown doing little to add to that colour, but the angry blush now in her cheeks, and the glitter in those clear green eyes as she glared up at him, made her appear more like the beautiful woman he had made love to beneath the willow.
‘Do you really imagine that I could ever forget—ever want to forget—our lovemaking, Lily?’ he prompted huskily.
Her hands were clasped tightly together in front of her. ‘I wish that you would try!’
Giles gave a pained wince at her vehemence. ‘Why?’
‘Because—’ She gave a disbelieving shake of her head. ‘You said that you regretted what had happened.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘Are you saying you now regret it too?’
She glared her exasperation. ‘Has my avoidance of you since not indicated as much?’
Giles looked down searchingly into the beauty of her face—dark lashes surrounding those extraordinary green eyes, her small nose, those wide, lush lips above a small and determined chin. It was a face which had haunted Giles’s days as well as his nights since they had last met. ‘I regret very much taking your innocence, Lily,’ he told her softly. ‘But it is only the timing I regret, not the deed itself.’
‘You talk in riddles!’
‘Do I?’
Lily gave an agitated shake of her head. ‘I do not have the time to deal with your mockery today, Giles—’
‘And if it is not mockery?’ he prompted huskily. ‘If my reason for wanting to see you again was so that I might ask if you would consider becoming my wife?’
Lily’s gaze flew to his face, her expression startled. She saw only that same wide forehead, dark brows over grey eyes, high cheekbones either side of the arrogant slash of a nose, his lips sculptured perfection above a stubbornly relentless jaw.
Except…
There was something different about his eyes. A softness? An uncertainty, perhaps?
If that was so, then it was a softness and uncertainty which did not in the least detract from the fact that he must once again be mocking her!
She shook her head. ‘The silly cat may look at a king, my lord, may perhaps even make love with him, but never any more than that.’ She turned away with the intention of returning to her previous task.
Only to have her arm firmly grasped by Giles’s fingers as he halted that departure. ‘You are referring to yourself as a silly cat?’
‘What else?’ She sighed her impatience with his persistence. ‘You are Lord Montague, and heir to the Duke of Rothermere, and I am merely the vicar’s adopted daughter, an abandoned child of questionable parentage at best.’
‘And the heir to the Duke of Rothermere may marry where and with whom he wishes!’
‘And a sensible heir would never wish to find himself married to the penniless adopted daughter of the parish vicar!’
Giles mouth twisted as he thought of the state of his family’s finances, and the letter he had received earlier that morning. ‘We may be more equal in that than you can ever imagine, Lily.’
‘Somehow I doubt it very much!’
He frowned. ‘Does that mean you would not even consider me if I were to offer you marriage?’
‘So that you might once again accuse me of plotting and planning such an outcome? I think not, Giles!’ Lily eyed him scathingly.
‘I offer no such accusations—’
‘Then perhaps that will come later!’ She gave an impatient shake of her head. ‘Now if you are quite finished playing with the cat, my lord, she is wishful of returning to help prepare for the celebrations later today.’ She gave his restraining fingers about her arm a pointed look.
If Giles had needed any further confirmation of Lily’s lack of deception in regard to her reasons for making love with him—which he did not—then her refusal to even take seriously his offer of marriage left him in no doubt as to her innocence; the designing and scheming woman he had once believed her to be would have had no hesitation in greedily accepting even the suggestion of a proposal of marriage from the future Duke of Rothermere!
He drew in a harsh breath. ‘Mr Seagrove informed me, when I called at the vicarage yesterday, that you have refused any suggestion of a marriage between yourself and Sir Nathan Samuelson.’
Her chin rose. ‘And is that why you have chosen to hint at an offer of marriage yourself today? Because you wished to bedevil and taunt me with the possibility of it?’
Giles searched the proud beauty of her face. ‘Does the possibility bedevil and taunt you, Lily?’
It did, more than Lily would ever allow Giles to see, when she knew an offer of marriage from him was much like an elusive and beautiful butterfly, fluttering just beyond her reach, beguiling and tempting her to scoop it up in her hands and hold it tightly to her, only to find when she opened up her fingers that her hands were empty.
‘No, it does not,’ she answered him flatly. ‘I have not now, nor will I ever, have any desire to receive a marriage proposal from you, let alone trouble myself giving an answer to it. Now, if you will excuse me?’ She looked at him haughtily. ‘As I have said, I still have much work to do.’
Giles slowly uncurled his fingers from about her arm, remaining beside the rose bed as Lily instantly turned and walked back in the direction of where she had been working earlier with Judah Lovell.
He had not dared to imagine what Lily’s reaction might be to the suggestion of marriage between the two of them, but he had hoped—he had certainly hoped—that it might be favourable. To have the first proposal of marriage he had ever made in his life thrown back in his face without thought or consideration would have been humiliating if Giles did not find it so amusing at the same time.
A burst of laughter overtook him as he gave in to that amusement; Lily was, without a shadow of a doubt, the most unpredictable, beautiful and enchanting woman he had ever met. Or ever hoped to meet….
And if she believed their conversation over in regard to a marriage between the two of them, then she was very much mistaken.
* * *
‘—cannot imagine what has happened to Mrs Lovell, can you?’ Mrs Stratton frowned as she looked pointedly towards the line of people from the village already gathered outside the tent where the elderly Romany should have been waiting to begin telling their fortunes.
Should have been waiting, because as Lily and the housekeeper of Castonbury Park could clearly see, Mrs Lovell had not as yet arrived at the celebrations. Lily had not expected her to attend the well-dressing ceremonies—she never had in the past—but she never missed the party afterwards. ‘She assured me that she would be here in time….’ Lily voiced her own concern. ‘I wonder what can have happened to delay her?’
Hannah Stratton shook her head. ‘Shall I send one of the maids over to check, do you think?’
Lily placed a reassuring hand on the older woman’s arm. ‘I will go myself.’ In truth, she would welcome the time such a task m
ight enable her to spend away from the crowd of people milling about the gardens of the estate. And from the overwhelming presence of Giles Montague, especially….
She had assisted her father earlier during the ceremonies at the three wells in the village, murmured polite approval to Mrs Crutchley as to the splendour of the floral arrangements at each of the wells, invented amusement for some of the village children when they had become a little restless—and all of that time been completely aware of Giles as he stood attentively at her father’s other side in representation of the Montague family.
Indeed, his appearance, in blue velvet and grey silk, had been of such magnificence that Lily challenged any woman, in love with him or otherwise, not to be affected by such a proud display of male elegance!
Certainly Lily had been far from immune to such splendour, her gaze returning again and again to the arresting handsomeness of Giles’s face, as she looked at him from beneath the brim of her cream bonnet which she had prettied up with the same dark green ribbon which adorned the high waist of the new moss-green gown she had made especially for the occasion.
At the time of choosing the material and ribbon for the new gown—a mere two weeks ago, although it seemed so much longer!—Lily knew she had done so in the hopes of impressing Giles. A forlorn hope now, if ever there was one!
Nevertheless, Lily had chosen to wear her new gown anyway, aware that she was in need of all the self-confidence she possessed if she were to get through the rest of the day.
She could see him across the garden even now, as he talked with his father, who had decided to make a brief appearance in order to welcome everyone to his home. Giles looked so handsome and aristocratic next to his much frailer father. A breathtaking and disturbing handsomeness which Lily would indeed welcome escaping from, if only for the short time it took her to find and bring back Mrs Lovell.
‘I will not be long.’ She smiled reassuringly at Mrs Stratton now. ‘With any luck, I may meet Mrs Lovell coming along the towpath.’
‘Let us hope so.’ The housekeeper nodded distractedly as she obviously spotted something occurring in the tea tent not to her liking or satisfaction.
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