Page 10 of Sin and Serendipity

He only hoped he could trust his mother to do the same.

Chapter Four

She couldn’t move. Standing in the doorway leading out to Lady Severton’s terrace, Ellie watched, frozen, as Freddy loaded his plate with cakes from the refreshments table.

He was alone, and the terrace was empty.

Go to him, she ordered. Go to him now. He will not be alone for long.

She’d repeated the command at least a half dozen times, but her feet simply would not cooperate. She was beginning to feel like a child with her nose smashed against a shop window, gawping at a sweet she couldn’t have.

Her palms grew damp inside her gloves, and she pressed her lips together, frustrated by her own cowardice. What was the matter with her? Why could she not approach him? This shouldn’t be so difficult!

If only he weren’t so handsome. Perhaps then she could muster up the courage to talk to him.

But he was handsome, incredibly so, and Ellie was…well, Ellie. She wasn’t plain or stupid or silly, but neither was she clever or beautiful. She was ordinary, aside from her height, and this was a fact she’d accepted long ago.

Usually she was fine with it.

Today, however, she couldn’t help but wish she had been born extraordinary, at least a little bit so, and then maybe Freddy would approach her instead.

“Formulating your plan of attack, Miss Wrencroft?”

Ellie whirled around with a gasp and found Lord Darrington standing behind her, one brow crooked, his eyes gleaming with mirth.

“You scared the wits out of me,” she scolded, embarrassment scalding her cheeks.

“My apologies.” He dipped his head, though his smile was hardly contrite.

Scowling, she turned back to the terrace, huffing out a sigh when she discovered Freddy had gone. Wonderful. “If you must know, I was trying to pluck up the courage to talk to him,” she muttered. “Not that you actually care.”

She stepped onto the terrace and made her way to the refreshments table, irritated with herself for being caught pining after Freddy, and even more irritated that it was his brother who’d been the one to catch her.

And now she was behaving like a petulant child toward a man who had nothing to deserve it. She sighed and reached for the pitcher of lemonade.

If she possessed even one ounce of courage, she might be talking to Freddy right now, instead of about him. They could be strolling the grounds together, sharing their thoughts and interests, getting to know one another.

Instead, she’d hemmed and hawed and lost her chance.

“I do care, you know.” Lord Darrington’s voice came from behind her, low and earnest.

She turned to face him. “But you think I’m wasting my time with your brother,” she said. “You think I’m being foolish.” She sipped from her glass and grimaced, her lips puckering at the too-tart drink. Good gracious, even the lemonade was against her today.

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Stubborn, perhaps. But not foolish.”

She stepped aside and watched in silence as he served himself a glass of lemonade, mildly bemused that this man—a man she’d met just three days ago—would presume to know her well enough to call her stubborn.

That he was right only discomfited her more.

“Shall we?” The viscount motioned toward a pair of empty chairs at the edge of the terrace.

Ellie hesitated for a moment, not quite sure how she felt about spending more time with this man, but finally she gave in with a nod and the two claimed their seats.

A surprisingly comfortable silence fell between them as they sipped their lemonade—both gluttons for punishment, apparently—and studied the revelers scattered across the lawn, playing bowls and battledore, or displaying their skill at archery. The weather was perfect for a day of outdoor sport; warm and mild with only a handful of clouds dotting the otherwise clear, cerulean sky.

She spotted Freddy immediately, of course, playing bowls with a group of young men, the handsomest among them. She watched as he threw back his head and laughed at something one of his friends had said and her heart squeezed at the sight of his smile.

“Why don’t you walk over there and talk to him?” Lord Darrington’s quiet voice cut into the silence.