Page 73 of The Language of Love

“Is there still time?” she asked, setting her small hand in his.

He lifted her to her feet and then reluctantly released her and looked at his watch. “I’d say we have an hour before we need to go. “

They spent the next hour exploring the overgrown path that circled the tiny, lily-pad covered pond.

“This is like paradise. I feel a bit like I do when I’m in Hyde Park—amazed that I am still in a city,” she said as Henry escorted her toward the carriage.

“Well, technically you’re not in the city, although it is certainly encroaching fast enough.”

“I can’t believe the gentleman who owns it doesn’t want to live here.”

He just smiled, not wanting to tell any more lies than he had to.

On the drive back, Annis seemed pensive, no doubt still mortified by her earlier behavior.

For Henry’s part, thoughts of his impending confession consumed him. Tomorrow—it would happen tomorrow. He’d tell Colin tonight and Lady Sedgwick tomorrow morning. The countess could counsel Henry about how to proceed. And then he would pay a call on Annis and her uncle and—

“Will you drop me off in the same place?” Annis asked, pulling him from his thoughts.

He experienced a pang of irritation at the thought of leaving her on a street corner. But today would be the last time he’d need to practice such deception, so he shoved aside his annoyance.

He’d just brought the curricle to a halt when a town coach rolled to a stop beside them, coming so close that their wheels were almost rubbing. The coach window slid down with a decisive clunk, and an older man glared at them through the opening.

Henry was about to ask what the hell the man wanted when Annis gasped.

“Uncle Thomas! What—”

“Not now, Annis,” Bowman snapped, his gaze sliding to Henry. “Please follow my carriage, Parker.”

Henry’s eyebrows rose at Bowman’s rude tone. “Where are we going?” He gave the older man the half-smirk that he knew other people—especially men—found exceedingly provoking.

Judging by Bowman’s scowl, he was one of those men. “To my house.”

“May I ask what for?”

“I think you know exactly why,” Bowman retorted. “I intend to send a message to your employer requesting his presence. Immediately.”

Henry amused himself by imagining Colin’s frantic reaction to such a hostile summons.

“Is this because I took your niece out for a few carriage rides?”

“Yes, it is about the clandestine meetings you’ve been having. It is also about the fact that you ruined her today.”

Henry blinked at that, his eyes briefly meeting Annis’s—which were as round as saucers—before saying to her uncle. “I’ll be right behind you, sir.”