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He turned his head, sharply and only for a moment. And then he went back to staring at the wall. ‘I don’t like it.’
‘You don’t like to look at people?’
‘No.’
She searched herself, trying to sort out the best way forward. ‘What do you like to look at?’
‘I already showed you my cards.’
‘You did.’
For her part, she ate some cheese, because it made her feel soothed.
She heard heavy footsteps coming down the hall, and stilled. It could be a manservant, but it made her think of...
The door pushed open, and there he was.
His eyes connected with hers, and he looked momentarily surprised. And then... Angry.
‘What are you doing in here?’ he asked.
She expected William to scramble upwards at his father’s presence. But he did not. Instead, he remained as he was, laying with his back to her, facing the wall.
‘I’m having a picnic with William,’ she said, smiling determinedly. ‘Would you like to join us, Your Grace?’
He frowned. Which was a feat as he’d been frowning already, but he managed to do it again. ‘Would I care to join you...in a picnic?’
‘Yes,’ she said brightly. ‘I have not seen you these many days.’
She looked at William, who was kicking his feet idly, but still not looking.
‘Good afternoon, William,’ Briggs said. ‘How are you?’
He didn’t respond to his father.
Briggs, for his part, did not look perturbed by this at all.
‘Don’t you want to say hello to your father?’ Beatrice prompted.
‘It is no matter,’ Briggs said. ‘Sometimes William does not feel like saying hello.’
She was surprised by the easy way that he accepted this.
Confused, she shuffled over, making more room on the blanket. ‘You want to join us. Surely you’ve not taken your lunch yet?’
‘I
have not. But I do not sit on the ground.’
‘That is very interesting as William informed me earlier that he does not eat outside.’ She adjusted her seating position on the floor and it made her dress go tight around her hips, which caught his attention more than it should.
‘And you told him what?’
‘I asked him to try.’ She looked like steel just then.
His brows lifted. ‘And here you are, eating indoors.’
‘Far easier to accomplish than the moving of a large dining table up to this room, don’t you think?’
