Weddings of the Century: A Pair of Wedding Novellas(23)
“Are you rating them for possible future occupancy?” he said dryly. “I regret to inform you that my brother is no longer in the marriage mart.”
“I simply like gardens, Lord Justin,” she said crisply, her aqua eyes turning cool. “Are you always so rude?”
So the exquisite Miss Vangelder had thorns. Suppressing a smile, he said, “Always. I took a first in rudeness at Oxford.”
Her expression instantly transformed from reproval to delight. “You have a sense of humor!”
“Don’t spread such a base rumor around. It would utterly ruin my reputation.” He offered his arm. “Let me escort you back to the fete.”
As she slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow, she asked, “Could we take an indirect route? I particularly want to see the famous water garden.”
He knew that he should return her before her chaperon became concerned. Yet when he looked into her glorious eyes, he found himself saying, “Very well, Miss Vangelder.”
As they started down the pine needle carpeted path, he was very aware of the light pressure of her hand on his arm and the luxuriant rustle of her petticoats. And her perfume, a delicate fragrance reminiscent of violets....
He took a deep, slow breath. “I assume you are related to Admiral Vangelder?”
“You’ve heard of my grandfather?”
“It would be surprising if I hadn’t.” He held a branch aside so that she could pass without endangering her deliciously frivolous hat. “He was one of the great American success stories.”
“Yes, and something of a robber baton as well, though he was always a darling to me. I miss him.” She chuckled. “He liked people to think that he was called Admiral because of his magnificent yachts, but actually, he got the nickname because his first job was tending mules on the Erie Canal.”
“Really?” Justin said, amused by her artlessness.
“Really. In fact, there are grave suspicions that his papa was not married to his mama.” She bit her lip guiltily. “You’re dangerously easy to talk to, Lord Justin. I shouldn’t have said so much. My mother would be horrified if the Admiral’s dubious parentage became common knowledge.” She grinned again. “Her own family has been respectable for at least a generation longer.”
“Your secret is safe, Miss Vangelder,” he assured her.
She gave him another entrancing smile that struck right to the heart. For a mad instant, he felt as if he was the only person who existed in her world. She had charm, this gilded girl, a quality as unmistakable as it was hard to define. He drew a shaken breath and returned his gaze to the winding path.
Though she had said he was easy to talk to, in fact he found himself talking more than usual as they strolled through the park. He told her about the history of the estate, answered questions about the crops and tenants. Together they stood in the gazebo that was designed like a miniature Greek temple, and when they visited the picturesque ruins of an old monastery he described what the community would have been like in its heyday.
She was a wonderful audience, listening with a grave air of concentration that was occasionally punctuated by an incisive question. After she asked about the effects of the agricultural depression on the farm laborers, he remarked, “You have a wide range of interests, Miss Vangelder.”
“Education is something of an American passion. My father insisted that I have a whole regiment of tutors. Shortly before he died, he had me take the entrance exams to Oxford and Cambridge. He was quite pleased when I passed with flying colors.” She sighed. “Of course there was never any question of me actually going to a university. That would have been shockingly bluestocking.”
At least she had been well taught. Like most English girls, his own sisters had received the sketchiest of educations. Only Alexandra, who loved to read, had a well-informed mind. The man who married Sunny Vangelder would be lucky in more ways than one.
Justin had chosen a path that brought them out of the park’s wilderness area right beside the water garden. It was an elaborate series of pools and channels that descended across three levels of terraces before flowing into the ornamental lake.
Sunny stopped in her tracks with a soft exhalation of pleasure. “Exquisite. The proportions, the way the statues are reflected in the pools, the way the eye is led gradually down to the lake. Masterful. And the grass surrounding it! Like green velvet How do the English grow such perfect grass?”
“It’s quite simple, really. Just get a stone roller and use it on the lawn regularly for two or three hundred years.”
She laughed and gave him a glance that made him feel as if he was the wittiest, handsomest man alive. His heart twisted, and he knew that he must get away from her before he started to act like an utter idiot. “I really must take you back now. Your chaperone will be worried.”
“I suppose so.” She took a last look at the water garden. “Thank you for indulging me, Lord Justin.”
Their walk had taken them around three sides of the palace, and it was only a short distance to the Versailles garden where the fete was being held. As they approached the festivities, a tall man saw them and walked over swiftly. It was Paul Curzon, who had been at Eton at the same time as Justin. They had never been more than acquaintances. Curzon had been active in the most social set, while Justin had paid an unfashionable amount of attention to his studies.