Any Duchess Will Do (Spindle Cove #4)(60)

“Whatever shade it is, it looks well on you.” Too well. He tugged his black evening gloves on and gathered his hat from Higgs. “Let’s be going.”

The carriage was readied and waiting. He turned to Pauline. She obviously needed help, what with those ungainly skirts. Without hesitation, she took the hand he offered and clutched it tightly, borrowing his strength. The warm clasp of her satin-clad fingers nearly undid him. He was unsteady himself as he made his own way into the coach and sat across from her on the rear-facing seat.

He turned his head to the window. He needed to bring himself under control. They were only just leaving the house, and the whole evening lay ahead.

When they reached the place for the river crossing and alighted from the coach, twilight had descended. The air was heavy with wisps of fog and shadow. An air of romantic mystery lingered, despite all Griff’s attempts to discredit it.

“We’re going to cross the river in boats?” she asked, eyeing the boat launch with alarm. Her grip tightened on his arm.

He nodded. “It’s the only way to Vauxhall. Eventually there’s to be a bridge, but it isn’t complete.”

“I’ve never been in a boat. Not in my whole life.”

“Never? But you live by the sea.”

“I know. It’s absurd, isn’t it? Sometimes the ladies go boating, but I never had a reason to join in.”

“Don’t be frightened.” He reached for her. “Here.”

Helping her into the boat was even more precarious than handing her into the carriage had been. Griff went first, wedging his boots fast against the floorboards and steadying his balance.

Pauline accepted his hand and took a cautious step onto a seat near the bow. But just then the waterman launched the boat. She stumbled. Griff had to catch her by both arms as she fell against his chest.

“Oh, bollocks.” She struggled to correct herself, and the boat lurched.

His stomach nearly capsized. He had a vision—a brief, waking nightmare of a thought—in which she tumbled straight into the black water and all those heavy, embellished skirts dragged her straight to the depths.

“Don’t move,” he told her, tightening his grip. “Not yet.”

He held her close and tight. For long moments they stood absolutely still—swaying in each other’s arms while the boat regained its equilibrium.

“Are you well?” he whispered.

She nodded.

“Your heart is racing,” he said.

“So is yours.”

He smiled a little. “Fair enough.”

When the boat finally steadied, he helped her onto the seat and motioned to the waterman, who ferried them across the Thames in smooth, even strokes.

“See?” he murmured, keeping her close. “There’s nothing to fear. Just imagine we’re traveling through that crystal cabinet in the poem. On our way to another world. Another England. Another London with its Tower. Another Thames and other hills.”

She relaxed against his shoulder. “A little lovely moony night.”

“Exactly so.” There she went again, enchanting him.

Griff had never been the fanciful sort, even as a boy. When he was with Pauline, the world was different. She forced him to see things through fresh eyes. Suddenly his library was the eighth wonder of the world, and Corinthian columns merited blasphemy. A ferry across the Thames was an epic journey, and a kiss . . . a kiss was everything.

Deep down, beneath the overworked, sharp-tongued serving girl, he saw a woman who craved the poetry in life. She’d never been given anything—not even favorable odds. But there was a liveliness in her spirit that fed on simple possibility—soaked it up like a wick and shone the brighter for it.

And tonight? Griff tilted his head westward and regarded the setting sun. Less than an hour from now her world was going to explode with brilliant possibility.

He wanted nothing more than to be near her when it did.

Pauline found Vauxhall rather overwhelming. And that was before they even entered the place.

When they disembarked on the far side of the river, her stomach took several moments to cease bobbing. They ascended a long flight of stairs, leading up the riverbank to a grand entrance gate. The higher they climbed, the louder the music grew.

Cor, she thought. She didn’t say it aloud, not tonight. But it was the constant thought in her mind as they made their way through the gate and into the gardens proper.

Cor, cor, cor, cor, cor.

She didn’t know nature could be tamed to this degree. The greens were perfectly flat. The shrubs were pruned in squat shapes. The trees were planted in straight lines.

Stately colonnades ran in various directions, marking covered pathways. At the end of each aisle vast paintings were hung. From this distance she couldn’t quite make them out. She glimpsed a white orchestra pavilion in the form of a giant seashell, with carvings and embellishments all over it.

Suddenly, she realized her mouth had been hanging agape for the past few minutes. And the duke had noticed.

He gave her an amused look.

“It’s growing dark,” she said. “Should we head toward the pavilion?”

“Not yet,” he said, catching her arm. He guided her off the main walk, into a darkening grove of trees away from the colonnades.

“What is it?”

“Something is about to happen, and I want you to see it. I want to be with you when you see it.”