The Unlikely Lady (Playful Brides #3)(33)

Once they entered the field, Jane realized the picnic would not be quite as rustic as she’d envisioned. A team of servants bustled about half a dozen large tables with benches lining each one. White awnings were spread across their tops and each table had wide white linen cloths spread with decanters of wine and baskets holding loaves of bread, cheeses, grapes, strawberries, and an assortment of meat slices. “Thank goodness,” Jane breathed. “I’d thought I’d have to slap ants from my stockings.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Cass replied. “Who wants to sit in the grass?”

“Not I.” Jane stalled, wandering around in a useless little circle staring at the cloudless sky and trying to whistle, hoping Upton and Mrs. Langford would sit first and then she could choose a seat far away from them. She was thwarted when Lucy and Cass beckoned her to their table. “Come sit, Jane,” Lucy called.

Jane wrinkled her nose. Upton stood only a few paces away engaged in conversation with Mrs. Langford and another guest. It was too soon to tell where he would sit. All Jane could do was hope it was not at the same table.

“Garrett, we’ve saved you a seat,” Lucy called, waving to her cousin.

Blast. Jane cursed under her breath.

“What was that?” Cass asked, her forehead wrinkling into a frown.

“Nothing.” Jane shook her napkin into her lap with much more precision than she had heretofore ever given the task.

“Is there a seat for Mrs. Langford as well?” Garrett called back.

Jane lowered her eyes and kept her gaze trained on her napkin. Please don’t let there be a seat for Mrs. Langford. Please. She prayed to a God she wasn’t certain she believed in.

“Yes, of course. We’ll make room,” came Lucy’s cheerful reply.

Moments later, Jane found herself looking up into the grinning face of Garrett Upton, the man she’d accidentally—not so accidentally—shared a passionate interlude with the night before. To make things worse, she was intensely aware of how handsome he happened to look today. His eyes were particularly green against the backdrop of the grass of the meadow and his slightly curly dark hair was a bit mussed as usual. She’d never realized how handsome he was. Why? Why had she never noticed how strong his jaw appeared? Or how straight his nose? For heaven’s sake, what was happening to her? She should have worn her spectacles last night. Had she not traded them for a domino mask, she might not be waxing poetic about Upton’s looks at the moment.

Jane cleared her throat and kept her gaze trained on her lap. That seemed the safest way to stop thinking about the man’s firmly molded lips and dark brows. When she dared a peek, Upton immediately looked away. She took a tentative sip of the wine a footman had just poured. She’d never been so pleased to see a glass of wine.

Mrs. Langford broke the awkward silence. “Where did you get off to last night, Miss Lowndes? I didn’t see you after the dancing.” Was there a bit of a sneer in the lady’s voice or was Jane imagining it?

Jane nearly spat her wine. “I— We— I mean, I—”

“Jane was in the library reading,” Cass, that dear, offered. Thank heavens for Cass. Jane loved Cass.

“Ah.” Mrs. Langford’s green eyes narrowed. “The library?”

Jane squinted at the woman, not liking the tone she continued to use. Not one bit. “Yes, the library.”

“That’s right,” Mrs. Langford added. “I nearly forgot you’re a bluestocking. Where else would you be but the library?”

Jane straightened her spectacles. She’d begun this encounter a bit embarrassed to be sitting across from Upton, but if this woman intended to be rude to her, she could give as well as she got.

“A fact of which I’m infinitely proud.” Jane gave Mrs. Langford a tight smile.

“As you should be, of course, dear. If one cannot find a husband, one ought to make the most of one’s intellectual ability.” Mrs. Langford’s eyes were barely slits.

Jane clenched her jaw and waved her wine glass in the air. Why was this woman being so awful to her all of a sudden? “Funny. I’ve always thought if one cannot use one’s intellectual ability to any effect, the only option would be marriage.”

“Who would like some bread?” Cass’s overly enthusiastic voice rang out.

“I would!” was Julian’s immediate reply. Cass set about handing her future husband a basket of bread that had already been sliced into big, fluffy pieces by the servants.

“Well,” came Mrs. Langford’s silky voice, still directed toward Jane. “Perhaps you learned something about attracting the interest of a man while you were in the—ahem—library last night? Any books about that in there?”

Cass gasped. Lucy’s head swiveled back and forth between Jane and Mrs. Langford. Garrett studied his wine glass. Julian and Derek shifted in their seats.

“I wouldn’t know,” Jane replied sweetly. “If such a book did exist, I’d be singularly uninterested in it.”

“You’ve never taken a fancy to a man?”

Jane pressed her lips together. Something in the smug look on Mrs. Langford’s face made her think the woman knew something. Or seemed to suspect. Twenty-four hours ago, Jane could have said “no” without a shadow of guilt on her conscience, but considering that last night she’d just had her first kiss … and more, she wasn’t able to stand on the moral high ground any longer.