"On the contrary. I have had enough of war. I like being in the country. The quiet suits my nerves," he said, as he led her in to dinner. "But perhaps it sounds boring to you?"

"I must confess I like the bustle of London. But in the summer, there is nothing I like better than the country."

They took their places and to her secret delight Annabelle found herself sitting opposite Daniel. He looked up as she took her place and there was unmistakable admiration in his eyes.

As the soup was brought in, she saw him open his mouth to speak to her but Mrs Maltravers, seated to her right, began to talk about the latest scandal. Mrs Maltravers denounced Princess Caroline, the Regent's wife, as a national disgrace. "Running round Europe like a lightskirt. Setting up home in Spain-"

Italy, thought Annabelle, not realizing she had mouthed it until she caught sight of Daniel's amused expression, and the two of them shared a secret smile. They continued to glance at each other and smile throughout dinner, though Annabelle did her best to keep her eyes away from him. She could feel all too clearly the attraction she had felt the year before, so that she was relieved when it was time for the ladies to withdraw.

"We must have an outing tomorrow," said Mrs Maltravers, as the ladies settled themselves in the drawing room.

"Oh, yes, Mama. A picnic!" exclaimed Hope.

"May we, Lady Carlton?" asked Faith.

"Oh, please say we may," entreated Charity.

"I see no reason why not," said Laura. "As long as the weather holds."

"It is sure to," said Caroline, caught up in the idea.

"And what do you think?" murmured a deep voice in Annabelle's ear.

She turned to see Daniel, who had just entered the room with the other gentlemen.

"I think it will probably rain!" she said mischievously.

"So you are not in favour of a picnic?"

"On the contrary, I am looking forward to it," she said, "rain or shine!"

"You have a rare gift for enjoying life," he replied with a smile.

"I shall go on horseback," declared Faith.

"And so will I," declared Hope.

"Nonsense," said Mrs Maltravers firmly. "You will travel in the carriage with me. The gentlemen will not run away, my dears, and once we are at Primrose Hill you may flirt with them to your hearts' content." She beamed at the a.s.sembled gentlemen, and then, hiding behind her fan, she whispered to Annabelle, "Never fear, my dear. You may be a bit long in the tooth, but there are plenty of gentlemen for us all."

"Perhaps you would prefer to ride?" Daniel asked Annabelle, then added, with a humorous glint in his eye, "That is, if your rheumatism permits?'

Annabelle's eyes danced. "Do you know? I think I might."

At last the party began to break up and Annabelle and Caroline retired for the night.

"Are you sure you will be able to manage tomorrow?" asked Caroline solicitously.

"My dear girl, Lord Arundel was teasing. I am not in my dotage."

"Of course not, dear aunt," said Caroline kindly. "You are only just middle-aged."

"Ah, well, it is better than being elderly!" said Annabelle. "Thank you for that, at least!"

"Not at all," said Caroline, taking her arm fondly. "You will not be elderly for another three years, for no one is ever old until they are thirty, you know."

"In that case, I am glad I have three years of youth left to me," said Annabelle, as she said goodnight to her niece.

"A good att.i.tude," said Caroline. "You must make the most of the next few years, and not squander them. They will go all too quickly, you know."

"You are right. The ride tomorrow will give me something to remember when I am sitting alone by the fire with a blanket over my knees!"

Caroline gave her an affectionate hug and they parted on the landing.

As Annabelle walked back to her room she told herself that she must not read too much into Daniel's attention, but she could not quell a rising tide of pleasure at the thought of the outing to come.

The party a.s.sembled early the following morning, meeting in front of the house, where they mounted their horses or climbed into carriages, ready for the journey. The day was fine, but not too hot: ideal outing weather.

As Annabelle set off, Daniel fell in next to her, riding an impressive black stallion. His animal was spirited, but he controlled it with ease, and they set out at a good pace.

"Have you visited Primrose Hill before?" asked Annabelle.

"No. As I believe I told you yesterday, this is my first visit to Whitegates."

"And I should, of course, remember everything you say!" Annabelle teased him.

"That is not a very flattering remark," he replied with perfect good humour.

"Ah! I did not know you required flattery. If that is the case, then nothing is easier. Allow me to tell you, Lord Arundel, how well you ride!"

He laughed. "I will return the compliment, and say that you have a good seat and light hands."

"Please do. If flattery is to be the order of the day, I demand my full measure!"

And before she knew it, they were bantering again, as they always had done in the past, and she thought to herself, I must be careful for I am in danger of falling in love with him all over again.

The landscape was all that Annabelle had hoped it would be. Although it was not the time of year for the primroses that gave the hill its name, the area was picturesque, with a wooded area giving way to a gra.s.sy slope, and the views were magnificent. The countryside rolled away into the distance, disturbed only by dry stone walls and the silvery snake of a river, and was overtopped with a blue sky.

"Does it match your expectations?" asked Daniel. He leaned on his pommel and surveyed the area, as the carriages rolled to a halt a little way ahead of them.

"Indeed it does; in fact it surpa.s.ses them. It is a long time since I have seen anywhere quite so pretty."

He dismounted in one easy movement and then held out his arms to her.

She was about to refuse his help when she saw that the grooms were busy and, without a mounting block, she knew she would need his a.s.sistance. As she slid from her horse she felt a tingling sensation as his hands closed around her waist, and then it was gone as her feet touched the ground and his hands relinquished their hold on her. She felt the loss of it, and to cover her emotion she looked around for her niece. She saw that Caroline was fascinating a young man nearby.

Daniel, seeing where her gaze tended, offered her his arm. "If you are thinking of playing chaperone, it will be less noticeable with two," he said invitingly.

She laughed. "My niece is rather headstrong, and I would rather she did not know I am keeping watch over her. She is likely to resent it," she admitted, taking his arm. "She believes herself to be in love with a young man at home, but she is volatile, so that she could easily end up compromising some other poor young man if she takes a sudden fancy to him! I wonder whom she is with now? Do you know him?"

At that moment the young man turned round and Daniel gave an exclamation of surprise. "Why, it's my nephew, James! I wonder what he is doing here?" He added with a sigh, "He is in some sc.r.a.pe, no doubt, and wants me to get him out of it."

James, hearing his name, looked towards them and coloured.

"Will you excuse me?" said Daniel.

Annabelle watched him go with regret, but she was reminded that every cloud has a silver lining when she was joined by Caroline who, having lost her companion, sought out her aunt.

"You seem happy," said Annabelle.

"I am. I was just talking to James-"

"James?" asked Annabelle. "Isn't it a little early to be calling him James? You have only just met him."

Caroline gave a despairing sigh, as if to say, Aunt Annabelle, you are so behind the times.

"He happened to be in the neighbourhood," Caroline went on. "Hearing that his uncle was staying close by, he came to pay his respects. Ah! They have finished talking. I must not monopolize you, Aunt Annabelle. I am sure there are some old people here you would like to talk to." And so saying, she returned to her new swain.

Annabelle watched her go.

To her dismay, she saw that Daniel, having spoken to his nephew, seemed to be about to leave. He was walking towards the horses with a resolute air. Annabelle experienced the same sinking feeling she had felt the last time he had left a house party at which she had been present. But this time she quickly rallied, for she had been half expecting it ever since she arrived.

And then suddenly he stopped. He hesitated, as if he were wrestling with himself, then he turned and walked towards her with a serious look on his face.

"Annabelle," he said, taking her hands. "My fool of a nephew has managed to entangle himself with an opera dancer who is threatening all kinds of things if he doesn't marry her. He has not the age or experience to deal with her and I have, so I am on my way to London at once. I have no right to speak to you, but today's leave-taking has reminded me of another one, a year ago, when I would have asked you to marry me, had not my brother's sudden death called me away from you.

"I thought it was only a temporary separation, since I intended to seek you out and propose to you once I was free to think of myself again. But circ.u.mstances changed so radically that I could not, in all honour, speak. You see, I had to settle my brother's many debts and so I was a great deal poorer than when we had first met, whilst you had inherited a fortune and so you were a great deal richer.

"I set out to mend my fortunes, so that I would be able to offer you my hand honourably. But when I met you by chance in the inn, fate stepped in. I have no right to ask you to wait for me, but I cannot let my chance slip away again. You see, I love you, Annabelle. I have loved you for a very long time. So I ask you, though I have no right to do so, will you wait for me?"

"No," she said, shaking her head.

His face fell.

"It might take years for you to restore your fortune," she said, smiling, "by which time I will be in my dotage, if my niece is to be believed. So I rather think we should seize our youth whilst we can and marry without delay!"

He laughed and squeezed her hands. "Your niece is a very wise girl," he said. Then he pulled her into his arms and kissed her soundly. "I have been wanting to do that again for a very long time," he said.

"And I have been wanting you to," she replied.

In answer, he kissed her again.

They would have continued thus for the rest of the afternoon had they not been interrupted by a startled cry and then a gasp of horror.

Annabelle, surfacing from Daniel's embrace, saw Caroline standing there.

"Aunt! I wondered where you were! I wanted to tell you it was time to go, but I see now that I have arrived not a moment too soon to rescue you from this . . . this seducer!" She grabbed Annabelle's wrist and pulled her away from Daniel, glaring at him all the while.

"My dear girl . . ." began Annabelle.

"I a.s.sure you, my intentions are honourable!" said Daniel to Caroline. "Your aunt has very kindly consented to become my wife."

Caroline let out a cry of horror. "No! Aunt Annabelle! Say it is not true!"

"I am afraid it is," said Annabelle.

"But at your age! You will be a laughing stock!" said Caroline in horror. Then her face fell and she added tragically, "But of course, now that you have been compromised, you can do nothing else. And perhaps it is a good thing after all. You will be thirty soon and will need a companion for your twilight years." She smiled bravely. "I am very happy for you, after all."

"That is very generous of you," said Annabelle with a twinkle in her eye. "To make you feel better, I hope you will consent to be my bridesmaid."

"Oh, yes!" said Caroline, brightening at once. "I will need a new dress, new shoes . . ."

"Yes, you will need all those things, and have them, too. And then, perhaps, you will invite me to be the matron of honour at your own wedding to Able, which must surely soon follow mine."

Caroline looked at her in astonishment. "My dear Aunt, what can you be talking about? I am not going to marry Able. Whatever gave you such an idea?"

"I rather thought you were in love with him."

"How absurd! Of course not. A slight infatuation, perhaps, contracted when I was only sixteen. But I am older and a great deal wiser now. I am going to marry James!"

Cynders and Ashe.

Elizabeth Boyle.

One.

London 1815.

"You expect my daughter to wear that gown?" Lady Fitzsimon's acid tones carried to every corner of the elegant dress shop on Bond Street.

"My Lady, it is exactly the gown you ordered," Madame Delaflote replied. Used as she was to the fits and fleeting fancies of London ladies, she took Lady Fitzsimon's protests in her stride.

Either the lady was doing this to get her bill lowered which would never happen, for Madame Delaflote never gave up a shilling that could possibly be wrung from a client or she was just being aristocratic merely because she could.

In that case, Madame Delaflote had naught to do but wait her out.

From behind the curtain that separated the showroom from the workroom, Miss Ella Cynders flinched with each protest as if she were being flogged. For the dress was her creation, her finest if she was inclined to boast but she knew that it had been a risk making it for Lady Fitzsimon's daughter.

"The Ashe Ball is tonight, Madame!" Lady Fitzsimon was saying. Ella glanced out and found the matron waving her invitation about for all to see. Invitations to the Ashe Ball were so coveted, so limited, that most who held one kept it carefully guarded. For without that printed invitation, one could not enter. Proof of this being demonstrated at the moment by her ladyship, who was keeping hers on her person, never far from sight, and, better yet, close at hand to flaunt over those who hadn't been invited. "My daughter cannot go in that!"

Ella watched the lady point at the dress her daughter was modelling as if it were made of rags when nothing could be further from the truth. The fair green silk, embroidered with silver thread and adorned with thousands of seed pearls, was an artistic triumph. Ella and the two other a.s.sistants, Martha and Hazel, had all but worn their fingers to the bone to get the gown ready in time.