“She doesn’t know,” the earl said with a touch of pride, “and won’t hear of it.”
“Know what?” Daisy asked suspiciously, afraid she was being mocked.
“You’re lovely,” the earl said, “and Lee here was only saying that.”
“That, and that you’re charming and clever, too,” Leland said. “A rare combination, in any country.”
Daisy tossed her head. Compliments annoyed as much as flattered her. They came too easily to most men to impress her. But Geoff seemed sincere. She wouldn’t have trusted what the viscount said if he’d told her her name was Daisy.
“Let’s move on,” Leland said in amusement, as though he knew what she was thinking. “Mrs. Tanner wouldn’t believe me if I told her she was standing on this path. And we must move smartly now because night’s falling, and the fireworks will soon be rising.”
Daisy put her hand on the earl’s arm and walked at his side again, just as she had in her dreams all the way to England. But now she couldn’t ignore the man who walked behind them. She wished she could. His presence addled her. When he was pleased, he was as easy to talk with as any female, and fun to be with. But now that she knew he liked women, he also made her feel like one-toward him. That alarmed her.
“Go toward that enormous tree straight ahead,” Leland said, “then down the lane to the left. It’s dimly lit and keeps turning, but keep on and we’ll be at the lake. The reflections in the water will make the fireworks look even more spectacular; the torchlight everywhere else will ruin the view. I know they don’t light up the sky, but they diminish the effect. It won’t be as crowded there, either, if anyone’s there at all. The lane doesn’t look as though it goes anywhere, but it leads straight to the water’s edge.”
“Trust you,” the earl said. “I wouldn’t have thought of it, but of course you’re right. How do you know about it?”
“I live in London,” Leland said simply.
“Yes, but I can’t picture you roaming the parks at night. I thought you spent most of your time with the ton, at balls and the theater and such, or at private parties. How do you know so much about good places to see fireworks?”
“I don’t spend all my time at high-minded or expensive activities. Some of the best treats are the most common ones.”
The earl laughed. “Lord, talk about common! How do you make the most common things sound salacious?”
“It’s his talent,” Daffyd said. “Close your ears, Daisy. Pardon him, Mrs. Masters. I don’t know how he does it, either. But he can make a butterfly sound lewd if he tries.”
“Butterflies are salacious creatures,” Leland said mildly. “All that flitting from flower to flower, pouncing on a beauty, staying on long enough to sip sweet nectar, then flying away to a brighter blossom? Don’t get me started or I’ll make poor Mrs. Masters blush.”
Helena laughed. “I didn’t know you studied insects, my lord,” she said.
“He knows everything,” Daffyd said. “Or so he wants you to think.”
“Well, maybe he does. Would you look at this?” the earl exclaimed.
They’d come to the end of the lane and found themselves standing on a closely cropped lawn that looked out over the lake. The view across the water was clear, or would be if there was anything to see. Twilight had finally ceded to nightfall, and it was a dark, starry night. The moon was a sickle; the only light came from torches across the lake and their mirrored reflections dancing on the water. The only sounds were those of far-off music drifting on the air.
“Lee, my hat’s off to you,” the earl said with admiration. “This is the best place to see fireworks in all of London, I think.”
“No,” Leland said. “The view from the balcony in back of the palace is perfect, marred only by the host. It’s difficult to watch fireworks or anything else from there because Prinny hates attention being paid to anything but him. So. Everyone comfortable? There’s only one bench, and we’ll have to wipe off the dew to spare the ladies’ gowns, but at least no one is occupying it. Ladies?”
“I’d rather stand,” Daisy said. And then, as a comet suddenly launched from the earth across the lake and soared up to splinter into golden pieces high in the sky, she clapped her hands and cried, “Oh! Look!”
Soon, silver shells were bursting in air, and green ones, scarlet and blue, some thumping and pounding like artillery, some screaming as they ascended before they burst into sparks and flowers and sizzling spinning wheels high in the sky overhead. The night was shattered with explosions of light, and the dark lake below glittered, echoing the spectacle.
Daisy was thrilled. Her upturned face was rapt. At one point, each of the three men was looking at her when they noticed the others doing the same, and they couldn’t help exchanging small secret smiles of pleasure at her obvious enjoyment.
The last shell had exploded and its sparkling lights long since faded into the blue haze of gunpowder that hung in the air before anyone spoke again.
“That,” Daisy said with enormous satisfaction, “was worth the price of admission.”
“It was free,” Leland reminded her.
“Not for me,” she said. “I had to travel across an ocean, and I’d sworn never to set foot on a ship again. But that made it worthwhile. Well. Thank you, gentlemen. When are they doing this again?”
“We’ll find out, and go,” the earl promised her, laughing.
“Good,” she said.
Leland raised an eyebrow, and then exchanged a look with Daffyd.
“I can’t,” Daffyd said, “I’m going home tomorrow. Fireworks are fine, but my Meg’s finer to my eyes. When you come visit us, Daisy, I’ll order up some for you. Until then, you’re on your own.”
“Not at all,” the earl exclaimed, “She’ll see more. Spectacles are common in the summer in London.”
“Oh,” Daffyd said. “So, you’re going to skip your usual trip to Egremont, stay on in London for the summer, and be her constant companion here, are you, Geoff?”
There was a significant silence, and then the earl smiled down at Daisy. “Why not? Does that suit you, my dear?”
“Oh yes,” she breathed.
“Lovely,” Leland remarked sourly to Daffyd when they reached the main road again, and Helena Masters had thanked him and went to stand by her charge. “That’s set the seal on it. Well done. Or was it quite enough, I wonder? Maybe you’d prefer to come right out and say, ‘She’s all alone, will you protect this beautiful, vulnerable creature forever, Geoff?’ ”
“Damn,” Daffyd said. “I just wanted to know. Suppose I could have been more subtle. Well, what can you do?”
“You, my dear little brother, nothing. But I’ll continue to try. Her getting Geoff is like trapping a fish in a barrel. The man’s lonely, and she’s done everything but move in on him. I’ll be here to find out why and perhaps prevent that from happening.”
“For his sake?” Daffyd asked.
He got no answer.
The earl paused at the end of the lane, at the edge of the crowded road. “Here we are in the thick of things again,” he said. “What a mob. Shall we wait, and have an ice or some such?” he asked Daisy. “That way we can let those in this crowd who are bent on leaving right away do so. Most of them have to work tomorrow morning; we don’t. We can let them go first if you’d like. My carriage is waiting. We don’t need to hurry.”
People crowded the paths, moving forward like a living river, the crowd surging toward the exits to the park. Daisy hated being jammed in with a crowd. Anyone who’d been in Newgate prison would feel the same. She looked up at the earl. But before she could answer, she saw movement from the corner of her eye. The viscount came lunging toward her. She gasped and shrank back.