Page 26 of Watching the Earl

“And I’m guessing, but I believe your favorite color is green.”

“Why yes, it is. Truly, you’re very observant.”

Actually, he wasn’t, but both were so obvious that it had taken little to make the deduction. “Tell me, do you enjoy the Season or do you prefer to study your birds?”

“I do believe I like both equally. I enjoy the Season because I love to dance and be with my friends. I enjoy the rest of the year to walk the woods and observe bird behavior. And when it’s very cold, I do love to skate, though I’m better with speed than with turns and such.”

Her face became animated with her conversation, but not in a nervous way, as it had on the settee. That told him his hope of asking more serious, more intimate questions might have to wait.

“What of you, Lord Durham? I noticed you chose cinnamon ice cream at Monsieur Armand’s. Is that your favorite food?”

“I have never contemplated my favorite food. But I do admit, as for ice cream, cinnamon is my favorite. I’m quite taken with rout cakes, if I consider only desserts.”

“That is good to know. I don’t think your favorite color is blue. You don’t wear it often. Your favorite color could be yellow, but again, you couldn’t wear it, though I don’t think it is. You prefer more somber colors such as black and gray.”

Did he? “I haven’t given much thought to a particular color.”

She nodded as if she’d expected as much. “What I don’t know is what your interests are—besides gambling, of course. I know little of that, so I suppose it’s just as well you no longer do so. But beyond that pastime, are there other—”

“Your tea, my lady.” The butler walked in and set the tray on the table. In addition to the teacups and tea was a plate of marzipan.

“Oh my, I almost forgot.” Quickly, she moved around the chair she’d stood behind and sat.

Philip took the chair next to her, watching as she expertly poured the tea. “I take it black.”

She lifted the filled teacup and handed it to him. “And now I know something else about you.”

He gave her a smile. “Indeed you do. And how do you take yours?”

“I have a liking for sweets. I take mine with extra sugar.” She stirred her tea before taking a sip. “Please, have a marzipan.”

To be polite, he took one of the bird-shaped treats, though they were not something he would normally eat.

“Tell me, Lord Durham, before you came upon difficult times, were you courting anyone?”

Her question surprised him. “No, I was not. I had not thought about having a wife yet.”

“So you’re not truly ready for marriage, then.”

Her disappointment was obvious. “In fact, I am. I inherited my title three years ago, and it is time I started a family.”

Lady Georgina’s hand came up and she pulled on her left ear. It was an action she’d done earlier. “Of course. You will need a son to carry on your line.”

“Yes. I hope you also want children.”

She set down her teacup and stared at it as her right hand squeezed her dress skirts. “If I have children, I will never be unkind to them.”

There was more to her statement than simply what she said. He could guess the reason. Lady Edgerton appeared to quite dislike her youngest child. “Would you send them to school or have a tutor?”

Her gaze snapped to his. “I’d like to have a tutor for them, though like Ellie—I mean, Lady Ferncroft—I’d also like to teach them about the subjects I know.”

He felt much more comfortable with the turn the conversation had taken. “And what subjects would you like to teach them?”

“Of course I’d teach my children about birds, but I also enjoy history and a few of the sciences, like biology. I know a bit about agriculture, but I’m sure you would teach your son that.”

He was surprised by that, particularly her final statement. “Our son.”

She paused as she lifted her teacup. “Yes, I guess that would be true. But are not men much more likely to call sons theirs, and daughters are their mothers’?”