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They were silent for a moment or two, each
wondering what they should say. Somewhat to Edward's surprise, it
was Lady Caroline who broke the silence first.

"We are so very pleased your mother and you
could come to visit with us, your grace. My mother has been quite
beside herself with excitement." She smiled favouring him with a
charming, if formal smile.

"I am happy to do so, Lady Caroline," he
replied pleasantly. "I know my mother was very much looking forward
to it also."

More silence ensued. Edward usually had quite
a repertoire of conversation he could pull out when chit chatting
with members of Society. At the moment though, he did not feel like
it.

The silence was suddenly broken by a
ferocious shout coming from a clump of trees to their left as they
made their way toward the pond.

"Damnation Martin!" shouted the very loud,
very
female
voice. "I told you not to let it go."

Edward and Tom both stopped walking and
stared in amazement. For as much as the voice was loud and swearing
like a sailor, it was also very much the cultured voice of a
lady.

Another scream rent the air followed by the
shout of a young boy and suddenly a kite, being carried by the
stiff summer breeze floated out from the trees and right over the
lake, getting tangled in the up-stretched arm of one of the statues
flanking the pond.

So intent was Edward on the progress of the
kite, and on seeing who on earth was making such a racket, that he
paid little attention to whatever Lady Caroline was currently
mumbling. However, he distinctly heard the words 'warned', 'begged'
and, rather ominously, 'murder'.

Moments after the kite got itself good and
tangled, the trees rustled alarmingly and a young lady burst
through onto the path at a dead run.

Though she was moving far too quickly for
anything identifiable to be established, she was trailed by a shock
of chestnut hair flying out behind her. She came to a screeching
halt at the foot of the statue and, shielding her eyes from the
sun, peered up at it.

The trio was not close enough to see her
expression but they were definitely close enough to hear another
unladylike word spew from her mouth before she hitched her skirts
and began to climb the statue!

Edward and Tom shared a look of pure shock.
Lady Caroline had, at this point, buried her face in her hands.

None of them moved to help the young lady.
And she did not even glance their way. She leaned precariously and
stretched her hand upwards to try and untangle the string of the
kite, the tail of which was still trailing along the ground.

Edward, in the midst of the commotion, could
not help but notice that she had the body of a goddess. Shorter
than the woman beside him, her heavenly curves were very well
outlined by the material straining against her body as she reached.
Suddenly he found his mouth had gone unaccountably dry.

Her hair was magnificent and he found himself
struck with an intense desire to see her face. If it matched the
rest of her, he could honestly believe he was in the presence of a
goddess or perhaps one of the faery folk these lands were so famous
for.

Another shout snapped Edward's attention back
to the copse of trees as yet another figure bounded toward the
pond. This time, it was that of a young boy, maybe ten years old
and, by the brief glimpse of his clothing, the son of a staff
member.

He skidded to a halt as he looked up towards
the beautiful lady stretching with all her might, now leaning even
further and seeming a lot more unsteady.

Edward felt a sudden slam of fear in his
heart and started towards her, albeit at a slow pace. He did not
want to scare her into losing her footing by racing towards
her.

He chose not to examine the reason for this
acute fear for a total stranger's safety. He was just being a good
human being. That was all.

"My lady," the lad shouted in triumph,
"here's the tail. We can pull it free."

It all happened so quickly that there was
nothing Edward could do.

At the young boy's shout the young woman
turned towards him. She had obviously managed to untie the string
and was clutching it in her small hand.

As she yelled 'no,' the young boy picked up
the string and gave it a sharp tug.

For a few heart-stopping seconds she balanced
on top of the statue, her arms flailing about. The little boy,
realising what he had done, promptly let go of the string, the only
thing helping her even slightly to maintain her stance.

With another scream she lost balance and hit
the water of the pond with a huge splash.

The splash seemed to galvanise the little
group of spectators and they ran towards the pond, Edward leading
the way.

Now, Edward had had his fair share of
experience with women. Especially gently bred women. And, although
he could not imagine a single one of them ever being in the
position this young lady found herself in—running through woods,
chasing kites, climbing statues, he knew how the female psyche
worked.

He was fully prepared for the crying,
possibly wailing that was about to assail his ears. He suspected
there may be a touch of hysterics and could almost guarantee there
would be swooning.

This is what he expected. What he did not
expect was to find the fair maiden sitting in the middle of the
pond, covered in debris, soaked from head to toe… and laughing.
Genuinely chuckling until the tears rolled down her flawless
cheeks.

The little boy, Martin presumably, had joined
in and the pair of them laughed and laughed and gave no indication
that they realised they had company.

"Rebecca," Lady Caroline's sharp voice rang
out bringing an abrupt end to the merriment. There was a world of
disapproval, admonishment and anger in that tone.
Rather
impressive to have packed so much into one name,
Edward thought
distractedly.

The lady, Rebecca, turned incredibly big and
sinfully dark eyes toward Lady Caroline. Edward found he had to
gulp around his dry throat again.

"Caroline, how nice to see you," her voice
was warm and soft, terribly mischievous and made Edward think very
inappropriate thoughts.

"What in God's name are you doing?" Caroline
hissed. "Get out of there at once. Can you not see that we have
company?"

At Lady Caroline's word, the lady turned the
full force of her incredible eyes on Edward and Tom. Edward bit
back a gasp as the impact hit him in an area that had no business
feeling anything in broad daylight. He heard Tom's audible gasp and
imagined he suffered the same affliction. For some reason, this
irritated Edward.

"So we do." The young lady was speaking
again. And rather than sound upset, or scramble to her feet in
mortification, she grinned unapologetically at the two gentlemen.
"The Duke of Hartridge, I presume, and his cousin Mr. Crawdon?" She
spoke politely, for all the world like they were being introduced
in a drawing room or ballroom in London.

Tom, finally unable to contain his mirth,
burst into laughter, which he desperately tried to cover up as a
cough.

Lady Rebecca grinned even wider at Tom's
obvious amusement at the situation. Who was this woman? Edward had
never seen anything like it!

Lady Caroline stepped closer to the edge of
the pond, her back ramrod straight. "Get. Up," she hissed
menacingly through clenched teeth.

Lady Rebecca gave a defeated sigh and stood.
As she did so, the water gushed off her person. Edward found he had
to bite back a groan of pure, unadulterated lust. Her gown had
originally been white, he would hazard, but had now been turned a
slight shade of mud from the contents of the pond. The fact that it
was wet meant it clung to her form like a second skin.

As she stood there, dripping wet and futilely
wringing out her long tresses, Edward found he could only stare
like an immature adolescent. Never had he seen a body like hers.
Never had he seen the curves of a lady so well, who wasn't also
standing naked in front of him and preparing to make love.

The thought set his heart hammering and his
body stirring. It was terribly embarrassing but he could not bring
himself to care. There was a lump the size of a rock wedged in his
throat, and he could no more have looked away than he could have
plucked the sun from the sky.

"Must you be such a bore Caroline?" Lady
Rebecca asked, not a bit concerned with the other lady's
disapproval that was practically rolling off her rigid frame.

"I told you we were to have guests today,"
muttered Caroline in a frantic whisper. The gentlemen could still
hear her very well but neither one was much inclined to pay
attention at that particular time.

Lady Rebecca finally seemed to be taking in
the gravity of the situation. Her eyes travelled from Lady
Caroline's furious face to those of the two gentlemen who both
looked like they wanted to eat her alive.

She drew herself up to her full height and
inhaled a deep breath before speaking again. "I apologise, Caro,
really. I had quite forgotten the time." Her apology was met with
stony silence.

"Gentlemen," she continued turning slightly
towards them, "pray forgive my – er – less than proper appearance.
I assure you, I do not usually greet guests of my father in such a
fashion."

Her words snapped Edward out of his frankly
inappropriate daydream.

"You are Ranford's daughter?" he asked, and
was irritated to hear how husky his voice was.

"His youngest," the goddess confirmed. "Lady
Rebecca Carrington." She dipped into a curtsey worthy of any
daughter of a Peer, but since she was still standing in the middle
of the pond, it rather seemed a little late for propriety.

"A pleasure," he answered a little
dazedly.

"Ahem."

"Excuse me. My cousin, Mr. Crawdon." Edward
gestured behind him.

Tom stepped forward and gave a deep bow. "An
honour to meet you Lady Rebecca," he said, his eyes twinkling with
mirth.

Her responding smile felt like a punch to
Edward's abdomen and he suddenly wanted to pull her out of the pond
and shield her from Tom's appreciative eyes.

"Rebecca," snapped Caroline, a blush of
embarrassment rising in her cheeks, "please return to the house and
clean yourself up."

Lady Rebecca rolled her eyes slightly but
Edward caught it and could not bite back a slight grin. The chit
was incorrigible.

"Gentlemen, if you will excuse me," she said
with as much dignity as she could muster. Which wasn't a lot, given
the circumstances.

She trudged to the edge of the pond, her
progress slow due to the weight of the water on her dress. Edward
did not think he'd ever seen such a beautiful dress!

As she reached the edge and made to climb
over, he rushed to her assistance, almost knocking both Tom and
Lady Caroline to the ground and out of his way.

"Allow me," he said, extending his hand to
assist her.

Rebecca looked into his eyes and time seemed
to come to a sudden halt. He heard the breath hitch in her throat
and it was all he could do to prevent himself from pulling her
flush against him. Good God! What was the matter with him?

The air between them felt like it had been
struck by lightning. She placed her small hand in his and it felt
perfect. He could not resist rubbing his thumb along the delicate
palm. He watched as her lips parted and almost groaned aloud once
again.

Get a handle on yourself man!

He shook his head slightly to try to clear
the sensual haze surrounding them and stepped back so she could
climb over.

Her bonnet, he noticed was still tied at the
front, though it trailed down her back. For some reason he found it
incredibly endearing. She must have noticed his glance for she
reached back, which did nothing for his current state, and pulled
it forward again.

"Well," she said jovially, presumably trying
to salvage some propriety from the situation, "I shall be on my
way. Good afternoon Caro, gentlemen." She curtsied once again and
lifted her bonnet to replace it on her head.

And, of course, upon tipping it over to
replace it, proceeded to dump its contents all over herself.

She gasped in shock as the icy cold water
dripped down her head, and spluttered most becomingly as it hit her
face.

Lady Caroline groaned and dropped her face
into her hands once more. Tom, once again lost control of himself
and gave a shout of laughter.

Edward found himself biting his tongue enough
to taste blood to stop himself from laughing too.

Lady Rebecca swiped the excess water from her
eyes and shot them a rueful grin. Then, turning on her heel, she
trudged her way back up the garden and towards the house.

They heard the squelch of the water in her
boots until she had disappeared over the slight hill.

The silence she left behind with her
departure was deafening.

"Your grace," Lady Caroline stuttered the
words in the general direction of his chest, too mortified to look
him in the eye, "perhaps you would like to return to the
house."

It seemed they were not going to discuss the
surreal incident they had just witnessed. If he was honest though,
he could not think of a damned thing to say anyway.

So, throwing a quick look of complete
amazement towards Tom, who was looking thoroughly entertained, he
offered his arm to Lady Caroline. "I would indeed, my lady," he
answered, all politeness.

Edward had no idea what he had let himself in
for by coming here. But suddenly, he could not wait to find
out.