Serena

“What of my friend, ol’ Fritz. How does he go on these days …?” her uncle asked him.

“Ah, I am only acquainted with him because my father was his friend. I regrettably lost touch after I lost my father, some years ago. I have, however, heard that he is well.”

Davis, their butler, returned with a large tray and announced, “Lord Frederick Radburn and Sir Jasper Tucker.”

Serena turned to see the two gentlemen follow Davis through the door and into the room.

The squire looked at her with a sharp grin and remarked, “Well, well, m’girl, well, well.”

She wanted to stick her tongue out at him but managed to curb herself. Instead she gave him a warning glare. She made the necessary greetings and turned to find his lordship watching her. Something in his eyes made the blood rush to her cheeks.

Serena immediately turned to Freddy as she tried to regain her composure and asked, “Freddy, have you been to the kennel this morning? Have I won my wager?” She saw out of the corner of her eye that his lordship frowned. Now what, she wondered. What can be wrong in that?

Freddy laughed. “I have, and no, you haven’t won. Sir Newton says she won’t have those pups before tomorrow night.”

“Well, as to that, ask Sir Newton how many times I have called it and he has not,” she bantered.

“Oh no, come with me, Serena, and we’ll put the question to Sir Newton together, for you have a stouter heart than I.” Freddy laughed. “If I told him that, he would blast me from here to London.”

Sir Jasper angled himself into position to talk to Serena, and Freddy amiably turned to his uncle and said, “Uncle Daniel, why didn’t you tell me you were coming here? We could have kept one another company and ridden together.”

Serena heard the suspicion in Freddy’s tone and wondered at it, but his lordship released a short laugh and said, “As to that, my boy, you were off early this morning, before I came down for breakfast, in fact. I was sure, however, that I would meet you here.”

Freddy appeared mollified by this, but Serena could not stop herself from casting a look towards his lordship, for there had been something in his voice that made her wonder. She turned her attention back to Sir Jasper and laughed as he had begun reciting a verse from Byron while waving his hand in her direction. “She walks in beauty like the night …”

Serena objected with a laugh, “Oh no … no, Sir Jasper. Byron meant that piece for a dark-haired woman. You are quite out likening it to me.”

Once again, Davis arrived at the open double doors, this

time to announce, “Mr. Warren Beverly.”

“Egad!” Warren exclaimed as he walked into the morning room full of eligible bachelors. His bright, amused eyes and his warm smile were all for Serena. “Serena, love, what are you doing? Holding court?”

She giggled and told him soundly not to be nonsensical. He went directly to her uncle and touched the elderly man’s shoulder. “Squire. Up and about, are we? I am glad of it. You look a sight better than you did a few days ago. ’Tis time you got back into the way of things, for this wayward niece of yours needs some managing, you know.”

“Slander does not become you, Warren,” Serena bantered good-naturedly.

“Manage Serena? Ha,” said her uncle.

His lordship, Serena noticed, stood back, his hands clasped at his back, his legs wide apart, and she felt her eyes get lazy. What was wrong with her? Why did he have such an effect on her?

Davis returned, and this time there was no mistaking the weariness of his tone. “Mr. Eustace Bailey.”

“Hell and damnation!” Warren remarked warmly. “Doesn’t he have ministering angels and such to attend to?”

“Warren, shush,” Serena admonished.

She felt Daniel Pendleton at her side, so very near she thought if she wasn’t careful she might find herself in his arms. He leaned in close to her ear and whispered, “Why, Miss Moorely, you have a selection of bachelors all hovering for your favors. Tell me, which one will you pick?”

“Ah,” she answered, taking it merely as a tease. “That is precisely what my uncle wishes to know.”

“Does he? He is a good man. I quite like him. So, you won’t even tell him?”

“I told him that none of the gentlemen you see before you are meant for me … and I have not allowed them to think that I am for them.”

“Not up to your standards?” he said dryly.

Something in his tone went right through her, and she felt a pin prick her heart. “Standards? What nonsense is that? I have but one requirement, and although a knight in shining armor would be very nice indeed, all I require is that the man I choose will be the man who wins my heart, even as I have won his.”