Basil, although I have never heard of one in a lake like that. Or it might be something of even more interest. They have artificial islands in Scotland called crannogs which seem to have been made by early man, but I have never heard of them in England.’ She made herself glance at Will, who was regarding her with what looked like barely controlled exasperation. ‘I do not suppose...’
‘You wish to visit the island, Miss Wingate?’
‘I would very much appreciate it, Your Grace. Perhaps one of your grounds staff might row me.’ The anger was like acid in her stomach and it was an effort to keep it from showing in her voice. Whatever he might think of her, she was not going to argue with him here.
His manners were too good to permit him to look anything but delighted at the idea before the children. ‘Shall we go now? I must check the boat first, of course.’ He turned to his siblings. ‘No, you may not come. Miss Wingate does not want to listen to your arguments over who can fit in the boat and who must stay behind. Please inform Peplow and Mr Hoskins of our whereabouts.’
They walked in silence down the slope of the lawn. Will stopped abruptly and gestured to the left where the lake came into view, curving away around the slope of the wooded hillside.
Someone had to break this silence and either apologise or pretend that the sudden eruption of anger and dislike between them had never happened. She was a lady, whatever he might think of her getting her hands dirty and using her brain, and she was not going to allow him to push her into behaving any other way. ‘My goodness, but it is so much larger than I imagined,’ she said brightly. From the corner of her eye she could see Will glance at her, but she pressed on. ‘How very picturesque it is.’ Verity stopped, pretending to shade her eyes and admire the view so she did not have to look at him. ‘Is it natural? I cannot see an island.’
Will cleared his throat. ‘The River Stane runs through the valley and apparently there was originally a series of large ponds with boggy areas between. A dam was built in 1760, where the valley narrows between two outcrops, and they allowed the valley to flood. The island is out of sight around that headland and I have not had time to go and look at it from the shore, and certainly not from a boat,’ he added grimly. Then, as though he could not manage to maintain the stilted tone he added, ‘I shudder to think what Basil considers is safe, the wretched thing is probably full of rot.’ It seemed they were going to pretend that nothing had happened.
With a turn of the path they could see the boathouse, a charming wooden structure clearly designed to be an eye-catcher in the landscape. The door, when Will tried it, was held closed with a length of string and the lock no longer worked.
‘They did say they had hardly broken the lock,’ Verity murmured, surreptitiously kicking a few splinters of wood away into the nettles.
Will narrowed his eyes at her. ‘I suppose you find the brats amusing,’ he said as he swung the door open. ‘Stay here, the floor may be rotten.’
‘I find your brothers and sisters charming and intelligent,’ Verity retorted, following close behind and ignoring the muffled snort from Will. ‘And admirably unstuffy.’
‘I suppose I may know how to take that,’ he observed as they looked around the shadowy interior.
‘I am certain you may.’ She counted to ten, then forced herself to say, ‘I mean that they are a breath of fresh air.’ Go on, offer an olive branch. ‘I apologise if you took it any other way.’
‘Indeed? That is very gracious of you under the circumstances.’
‘I want to get to that island,’ Verity retorted, good intentions evaporating. ‘And if we are to spend the afternoon in the boathouse quarrelling, I doubt I will achieve that.’
‘If we are to reach the island, this appears to be the only available boat,’ Will said, ignoring the latter part of her remark. He studied the large rowing boat bobbing at the end of its mooring line. ‘It looks dry enough. I will take it out into the open so I can check it over more closely. Perhaps you could join me outside?’
I think I have just been reprimanded for unladylike behaviour again, Verity thought as she let herself out into the sunshine again. If I push him into the lake I wonder if I will be able to row...
It was a very tempting fantasy.
There was the sound of faint splashing and the boat appeared from the end of the boathouse, Will rowing with what, to her ignorant gaze, seemed considerable skill. He had not, of course, removed either coat or hat.
‘It appears to be perfectly sound. Are you able to step in from that flat rock to your right, Miss Wingate?’
Verity balanced, teetered, told herself not to be feeble about being trapped in a small vessel with a man who had made it very clear that he despised her and managed to step into the boat without wetting either her feet or her hem. She sat down as quickly as possible and gathered her skirts around her legs. ‘There is nothing to steer with.’
‘I do that with the oars,’ he said, digging them in for the first stoke.
‘Backwards?’
‘Yes. You direct me and I look over my shoulder from time to time.’
‘Oh. I see. Do you not feel you would be able to row more comfortably if you were to remove your hat and coat? Oh, really, do not poker up at me like that. We have established that I am unfit to call myself a gentlewoman and, I assure you, I have seen a gentleman in shirtsleeves before without fainting.’
Will gave her the look that she was beginning to realise meant that he could think of nothing polite to say, but he laid his hat on the bottom of the boat behind him. ‘I really do not think—’
Verity held out her hand. ‘You are not required to. I will fold your coat carefully over my knees so it does not get creased or splashed.’
Oh, dear, now I’ve mentioned knees. How shocking of me.
She produced a smirk that she hoped conveyed sarcasm and gazed innocently back into suspicious blue eyes.
There was a momentary tussle of wills, then the ducal raiment was removed, not without difficulty. The boat rocked alarmingly. Verity took the coat, folded it meticulously and waited until Will had begun rowing again before she looked up.