“Oh!” Mrs. Royle stopped and whirled around so suddenly that Honoria nearly crashed into her. “I forgot to tell Cecily!"

“Tell her what?” Honoria asked, but Mrs. Royle was already six steps down the hall, summoning a maid. When she returned, she said, “It is very important that she wear blue this afternoon. I have heard that it is the favorite color of two of our guests."

How she had determined that Honoria could not begin to guess.

“And it complements her eyes,” Mrs. Royle added.

“Cecily has lovely eyes,” Honoria agreed.

Mrs. Royle looked at her with a queer expression, then said, “You should consider wearing blue more often, too. It will make your eyes look less uncommon."

“I’m fond of my eyes,” Honoria said with a smile.

Mrs. Royle’s lips pressed together. “The color is very unusual."

“It’s a family trait. My brother’s are the same."

“Ah, yes, your brother.” Mrs. Royle sighed. “Such a pity."

Honoria nodded. Three years ago she would have taken offense at the comment, but she was less impetuous now, more pragmatic.

And besides, it was true. It was a pity. “We hope he may return someday."

Mrs. Royle snorted. “Not until Ramsgate dies. I have known him since he was in leading strings, and he’s as stubborn as an ass."

Honoria blinked at that. Such plain speaking from Mrs. Royle was unexpected.

“Well,” Mrs. Royle said with a sigh, “there is nothing I can do about it, more’s the pity. Now then, Cook is making individual trifles for dessert, with strawberries and vanilla cream."

“That is a wonderful idea,” Honoria said, having by now figured out that her job was to agree with Mrs. Royle whenever possible.

“Perhaps she should bake biscuits, too,” Mrs. Royle said with a frown. “She does quite a good job with them, and the gentlemen will be very hungry. Shooting is quite strenuous."

Honoria had long thought that the sport of shooting was far more strenuous for the birds than the humans, but this she kept to herself. Still, she could not help saying, “Isn’t it interesting they went shooting this morning instead of to church?"

“It is not my place to tell young gentlemen how to conduct their lives,” Mrs. Royle said primly. “Unless they are my sons, in which case, they must do as I say at all times."

Honoria tried to detect irony in the statement but could find none, so she simply nodded. She had a feeling that Cecily’s future husband would be included in the “must do as I say” group.

She hoped the poor man—whoever he might turn out to be— knew what he was getting into. Daniel had once told her that the best advice he’d ever received on the subject of marriage had come (unsolicited, of course) from Lady Danbury, a terrifying old dowager who seemed to enjoy giving advice to anyone who would listen.

And quite a few who didn’t listen, either.

But apparently Daniel had taken her words to heart, or at the very least committed them to memory. And that was that a man should understand that when he married, he was marrying his mother-in-law just as much as he was marrying his bride.

Well, almost as much. Daniel had laughed slyly as he’d added his own postscript. Honoria had just looked at him blankly, which had made him laugh all the more.

He really was a wretch sometimes. Still, she missed him.

But in truth, Mrs. Royle wasn’t that bad. She was simply determined, and Honoria knew from experience that determined mothers were a fearsome lot. Her own mother had once been determined. Her sisters still told stories of their days as young unmarried ladies, when their mother had been as ambitious a parent as the ton had ever seen. Margaret, Henrietta, Lydia, and Charlotte Smythe-Smith had been outfitted in the very best of clothing, had always been seen in the right places at the right times, and they had all married well. Not brilliantly, but well. And they’d all managed to do it in two seasons or less.

Honoria, on the other hand, saw season three looming ahead, and her mother’s interest in seeing her well-settled was tepid at best. It wasn’t that she didn’t want Honoria to marry; rather, she just couldn’t bring herself to care overmuch.

She hadn’t cared overmuch about anything after Daniel had left the country.

So if Mrs. Royle ran about cooking extra sweets and forcing her daughter to change gowns based upon something she might have overheard about someone’s favorite color, she was doing it out of love, and Honoria could never fault her for that.

“You’re a dear to help me with the preparations,” Mrs. Royle said, giving Honoria a pat on the arm. “All tasks are made easier with an extra pair of hands, that is what my mother always told me."

Honoria rather thought she was providing an extra set of ears, not hands, but she murmured her thanks nonetheless and followed Mrs. Royle to the garden, where she wished to supervise the picnic arrangements.

“I think Mr. Bridgerton has been looking rather keenly at my Cecily,” Mrs. Royle said, stepping out into the not-quite-sunshine.

“Don’t you?"

“I had not noticed,” Honoria said. She hadn’t noticed, but drat it all, had he?

“Oh, yes,” Mrs. Royle said, quite definitively, “at supper last night. He was smiling most broadly.” Honoria cleared her throat. “He’s a rather smiling sort of gentleman.” “Yes, but he was smiling differently.” “I suppose.” Honoria squinted up at the sky. Clouds were rolling in. It didn’t quite look like rain, though.

“Yes, I know,” Mrs. Royle said, following Honoria’s gaze and misinterpreting the reason for it. “It is not quite as sunny as it was this morning. I do hope the weather holds for the picnic."

And for at least two hours thereafter, Honoria hoped. She had plans. Plans which—she looked about; they were in the garden, after all—required a shovel.

“It will be such a tragedy if we have to move indoors,” Mrs.

Royle continued. “One could hardly call it a picnic in such a case."

Honoria nodded absently, still analyzing the clouds. There was one that was a bit more gray than the rest, but was it drifting toward or away?

“Well, I suppose there is nothing I can do but wait and see,” Mrs. Royle said. “And no true harm done. A gentleman is just as likely to fall in love indoors as out, and if Mr. Bridgerton does have his eye on Cecily, at least she will be able to impress him at the pianoforte.” “Sarah is quite accomplished as well,” Honoria remarked.

Mrs. Royle actually stopped and turned. “She is?"

Honoria wasn’t surprised that Mrs. Royle sounded surprised.

She knew for a fact that she had attended last year’s musicale.

“We probably won’t be inside, anyway,” Mrs. Royle went on before Honoria could comment further. “The sky doesn’t look so terribly ominous. Hmmph. I suppose I must admit that I had been hoping Mr. Bridgerton might take an interest in Cecily—oh, I do hope that maid catches her in time to get out the blue dress; she’ll be cross if she has to change—but of course Lord Chatteris would be even more exciting."

Alarmed, Honoria spun back around to face her. “But he’s not coming."

“No, of course not, but he is our neighbor. And as Cecily said the other day, this means that he will dance with her in London, and one must seize one’s opportunities where one can."

“Yes, of course, but—"

“He does not bestow his favor on many young ladies,” Mrs.

Royle said proudly. “You, I suppose, due to your prior connection, and maybe one or two others. It will make it easier for her to capture his attention. This way, Lady Honoria,” she said, motioning toward a row of flower arrangements on a nearby table. “And besides,” she added, “our property is like a little bite out of his.

Surely, he’ll want it."

Honoria cleared her throat, not at all certain how to respond.

“Not that we could give it all to him,” Mrs. Royle continued.

“None of it is entailed, but I couldn’t possibly slight Georgie that way."

“Georgie?"

“My eldest son.” She turned to Honoria with an assessing eye, then waved her hand through the air. “No, you’re too old for him.

Pity."

Honoria decided there could not possibly be an appropriate reply to that.

“We could add a few acres to Cecily’s dowry, though,” Mrs.

Royle said. “It would be worth it, to have a countess in the family."

“I’m not sure he’s looking for a wife just yet,” Honoria ventured.

“Nonsense. Every unmarried man is looking for a wife. They just don’t always know it."

Honoria managed a small smile. “I shall be sure to remember that.” Mrs. Royle turned and gave Honoria a close look. “You should,” she finally said, apparently having decided that Honoria was not mocking her. “Ah, here we are. What do you think of these flower arrangements? Are they a bit too heavy on the crocuses?"

“I think they’re beautiful,” Honoria said, admiring the lavender ones in particular. “Besides, it is still so early in the spring. Crocuses are what is in bloom."

Mrs. Royle let out a heavy sigh. “I suppose. But I find them rather common myself."

Honoria smiled dreamily and trailed her fingers across the petals.

Something about the crocuses made her feel utterly content. “I prefer to think of them as pastoral.” Mrs. Royle cocked her head to the side, considered Honoria’s comment, and then must have decided it required no response, because she straightened and said, “I think I will ask Cook to make biscuits."

“Would it be acceptable if I remained here?” Honoria asked quickly. “I rather enjoy arranging flowers."