Page 33 of The Secret Suitor

Each person rolled their wheels, keeping an eye on their cheese. Helena’s only made it a few feet before falling flat. Miss Stroud’s wheel veered drastically, bypassing Helena’s and Charles’s cheese and hurtling toward Millie’s with purpose. It slammed into her wheel, toppling both to the ground.

Wesley’s cheese rolled to a stop beyond them, but was barely overtaken by Charles’s cheese.

“We have a winner!”

“Well done, darling,” Helena said, pressing a kiss to her husband’s cheek.

Everyone clapped for Charles, including Miss Stroud, who would not meet Millie’s eye. Had she intentionally taken Millie out of the game, or had she been as awful at aiming the first time she had played as well?

Charles retrieved his prize cheese as the man running the game collected the rest of the wheels from the grass.

“I thought you might win,” Wesley said, clapping Charles on the back. “You proved the other evening how well you can aim.”

“Not in everything.” Charles laughed. “Challenge me at the ring toss and you will certainly win.”

“How did you prove your ability to roll a cheese wheel the other night?” Millie asked her brother-in-law. “That is an oddly specific skill.”

“We played billiards,” he explained.

“And Charles won by a considerable margin.” Wesley grinned. “Perhaps I will challenge you to the ring toss, after all. I need to redeem myself.”

“Shall we?” Charles asked his wife. “Are you feeling up to it?”

Helena took her husband’s arm, inhaling. “This fresh air has done me well.”

Miss Stroud stood beside her brother, listening to the conversation. Wesley must have noted their presence at the same time as Millie did, because he cleared his throat, looking at them. “Would you care to join us?”

“We would love to,” Miss Stroud said without waiting for her brother to respond. The group began to move toward the other game.

Millie fell in step beside Mr. Stroud, who clung to his wheel of cheese like it was a beacon of victory.

“Have you enjoyed the fete, Mr. Stroud?” she asked.

He considered the question. “It would be more enjoyable if the weather was warmer.” He looked into the sky, frowning.

They walked in silence. Millie wondered how she might put him to the test. She wanted to ask him directly about the notes, but if he did not write them, it would not do to spread the rumor that she was receiving correspondence from a man.

When Mr. Stroud looked at Millie, he wore a somewhat hopeful expression that made her doubt herself.

Perhaps she did not want to know if the letters were from him, after all.

Chapter Eleven

When their small party, consisting of the Hollis women, Charles, Nell, and Wesley, arrived back at Bellthorne Hall after visiting the village fete, they went directly to the dining room in search of the meal that had been prepared ahead of time, since the servants had been given the day off. A spread of sliced cold ham, rolls, apples, cheese, and wine covered the sideboard, with plates and goblets at their disposal.

Wesley looked at the offerings as his stomach rumbled, signaling how long it had been since he had eaten breakfast. The cake he had shared with his sister after winning the ring toss had been delightful, but it had not sustained him.

The only thing at the sideboard that did not please him was Mr. Kendrick, who was already filling a plate as the group entered the dining room, much to Wesley’s dismay. The man waited until Millie held her plate of dinner, then claimed a seat directly beside her at the table. Was Mr. Kendrick unsatisfied with his position beside her at dinner every evening? He needed to commandeer her attention the one night they were free to sit where they wished as well?

Wesley was last to reach the sideboard. He crossly filled his plate, piling on cuts of ham and making room for an additional roll. When he searched the table for the best available empty seat, he found nothing in the vicinity of Millie. He did not need to sit beside her, but while they had spent the majority of the day together at the fete, he had not had very much time with her in particular. After Miss Stroud and her brother joined them at the cheese roll, she had not left Wesley’s side until they separated to find their own carriages back to the house.

Wesley started for the empty seat beside Nell, where he settled himself directly across from Mr. Kendrick, Millie just beside him.

Helena rose, pushing her plate away as though she could no longer look at her meal. “I think I need to lie down.”

“I will bring your food in case you become hungry, darling,” Charles said, rising beside his wife and loading everything from Helena’s plate to his, which he carried with him.

“We will return in an hour or so,” Helena told Millie. Her pale face was drawn, and the toll of the day was evident in her exhaustion. If he had not known she was with child, Wesley would have assumed her quite ill.