"Sir Charles! Aren't you listening?" Lavinia demanded from beside him, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"I apologize, Miss Croft," he conceded with a nod, "The weather has set me in the mood for hunting, I was simply considering a trip this afternoon," he finished.

In truth his eyes were following a maid's figure as she and a few others set up picnic in the conservatory. She was laughing with them over some joke he would never hear, but seriously wanted to know. Lavinia had cornered him into giving her and Leticia a tour of the house, and they had only just stumbled on the luncheon preparations.

"Oh that sounds delightful!" Lavinia squealed, and Charles could not recall what was supposed to be so delightful, but he found himself most distracted by a strand of golden hair that had fallen across Sarah's forehead as she worked. His fingers itched to brush it out of her eyes...

"What sounds delightful?" Leticia's voice called him back again to his present company.

"A hunt! Sir Charles has proposed a hunt this very afternoon," Lavinia was replying, "We shall all go, how fun that will be!"

Charles felt his stomach clench. A hunt would mean his time with Sarah would be cut short. She glanced her direction again as she worked. How could a housemaid keep him so bound to her that even a few hours away felt like a sacrifice?

"Do you think Miss Amelia would like to go hunting? Oh! Let us go and tell the others," Lavinia urged him, attempting to drag him back to the crush of guests that lumbered about the house this morning.

Charles looked once more behind him but Sarah had gone. It didn't stop him from comparing her to the woman hanging from his arm. Lavinia was a beauty, it might've been a wonder that she had not yet married as she had just completed a third season in London. But Lavinia had expensive taste in suitors, and it was well known she'd been in search of a title all along. Charles had merely fit the qualifications.

"Sir Charles!" someone called, and he turned to see Ralph, one of the footmen running towards him.

"What is it?" he demanded shaking Lavinia off and meeting Ralph in the corridor.

"Lady Eleanor requests your presence immediately, sir," the footman reported, but the look on his face indicated a more dire situation than his formality would suggest. Charles followed him to the Front Hall, leaving Lavinia and Leticia behind.