Feeling oddly relieved, she decided to take a circuitous route to the river. She had no desire to be caught spying. This clandestine affair was none of her concern.

As she started to retreat, however, her shoes crunched on the dry leaves and the couple sprang apart. They both turned to gape goggle-eyed at Natalie. The man reached inside his fine coat and drew out a sheaf of papers, which he furtively handed to Lady Ellen. Then he absconded at a swift pace into the forest, heading in the opposite direction from the house.

Lady Ellen stuffed the papers inside her pelisse. Her straw bonnet hung by its strings behind her neck, and she quickly drew it up over her head and retied it as she came hurrying toward Natalie.

“Miss Fanshawe! I daresay you’re wondering who that was. Mr. Runyon is one of our neighbors.”

“He appeared to be more than just that,” Natalie said dryly.

“Well … he’s besotted with me.” A charming flush on her cheeks, Lady Ellen let her fingers flutter over the paper corner that protruded from her pelisse. “He writes the most marvelous poetry. He thinks I have eyes like glowing sapphires and skin like sun-kissed cream.”

“I see.” Natalie bit back a smile. It sounded precisely the sort of atrocious verse that would appeal to a green girl. “I thought you wanted to enjoy your first season unencumbered by a fiancé.”

“But I do! I’ve no intention of accepting Mr. Runyon’s offer of marriage.” She clasped her hands to her bosom and twirled, her skirts swaying around her trim ankles. “It’s just so lovely to have admirers. Mr. Runyon is going to London next week, too, with his family. We shall dance together at every ball.”

“Then perhaps you should wait until then to see him again, when you can be properly chaperoned. I can’t imagine your parents would approve of you two having assignations in the woods.”

The girl demurely lowered her gaze. “Yes, Miss Fanshawe.”

Natalie wondered if Lady Ellen’s word was to be trusted, but she had problems of her own to solve. “By the way, did you happen to see Leo out here in the woods? He left the nursery and I thought he might have come down to the river.”

“Oh, he didn’t. Earlier, I saw him heading toward the stables.”

The stables! That made sense, considering he’d taken his toy cavalryman. “He must have gone to look at the horses. Shall we walk back together?”

Lady Ellen made no objection, falling into step beside Natalie. “You won’t tell Papa, will you?” she said a trifle anxiously. “About Mr. Runyon, I mean.”

“I see no reason to be a tattletale. But is he really so ineligible that you must meet him in secret?”

“He’s merely the third son of a baron. Oh, Papa will be furious if he learns about this. He and Mama want a grand title for me.”

Though unwilling to encourage the girl to further misbehaviors, Natalie felt compelled to say, “If you love a man, then perhaps rank and money oughtn’t matter quite so much.”