"You know that I am looking." She turned her gaze back to the orchid. "Which means you will be impossible to draw."
Richard said nothing, but as he moved away to attend to another guest, Marian felt the distinct, unexpected spark of a new desire: she wanted to prove herself wrong. She wanted to discover if she could capture that spontaneous, unguarded man again, even now that he was fully aware of her.
The opportunity presented itself the following afternoon during a collective walk through the estate's extensive gardens. The party stretched out along the gravel paths in shifting groups. Marian walked near the edge of the assembly, her sketchbook tucked securely under her arm.
She did not look for Richard, but she felt the exact moment he fell into step beside her. He navigated the social geography so smoothly that no one seemed to notice he had deliberately sought her out.
"Am I being drawn?" he asked casually, his gaze fixed on the ornamental fountain ahead.
"No," Marian said without missing a beat.
"Why not?"
"Because now you are performing."
Richard let out a sudden, genuine laugh. Instantly, Marian lowered her gaze to her sketchbook, her fingers brushing the cover. Richard saw the movement; the laugh vanished, immediately replaced by a conscious, controlled stillness.
Marian looked up and smiled triumphantly. "Exactly."
A silent, electric game was born between them on the gravel path. Richard tried to act normally, attempting to ignore the weight of her observation. Marian tried to catch him in a moment of genuine spontaneity. But the more they tried to ignore their awareness of one another, the more intensely conscious of it they became.
The conversation drifted naturally away from the sketchbook. They spoke of the architecture of the old estate, of books they had both read, of the small, peculiar habits of their shared acquaintances. And then, subtly, Richard shifted the focus: he began to ask about her. He inquired about her late father's estate, about her preferences for the quiet countryside, about what she looked for when she chose a subject to draw.