Chapter 6
“Olive, dear. It is your turn. Olive?”
Olive started, realizing she was lost in thought, staring at the way the weak summer sunlight reflected off the windows on the manor house’s southern side. She turned back to the other women, her croquet mallet in her hands.
“Sorry,” she mumbled, then stepped up to the ball and whacked it without much attention. To no one’s surprise, it went wide of the wicket.
Tsking happily, Tiffany jumped forward for her turn. “You shall have to do better than that if you want to best me at my favorite game!”
“Oh, croquet is your favorite game, is it?” teased Bonnie, her mallet resting jauntily on her shoulder. “I thought your favorite games involved winning a certain handsome lord’s attention!”
Tiffany beamed—beautifully, of course. “I have not given up!”
At that moment, Willow hit a perfect roquet, and as Bonnie clapped in support, Olive’s sister beamed. “I am rather good at this, are I not? You would have to get up so early in the morning to beat me that—”
“It would be better to not go to bed at all,” Olive and Hazel chorused together.
Although it had been a joke, Tiffany hummed and leaned a bit closer. “You are looking peaky. Peakish?” She waved a hand toward Hazel. “What is the word I am looking for?”
Olive’s sister smirked. “I treasure my ignorance when it comes to sufficiently advanced vocabulary. Olive is our wordsmith.”
“Well, I am not very well going to ask her for the word to describe her wan looks. Wan? Is that the word?”
Willow hefted her mallet with a huff of exasperation. “She means you look as if you have not slept, Olive. There,” she said to Tiffany, “see how simple that was?”
Bonnie, who had turned her back to them to line up her shot, made a huffing sound which might have been laughter, but they all ignored her.
“Are you feeling well, Olive?” Tiffany asked in concern as she stepped closer. “Were you up late reading a particularly delicious book?”
Olive couldn’t tell if her new friend’s hopeful tone was because she wanted to borrow said book, or because she was hoping Olive hadn’t been awake all night fretting. Unfortunately, she’d have to disappoint Tiffany.
After yesterday’s remarkable interlude in her bedroom, Phineas had…disappeared. He’d held her so tenderly, so wonderfully, and had shown her more bliss than she’d ever experienced on her own.
And then, after, just when she was hoping for a cuddle or a kind word, he’d left. Well, he had kissed her hand—which had been quite nice—and had said some nice things before he’d taken off, but what had stood out was his wince as he’d stepped away, and how much of a hurry he’d been in to leave her.
Although he’d intimated they’d see one another later to continue looking for the sphaera, he hadn’t returned.
She’d laid down on the big bed to rest—and frankly, to bask in the aftershocks of that orgasm—and had fallen asleep.
When she awoke, she’d been disoriented, but had still set out to find him.
Despite her best efforts, she hadn’t seen him that afternoon, or at dinner that evening, so yes, her sleep had been fractured and anxious.
With a sigh, she pulled her spectacles from her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I— I did not sleep well, I confess.”
As Hazel took her turn, Tiffany linked her arm through Olive’s and lowered her voice. “Were you thinking about someone in particular? Or did someone keep you up all night?”
It took a moment for her friend’s intimation to register, but instead of shock, Olive found herself chuckling. “No. He did not visit me last night.”
It wasn’t until she heard Willow’s gasp that she realized what she’d confessed.
“So I was right!” Tiffany crowed. “He is the one causing you all this consternation!”
“Oh dear,” murmured Hazel, throwing her arm around Olive’s shoulders. “Who do we need to hurt?”
Her sister’s immediate willingness to hobble a man on her behalf had Olive’s lips twitching once. She sighed and dropped her cheek to Hazel’s shoulder. “You do not need to hurt anyone. I am just…I hope I was not a fool.”
Tiffany squeezed her free arm and clucked her tongue. “Phineas Oliphant is an eligible gentleman from a family of eligible gentlemen. He would not dally with you.”
As Willow frowned at them all in concern, Bonnie sent her sister a glare. “Just because you happen to be holding a tendre for his brother does not mean Mr. Oliphant is without ignobility.” Her expression turned gentle when she shifted her gaze to Olive. “Did he hurt you?”
Olive jerked upright, shaking her head as she turned so she could face them all and convince them of her sincerity. “Oh, no! He is the most wonderful, most interesting man! He is, after all, Aberdeen Jones—”
“And you have been half in love with him for ages,” Hazel agreed.
“Phineas is Aberdeen Jones?” asked Tiffany. “Who is Aberdeen Jones? What a ridiculous name. Were we not speaking about him last Friday evening?”
Shouldering her mallet, the game forgotten, Bonnie waved her sister into silence and moved to stand in front of Olive. “So why were you up all night worrying, if Phineas is such a paragon of virtue?”
“Because,” whispered Tiffany loudly, “he did not come to her bed last night. Honestly, I have to explain everything.”
Willow cleared her throat. “No one should be coming to our Olive’s room.”
Leave it to her to pass judgement. “He did not come to my room last night,” Olive agreed carefully.
“But…?” prompted Hazel.
Oh goodness, this blush was going to consume her, wasn’t it? Olive doubted she should confess the full story—especially not with Willow listening—but she felt desperate for advice. Pulling her arm from Tiffany’s, she twined her fingers together, grateful for the distraction.
“Yesterday, Phineas…um.” A deep breath. “He walked me back to my room after…I lost my spectacles.”
She didn’t want to bring up the encounter with Phineas’s sweet-looking little nephew.
He must have been the son of his brother Lysander, or perhaps the new American brother he’d mentioned.
The lad had been cute, and had given her a hug which made her insides melt—just before he’d stolen her glasses.
“Oh, I thought you were wearing a different pair,” Bonnie announced with a nod. “I like this pair better.”
“I wondered where you two had disappeared to after the river walk,” Willow announced sternly, crossing her arms. “It was a terrible place for a walk, but I was glad to get outside, and I remember thinking, ‘Oh, Olive is likely enjoying this,’ but when I looked around, you were gone!”
Tiffany was peering knowingly at her. “He walked you back to your room and…? He kissed you?”
Olive felt her blush climbing her neck. “I kissed him,” she whispered.
“What else?” Hazel whispered as well, leaning closer.
“Um…” Olive peeked up at her sister. “He…uh, touched me.”
With a quiet whoop, Hazel pumped her fist into the air as Bonnie and Tiffany straightened with happy smiles.
“And did you like it?” Bonnie asked gently.
Olive nodded, not certain she wanted to admit to just how much he’d touched her, and how much she’d enjoyed it.
“But after…” She shook her head. “I didn’t see him again, all afternoon.”
“Hmm.” Tiffany tapped her chin as she bent to retrieve Hazel’s mallet. “He must have a good reason, Olive. I do not think he is the kind of man who would abandon a woman.”
Yes, come to think of it, many of Aberdeen Jones’s Adventures had mentioned the women he’d met in foreign lands, and the help he’d given them.
He’d gone on so many adventures, and… Olive stifled her sigh.
How she’d always longed to go on adventures like his, but would it ever actually happen? Phineas hadn’t returned, after all.
Phineas Oliphant is a good man. Have a little faith!
It was impossible to deny. And her friends were right; Phineas wasn’t the kind to abandon her, especially not after what they’d shared.
Right?
“Olive, do you love him?” Bonnie asked.
“I think…” Olive tipped her head back, staring once more at the roofline of Dumpkins Manor as she chewed on her lower lip and tried to lie to herself. “I think I could.”
I think I do.
I know I do.
Her body still thrummed with bliss at the memory of his touch, and even now, even with how uncertain she was, she still wanted to be near him.
“Good,” Bonnie whispered, as she squeezed Olive’s arm.
“Looks like a messenger,” Willow announced, still looking disconcerted as she pointed toward the footman hurrying toward them. “Perhaps from Mr. Oliphant, announcing his intentions?”
Sure enough the footman approached with an envelope on a silver platter. He directly approached Olive and gave a little bow. “A letter for you, Miss L’arbre.”
Suddenly, Olive’s stomach felt as if she’d eaten a stone. A letter? Oh Lord, was it from Phineas, as her sister had suggested? What was he going to tell her?
Dear Miss L’arbre, your forward manner and lack of understanding of basic archaeological principles, such as which end of a hammer to hold, have led me to believe I would do best to retire from Dumpkins Manor.
I am heading to Nepal, where I would rather have my hair eaten by a yak than spend further time with you.
Taking a deep breath and forcing her hands to quit shaking, she reached out and picked up the letter. Phineas wouldn’t say those sorts of things to her…would he?
“Oh.” Her breath whooshed out all at once. “It is from the Journal of the Society of Archaeology.”
As Bonnie gasped, Olive turned slightly to open it, catching a glimpse of Hazel asking the footman a question.
“How exciting,” Tiffany was burbling. “You must be so nervous. Look at me! I am nervous, and I do not know anything about arachnology.”
“Archaeology,” corrected Olive in a murmur as she pulled the letter from the envelope.
She should be nervous, but after the spike of fear she’d felt when she’d thought the letter had been from Phineas, she felt strangely hollow now.
Quickly, she scanned the letter. Vaunted publication…pleased to offer you…should be very proud...seminal work on the subject…
“They want my paper,” she whispered. She looked up, meeting her friends’ excited expressions. “The Journal wants to publish my paper on Roman rooflines.”
Willow and Bonnie gasped happily in unison and grabbed her up in a hug as Hazel plucked the paper from Olive’s limp hand.
As they danced about—Olive in shock—Hazel called out, “Listen! Listen to this!” When they stopped cheering and turned to her, she read, “ ‘We believe your section on the adornments of the roof ridges to be the first study of its kind, and we are thrilled to be able to claim the information will appear in our winter edition, if you are amenable.’ Then there is some bit about payment.”
“How wonderful!” Bonnie exclaimed, just as Tiffany laughingly said, “I do not even know what roof ridges are!”
Still in shock, Olive tried to explain. “The pointy part along the top. The ridge.” Numbly, she gestured toward Dumpkins Manor’s ornate eaves. “Important Roman buildings often had ornamentation…along…the…”
A thought came to her and she trailed off, her hands dropping to her side as she stared at the ridge of the roof.
Could it be so simple?
Her friends hadn’t noticed her distraction, and instead were tripping over themselves to congratulate her.
But Olive didn’t have time to crow about her success. She had to find Phineas!
“I need to find Phineas!”
Smiling, Hazel handed the letter back to Olive. “I can imagine you are anxious to share your accomplishment with him, and I know he will be thrilled to hear it!”
Distractedly, Olive snatched the paper and began to try to fold it into the envelope. “No, no, I need…”
“She needs him!” Tiffany called out with a laugh.
Olive sent her a frown. “I had a thought— Oh, it does not matter!” She began to walk backward toward the manor, which only worked until she stumbled. “I will find him myself.”
Chuckling, Hazel jogged to catch up with her as Olive turned back to face the building.
“I thought it would be important to know his whereabouts—especially if I was going to have to challenge him to a duel.” At Olive’s horrified expression, Hazel winked.
“I asked the footman. Apparently your Phineas received a letter in the same post. So if he is not in the foyer reading it, then the butler would know.”
Gratefully, Olive sent her sister a smile. “Thank you! I have to find him!”
“Of course!” Hazel slowed her steps and offered a knowing wave. “Good luck!”
Olive accepted the wish with a wave of her own, then lifted her skirts and began to run. She needed to find Phineas and tell him her idea.
And find out if he’d been avoiding her.