Chapter 12
Twelve
They had only arrived the day before and yet Isabelle was doing an outstanding job of ruining any prospects for marriage. Milton was a relaxed and fairly progressive man in his views, but Isabelle was determined to find the line that she shouldn’t cross and hurdle over it.
The little imp looked up at him, that sneaky smile on her face. “Yes, Your Grace?”
“Why don’t you go find Evangeline? I believe she mentioned wanting to play a game of hide and seek after lunch. It would be best if you spoke with her to arrange it.”
“And here I go,” Isabelle said dramatically as she rose to her feet and scooped up her shoes, “banished to the house to do chores and women’s work because I have too often spoken my mind today.”
Felix dragged his hand down his face as Milton stood, the look in his gaze distant. Milton bade her goodbye and Felix turned to watch as she disappeared into the gardens that led back to the house.
When Felix turned back to his friend, his stomach dropped. “I apologize for her. She has been nothing but trouble since she stepped off the ship and she is determined to ruin every prospect I put before her.”
“She is not as awful as you make her out to be. I think you two simply bring out the worst in each other. I shall ask the Dowager Duchess to be our chaperone later if we take a walk in the evening.”
Felix bristled at the thought. “My mother likes to retire early. I am, available to walk with you.”
Milton nodded and turned back toward the house. “If that is what you would rather, though I am sure I can find someone who would be more agreeable to the task.”
“I am perfectly fine.”
“If you keep acting this way Windham, I am going to have to wonder about your intentions with the young lady.” Milton gave him a teasing grin and nudged him with his elbow. “I jest, of course. She is far below your station and not the kind of wife a duke would bring into his home.”
Maybe I should shove Milton into the lake as well.
He didn’t know where his sudden burst of irritation had come from. “I believe that you would not know what a duke was looking for in a wife.”
Milton stopped for a moment and looked at him. “I did not mean to offend. Do you have an involvement with Miss Alden that I should be aware of?”
“No.” Felix stuffed his hand into the pockets of his breeches.
“I apologize. I have much on my mind with the carriage not operational. Keeping my sisters entertained is not a task for the weary, and if we are to play hide and seek, then I suspect I will spend far too much time trying to track them down.”
Milton chuckled and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Surely it cannot be that bad. They are not children anymore.”
“You do not know how much they like to win. The last time I played hide and seek with Hyacinth was a few years ago. She hid herself inside a piano. It took the better part of an evening to find her and drag her out of there.”
“And you think she will do the same now that she is older?”
“I have more fear about where she will hide. Miss Alden is just as competitive as the others. She will likely carve open a hole in the wall and hide inside.”
“She cannot be as wild as you make her out to be.”
Felix rubbed the back of his neck as they continued walking toward the house. “She is lively and that is what I have to fear the most. I think finding her a husband is going to be difficult.”
“I will be following you all to London in a few days. Perhaps there will be more between Miss Alden and I once we have had more time to spend together.”
“More time with her is only going to ruin her prospects further.”
Felix eyed the house as they drew closer to it, stepping out of the garden and onto the back patio.
He glanced toward the terrace above and sure enough there was the imp.
His sisters were all with her, the four of them smiling like they were up to no good.
He was certain that Miss Alden was at the center of all the trouble, but he doubted his sisters were far behind.
Victoria leaned close to Isabelle and whispered something in her ear. Isabelle smiled and leaned forward on the stone railing, resting on her forearms. Tendrils of her dark hair escaped the twist at the nape of her neck and drifted around her face.
As impish as she was, it was hard to deny that she was a beautiful woman. He knew that he had been wrong to insult her the night before, but she had irritated him beyond all reason. It was as if the two of them couldn’t find a single word of kindness for each other when they were together.
Milton whipped Miss Alden’s gloves out of his pocket. “Do not worry, Miss Alden, I guarded them with my life.”
She laughed as he tossed them up to her. She leaned forward more and for a moment all Felix could see was her tipping over the ledge. Her body would fall toward the floor. Though he would try to catch her before she collided with the stone, he wasn’t sure that he could.
To his surprise, she was nimble, snagging the gloves from the air and tossing them onto one of the terrace chairs.
“Thank you, Lord Milton!” She giggled like a young girl as Milton scaled the several feet up the stone wall that it took to get to her terrace. “You are quite the charmer, are you not?”
Felix pressed his fingers to his temples. There was a pounding just behind his eyes that wouldn’t dull no matter the pressure he applied to them. He took a ragged breath as Milton hauled himself over the railing and jumped down onto the terrace.
This is going to be the scandal of the century.
I must find new friends that possess some sense of decorum. Perhaps one or two will be able to manage themselves without creating more problems in my life.
Felix dropped his hands. “Milton! Get down here!”
“Until we meet again,” Milton said, grabbing a flower from one of the pots on the terrace. He bowed low and handed it to Isabelle.
She tucked the flower into her hair, but Felix didn’t miss the way her gaze cut to him as she did. There was a hard look in her eyes that he couldn’t make sense of.
If Milton truly enraptured her, wouldn’t she be blushing? Shouldn’t she be flirting with him as hard as he flirted with her?
Miss Alden liked to be loud and the center of attention. She was not the demure wallflower who said nothing when a man handed her a flower. Felix certainly didn’t think she was the kind of woman to wear flowers in her hair. Not unless it was the flower crown she and Victoria had made.
What game is she playing?
The imp was going to give him gray hair before his time. He sighed as Milton scaled down the wall and dropped beside him. Milton tucked his hands in his pockets, whistling to himself as they walked back inside.
Milton looked over at Felix. “I do not think it will be hard to win her heart. She seems fond of romantic gestures.”
“You mean to court her then?”
“I mean to court several women.” Milton gave him a roguish smile and turned down the hall toward his study. “Miss Alden will just be one of them.”
Felix stopped and looked at him, wondering what to say to his friend. He wished to tell him that he would never marry Miss Alden. If Milton was unwilling to value Miss Alden as she should be, then he had no right to try and court her. However, there was yet another angle to consider.
Several men would be courting a various women. It didn’t make Milton any different than the others.
Still, he couldn’t shake the idea that Miss Alden deserved someone who was entirely devoted to her.
“You must now find us!” Evangeline said as she found Felix. “You are horrid at this game, brother. Perhaps we should find one that is more your speed.”
“A game for children is not his speed?” Hyacinth asked, popping out of her hiding place before Evangeline had the chance to seek her out. “Oh no.”
Evangeline laughed and clapped her hands together. “I found you too. Now I need only find Lord Milton and Miss Alden.”
Felix leaned against one of the trees and looked around. He and his two youngest sisters were at the far end of the property and the others were nowhere to be seen. It would be awhile before Evangeline thought to look to the trees before she found Miss Alden.
However, he was proven wrong when Evangeline scurried beneath the tree and looked up.
A shoe hit Felix in the shoulder, and he looked up only to find Miss Alden glaring at him from between the branches of the tree. He stifled a smile, knowing that it was his lean that gave her away to Evangeline.
“Lord Milton!” Evangeline called, racing to the bushes that surrounded a grove of apple trees. She darted into the trees and a moment later came back out with Milton trailing behind her. Victoria was close behind them, her arms crossed and a playful pout on her face.
Miss Alden dropped down from the tree and picked up the shoe she threw. “You gave me away. You are nothing but a cheat and I suggest we remove you from the next game.”
He looked at the sky where the dark clouds were rolling in. “I recommend that we end this game and head inside before the storm hits.”
Evangeline looked at him with wide eyes, clasping her hands together. “One more round, brother. Please. It is not yet raining, and it shall be quick.”
With a sigh, he turned and leaned one arm against the tree, pressing his forehead to his sleeve. “I will count to one hundred. If you have not hidden by then, the game is over.”
He started counting as laughter broke out and the girls started running. Felix peeked beneath his arm, watching the directions everyone ran.
Warmth radiated from beside him and a soft breath whispered close to his ear. “You are cheating, Your Grace.”
Felix looked up at Miss Alden as she settled back on her feet and his heart thudded in his chest. “And what would you recommend as a remedy for cheating?”
“I shall stay with you and stall for longer than one hundred seconds so your sisters might have a better chance at hiding from you.”