Page 32 of The Perfect Rose

Miriam took a deep breath. “Perhaps, but it could prove to have the opposite effect. Frederick may very well pull back from us both, knowing that he is second to both of us and first to none. I worry for him.”

Rose knit her brows and bit her lip. She turned Miriam to continue down their path. “Surely he’s made of sterner stuff than putting off the people he loves the most. Either way, he’s truly not an option for me to win over in the next week. As it is, I think I drive him mad.”

Miriam laughed. “That might be true, and I can’t thank you enough. It’s been so fun to see him banter with you this past week.” She cocked her head to the side and looked at Rose as if seeing her for the first time.

Rose refused to fidget under her friend’s assessment. “Is banter what you call his monstrous association he makes between me and his animals?”

“Certainly.” Miriam turned them back toward the house. “Allow me to talk to Samuel about your situation. He won’t tell a soul, but he would have more pull and connections than anyone I know.”

Rose considered where she stood. If the duke knew of her situation, that would be almost half of the house party who understood how unwanted Rose was, and yet . . . she felt less alone the more people she told what she was up against. “If you think it will help. Now, I have an apron to finish for a dear friend. Shall we return to the lion’s den?”

Chapter Twenty-two

Miriam brought out a blindfold after dinner. “I propose we play blind man’s bluff.” She pronounced. It was Owen’s favorite game and had been since he was a child. They played it often enough that Frederick was certain he could at least identify Miriam, Quentin, Owen, and Samuel within seconds of catching them.

Lady Gardner stood with a regal air. “I’ll be taking the dowager into the library, should you need us.” She guided the elderly woman from the room but bent her head and whispered something or other to Lord Hanby as they left.

“Mr. Redford,” Frederick turned toward Owen, “would you care to go first?”

Owen’s eyes lit and he nodded his acquiescence in long, quick nods. If he’d had on spectacles, they would have flown from his face in his excitement. He looked around the room until his eyes fell on Lady Rose, his obvious target. Miriam assisted him in tying the handkerchief behind his head. She spun him in a circle while everyone shuffled about the room finding somewhere to stand. Frederick sat on the settee. He looked down and saw a basket of embroidery poking out from beneath the adjacent table. There was a simple yet elegant pattern of flowers along the hem of some type of garment. He needed not ask whose it was; Lady Rose had begun yet another project, it seemed.

Frederick watched Owen focus on the subtle sounds in the room, the scrape of a chair, a cough, the swish of a skirt. It was the latter’s direction in which he moved, and Frederick wondered if his blindfold was doing its proper job. Owen wasn’t the cheating type, however. He must have been attuned enough to Lady Rose’s movements to walk straight toward her, his hands outstretched before him. Frederick jumped up from his seat and began shaking the table beside him. The clattering an old distraction that he’d used many times in the past.

Lady Rose used the cover of sounds to run from Owen’s path and toward Frederick. It wasn’t what he’d planned, but he couldn’t help but smile at his good fortune. Or perhaps it was bad fortune. He was supposed to be staying away from her, wasn’t he? But he couldn’t go and allow Owen to do anything that would embarrass himself or her: it was just a game after all.

Owen changed course and headed straight for Rose again. She turned her head abruptly and looked at Frederick with wide eyes. When Owen was but a step from her, Frederick stepped in front of her, but bent his knees so he was a good head shorter than he normally was. Owen’s hands grasped at the shoulder of his jacket and his face fell.

Frederick shouldn’t have felt so guilty of taking away a simple pleasure from his childhood friend; he felt he was acting in the best interest of everyone when he did. Owen guessed his identity after feeling his hair. Lady Rose had moved herself about five paces to the side so when Owen was unmasked, he saw her standing further away than he’d so obviously hoped.

Frederick asked Miss Haybury to tie his handkerchief for him, the rigidity of his jacket not allowing for that much movement. She complied with an exaggerated shock and fawned over the knot for far too long. If the woman thought she was being flirtatious, she was severely missing her mark. He spun himself three times and then launched himself headlong into the room at large, waving his arms wildly about. He could hear frightened screams and furniture being moved around him. But over all the noises, he heard laughter. That was what these childhood games were good for. And if he needed to act as a child to get them to laugh, he would gladly accept the challenge.

“You know I’ll find you eventually Miriam,” he called to the room in general.

“Never!” she called back before making a ruckus and moving to somewhere else behind him.

He swiped his arms to the side and grabbed onto the coat of a gentleman. “Hmmm, who do we have here?” He knew it was Lord Hanby in a second, for there was no laughter, no vibration of mirth coming from the stone man. He moved his hands to the top of Lord Hanby’s head. “You’ve a big head, whoever you are.” He laughed. “I meant a tall head; you’re very tall Lord Hanby.”

Frederick then pulled off his blindfold and laughed at the poor man’s livid face. “I was correct! Your turn, sir!” He handed him the handkerchief and walked away before the man could accuse him of being impertinent, which Frederick knew very well that he was.

Lord Hanby drew himself up even taller, if that was possible, and ran a hand over his hair. “Lady Rose, can I convince you to come assist me?”

Frederick should have seen that move coming. Lady Rose answered in the affirmative and walked toward him. He had to bend down for her to reach behind his head and although Frederick couldn’t hear what Lord Hanby whispered to her while she tied the blindfold, he was certain it was some compliment or another. Lady Rose took her time and laughed airily as she tied the blindfold. She then put her gloved hand on his shoulder and set him spinning before she tiptoed to stand next to the door frame.

Although Lord Hanby wasn’t nearly as entertaining as Frederick had been when he was blindfolded, the man did play his part well. He chuckled at his disorientation and stumbled a few times on the furniture. He was on a direct path for Miriam, but Miss Haybury stepped into the available space and allowed herself to be caught.

Lord Hanby, smart man that he evidently was, reached high until he found the top of her head. Miss Haybury’s riotous curls were a dead giveaway. But Lord Hanby acted for a few seconds as if he didn’t know who she was. “Miss Haybury?” His guess came out as a question, probably more for show than anything.

She practically fell into his arms. “Oh, you guessed it! How did you know it was me?” She fluttered her eyelashes up at him and Frederick could have sworn the viscount flinched.

“Your hair is curly, Miss Haybury. It had to be you.”

“Oh yes, but Lady Rose’s hair is curly as well. How did you know I was not Lady Rose? Were you so attuned to my presence that you were certain?”

He took a hasty step back and looked at Lady Rose. “Your hair is much curlier than Lady Rose’s is, Miss Haybury.”

In reality, Lady Rose’s curls were set with curling tongs, shining and regal like a crown atop her head, whereas Miss Haybury’s curls were tightly coiled with wisps escaping at all angles.

She asked Lord Hanby to put the blindfold on her, which he hastily did and then backed away, his short-lived passion for the game having been evidently extinguished.