lurks underneath those dresses.”
“A devil? I’ve known her for years and have never seen her act anything but kind.”
“Then she’s fooled you. For example, she convinced me scrumtilious was a word and I used it for two years before someone corrected me. There was the time she jumped out from behind a doorway to scare me when I was carrying a hot bowl of soup. Once she gave me an apple dipped in chocolate but it turned out to be an onion. My breath smelled horrid for a week.”
Shoulders shaking, Miss Delafield covered her mouth. He nodded. “Go on, get it out. I know you want to.”
She let out a chuckle. “An onion. Oh, that is clever.”
“It was. We had a lot of fun together.”
“So what happened?”
He steered her toward the greenhouse entrance. “What do you mean?”
“You moved away and she is nearly betrothed to a duke.”
Yes, but I am back and she’s not yet betrothed.
Cradling the egg hat with one hand, he opened the door, and Miss Delafield walked in ahead of him. He set the eggs on the bench. “Look under these pots. I can almost guarantee an egg will be here.”
She began to search, lifting up the lid of each pot as he did the same. “You never wished to court her yourself?”
Of course he had. For six years he’d bided his time, waiting to tell her of his intentions . . . until she called him brotherly.
But he’d rather not answer those kinds of questions at the moment. He wasn’t ready for anyone to learn of his past, present or future feelings when it came to Maddie. “We may move on to other topics of conversation, you know. We needn’t discuss Maddie the entire time.”
“Oh, look! The yellow egg!” She picked it up. “That makes twelve. Shall we stop or keep going?”
“The odds that one team found more eggs than we did are incredibly low. Let’s return and collect your prize. We might pick up one or two more on the way.”
They left the greenhouse and headed for the tent. Miss Delafield held the yellow egg in her hands while he carried the rest in her bonnet. He got the feeling Miss Delafield was not altogether comfortable with silence, and he was proven right when she asked, “So are you going to tell her?”
He looked over. “Tell what to whom?”
“Maddie. Are you going to tell her that you love her?”
Harrison’s entire body jolted and his grip on the bonnet slipped a fraction, allowing one of the hard eggs to slip free and crack on the ground. She scooped it up, then grinned at him. “Did you think I hadn’t noticed?”
First Nellie, then Kit. Now Miss Delafield. Was everyone but Maddie aware of how he felt about her?
“Love her?” His voice sounded strangled. “I am attempting to find a bride at this house party.”
“Yes, and she is yet unmarried.”
“Lockwood’s presence here does make that seem like a foregone conclusion.”
“Oh, horse feathers. She got wrapped up in the competition for the duke’s attention this spring. It became a point of pride for her, especially when there were whispers about why she took so long to marry. She had to prove that she could land a duke.”
That did sound a bit like Maddie. She hated to lose.
A girl’s worth in this world is determined by the match she makes.
It was clear there was no grand romance there. Maddie didn’t desire Lockwood. She merely wished to marry a duke. “You don’t think she would resent missing out on being a duchess?”
“Who, Maddie?” She made a noise in her throat. “More like she’d resent living in some remote little town in England, without her friends and family around.”
He happened to agree, but said no more. Just before they entered the tent, Miss Delafield grabbed his arm. “Don’t worry. I’ll help you in any way I can, Mr. Archer.”
Before he could ask what she meant, she disappeared into the tent.
They were the first team to return. The chaperones quieted as Harrison presented their bounty, which now held fourteen eggs, five of them green and one yellow.
Maddie’s jaw fell. “I cannot believe it.”
Harrison moved to the lemonade table and poured two glasses. “We were thirsty or else we would have found the remaining eggs.” After handing Miss Delafield a lemonade, he toasted Maddie with his glass. “I warned you.”
“You were lucky. I’ll work harder next time.”
“Next time? Are there more of these types of games?” Christ, he hoped not.
“Do not even think of