need to be very quiet and move slowly or they’ll just hop away.” He looked from Daphne to Susan. “If you don’t want them to see you coming, you need to be stealthy, focused and know how to bide your time.”
Susan frowned. “What does stealthy mean?”
“It means you cannot let them hear or see you,” Daphne explained much to everyone’s surprise, which was quite evident by widened eyes and dropped jaws. Upon seeing everyone’s reaction, the girl’s gaze narrowed. “What? I know things. I’m not a little girl anymore.”
“Of course not, my dear,” Caroline assured her. “And do you have a plan?”
The girl’s face darkened. “We were hoping Nathanial had an idea.” Her gaze moved to him, and Nathanial almost choked on his tea.
Charlaine grinned. “Yes, Nathanial. Do you have an idea?”
Nathanial resisted the urge to kick Charlaine’s shin under the table. However, the sudden impulse to do something so utterly childish made him pause. Where had it come from? It seemed the lively discussion around the breakfast table reminded him of his own childhood. “Perhaps a net would be useful.”
Daphne’s eyes lit up. “That’s a marvelous idea!” she exclaimed, eagerness on her face. “Nathanial, you’re so clever.”
To his utter humiliation, Nathanial could feel his face flush red, and to make matters worse, Charlaine leaned in and whispered teasingly, “Indeed, so very clever.”
Nathanial glared at her. “Are you mocking me?”
“I would never!” she replied with mock outrage.
“Yes, you would.”
She frowned. “Well, then I suppose I might be.”
“Do you hear yourself? Why are you doing this?” He shook his head at her.
“I would never mock to hurt you, but only to…”
“To what?” he demanded in a hushed tone.
“To see you smile.” Her hand settled on his, and her eyes shone with warmth and affection as she looked at him. “Little Daphne just paid you a compliment,” Charlaine told him with a sideways glance at the girl, “and you act as though you wish to run from the room. Has no on ever paid you a compliment?”
Nathanial sighed. Not in a long time.
“Father, do you have a net?” Daphne asked, her little hands clapping together with enthusiasm.
“Donahue might have one.”
Nathanial looked at Charlaine. “Donahue?”
“Markham Hall’s butler,” she explained, and Nathanial remembered the tall, bearded man with the missing arm. He had seemed like a hulking giant if it had not been for the merry twinkle in his green eyes. Indeed, Markham Hall was a strange place, not at all how Nathanial had expected the English aristocracy to live. Then again, he doubted that the ton at large ran their households quite like Pierce and Caroline did.
“This is a strange place,” he whispered out loud, surprised to realize that a part of him rather liked it.
Charlaine chuckled. “Like out of a fairy tale, is it not?”
Smiling at her, Nathanial nodded. “Perhaps you’re right and the girls will find two princes to marry them after all.”
After breakfast, Daphne and Susan dashed off to search for Donahue while Charlaine all but ordered Miss Glass to take the day off. “Don’t worry. We will look after the girls,” she promised her, glancing back at him over her shoulder.
Nathanial once again felt the urge to run from the room.
After a few more convincing words, Miss Glass finally agreed and, with a quick bow to Pierce and Caroline, left the room.
“What are you up to?” Pierce asked as he stepped toward Charlaine, his gaze narrowed in suspicion.
“To catch frogs,” she told him with a smile. “What were you thinking?”
He laughed. “With you, one never knows.” Then he brushed an affectionate hand over her shoulder. “Have fun.” He looked at Nathanial. “Good luck,” Pierce told him with a meaningful smirk before he escorted his wife out of the room.
Rubbing her hands together, Charlaine turned to look at him. “I’ll ask Mrs. Colden to pack us a picnic—”
“We just ate,” Nathanial threw in.
“—and you should change.”
Nathanial frowned, glancing down over his attire. “What is wrong with what I’m wearing?”
Charlaine laughed, then paused. “Oh, you’re serious?”
Nathanial crossed his arms over his chest and did his best to glare at her.
As always, it did not make the slightest bit of an impression on her. “We’re going out to the lake to hunt for frogs,” she told him, drawing out each word as though he were slow of understanding, “and you intend to go in a jacket and necktie?” She scrunched up her nose in a most disagreeable gesture. “Oh, and forget the shoes as well.”
Nathanial moaned. “You cannot be serious.”
“Oh, I always