Page 40 of Every Duke Has His Thorn
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“You go along, Preston,” his aunt said wearily, waving a languid hand from her plush chair in the drawing room. “The plan is your idea. I’m worn out from our drive to the village.”
Her feet were on a tufted foot stool, a tall glass of lemonade at her elbow.
“Very well,” he replied blandly, despite the notion that his aunt was matchmaking.
There was one shady spot in the garden at that time of day, the bench closest to the house. He was only waiting a few minutes before Miss Davies appeared.
“You aunt?” she asked with lifted brows.
He stood up. “She is tired from an outing to the village.”
“Thank heavens for this shade,” the young woman replied before taking a seat on the black iron bench.
She wore the same walking dress from the morning, her bonnet loosely tied. He resolved to make their conversation brief so they might both retreat from the heat.
“Your aunt said in her note that you solved the last clue.”
“Yes. I believe skip over just one step refers to more than skipping one of the clues. My mother would take me to play at the folly and recite a rhyme. It was one my grandmother would sing, but my mother changed it to include the folly.”
He hesitated, suddenly feeling reticent about singing the rhyme to her.
“Yes, Your Grace?” She peered at him from under her bonnet, chewing on her lip, he supposed, to keep from grinning at his discomfort.
Little boy blue come blow your horn,
The sheep’s in the meadow,
The cow’s in the corn,
At play in the folly,
Skip over one step,
Or fall head over heels,
For a lazy misstep.
“That is charming.” Miss Davies looked about them quickly before asking, “So the treasure is under a step?”
“I believe so.”
“Anne was behaving oddly today.” She told him about startling the maid as she read the poem in the drawing room.
“The maid is from Blackpool, as is Mr. Sparks. It is a large city, but coupled with Anne’s strange behavior, I wonder if she knows my former steward.”
“Do you think Mr. Sparks is the man I saw by the folly?” Miss Davies asked in a whisper, her eyes wide in her face.
“I think he might be. Anne might be employed on the estate to help him find the treasure.”
“What should we do next?” The young woman’s cheeks turned pink and she transferred her gaze to the hands in her lap.
He didn’t mind her saying we. They had come this far together, but he would have to disappoint her and his aunt with his plan.
“It is my idea to seek out the treasure tonight, with the aid of Mr. Bailey. You must make sure Anne knows about my plan, but I want her to think I’m going to the folly alone.”
“Alone?” Miss Davies looked up then, frowning.
