“This is going to sound very odd, Miss St. George, and while you have no reason to trust me, I hope that you will.”
“That is not an auspicious beginning, Mr. de la Guerra.”
“Norbury asked me to come here for a specific purpose. This is not purely a social call. I am going to give you a list of names. They are the names of people who should not be admitted to this house, or ever allowed to be near Miss Blake.”
“Excuse me?” She hadn’t been expecting that.
He handed her a folded note, and Poppy took it and opened it.
“Mr. Evans has already been disinvited,” she said, reading the first name.
“Good.”
Poppy continued on, frowning. “These next three gentlemen all called at the house the same day. The day after…” She looked up at him. “What is this? What happened that night, besides Lord Norbury rescuing Rose from Mr. Hynes’s prank?”
“The details are not important.”
“I beg to differ, Mr. de la Guerra. You ask me to trust you, but you provide no basis for it.”
“That’s the meaning of trust.”
“No, that’s the meaning of naiveté,” she countered, annoyed by his attitude. Did he really think she was just going to do whatever he said? “Rose relies on me, and I won’t be led around by the nose just for the amusement of some men who enjoy toying with a girl’s life.”
“Norbury isn’t toying.”
“You’re his friend. You’d say that no matter what.”
“I am his friend, but it’s still true.” De la Guerra looked sincere, for what that was worth. “He feels that he got Miss Blake some unwanted notoriety, so he’s just trying to see her through it without further damage.”
“Wouldn’t the best way to do that be to simply avoid her? I can protect Rose from unwanted suitors.”
“I’m sure you can…unless someone starts breaking the rules. Like Mr. Evans did.”
“Wait, you know what happened?” Poppy asked, appalled.
“Adrian—Norbury, that is—told me. I assure you it won’t go further. Not that I live in the circles who would care about such news,” he added.
“Even so, a stray comment could—what in the world is he doing?” Poppy suddenly asked. Instinctively, she grabbed de la Guerra by the arm and pointed to where Lord Norbury was just diving into a thorn bush.
De la Guerra raised an eyebrow. “Hmm, that’s unconventional, even for Adrian. Let’s go find out.”
* * * *
Rose was waiting anxiously for Adrian to report what he found, and when Poppy and Mr. de la Guerra rushed up, demanding answers (well, Poppy demanded answers), Rose didn’t have many to give.
“I heard something strange and Lord Norbury went to investigate. I didn’t expect him to investigate quite so…”
“Actively?” Poppy suggested. “He’s going to ruin his jacket. I always told Auntie Gertrude to have that shrubbery removed because the thorns are a menace.”
“Norbury, do we have to send someone in after you?” de la Guerra called, sounding not terribly concerned.
“Everyone hush,” Adrian called back, his voice muffled. “I’m busy.”
“Doing what?” his friend asked.
“Hush,” Rose told him, echoed by both Poppy and Adrian.
There was a moment of extremely awkward silence, broken only by the rustling of leaves.
