“There are facts in there.”He pointed at the spines.“Facts one cannot override with flights of fancy.Constellations have predetermined names.”
She arched a brow.“Let me see if my female mind can grasp your logic.Are you attempting to bully me into adopting complete fiction that someoneelsemade up, rather than use stories from my own imagination?”
Yes.Yes, that was exactly what he was trying to do.All parties using the same, agreed-upon designations was how the concept of constellationsworked.
Yet this was clearly not an argument he had any hope to win.Best to make a quick escape.
“Oh, will you look at the time.”He pulled out his pocket watch.“It’s…”
Broken.
He gave the pocket watch a frustrated shake.No matter how often he wound the bloody thing, within an hour or two it ceased to function.
Miss Godwin sighed and held out her palm.“Let me see it.”
“No need,” he said quickly.“I’ll find a jeweler who knows how to—”
“Madge?”Miss Godwin pointed her open palm in the direction of her maid.
The maid immediately pulled a small pouch from her apron and pitched it in her mistress’s direction with a perfect arc.
Miss Godwin caught the satchel with one hand, sprang to her feet, and snatched Christopher’s pocket watch from his fingers.
“Er,” he said.“Should I unhook it from my waistcoat, or…”
Using a few small tools from the pouch, Miss Godwin popped the protective backing from his most expensive watch and began poking at the gears within.Christopher’s flesh ran cold.
“Hand,” she commanded.
Christopher jerked his gaze toward her.“What?”
Madge materialized beside them, a clean handkerchief covering her palm.
Miss Godwin dumped the inner workings of Christopher’s favorite pocket watch into the maid’s outstretched hand.
One by one, she cleaned each piece with the corner of the handkerchief and nudged it carefully into place.When she finished, she snapped the backing on tight and turned the watch face right-side-up.
A familiar ticking indicated the gears were once again in motion.
Miss Godwin dropped the tools back inside the little bag and tossed the pouch to her maid.
“Now that your timepiece works,” she said as if Christopher’s mind wasn’t exploding like the gears of a broken pocket watch, “Come back tomorrow at two o’clock.I’ll introduce you to a sweet, intelligent woman not afraid to travel.Possibly even with you.”
Christopher nodded automatically.But as he turned to the door, he suspected he might be more interested in the future surprises Miss Godwin might bring.
Chapter 4
Gloria grimaced at her uninspiring reflection in the looking-glass.“Why are we doing this again?”
“You are matchmaking Mr.Pringle because you promised Miss Mitchell.”Madge poked another pin into Gloria’s unruly locks.“And I am attempting to tame your hair because you begged me to.”
Two stupid decisions in a row.Gloria should just go back to bed.
There was absolutely no reason to primp.She was bound to meet the right man someday, but Mr.Pringle clearly was not that man.She would just have to keep looking.
Besides, as matchmaker, her role was to attract her handsome client to someone else.Not that Mr.Pringle had shown any signs of “love at first sight” with Gloria.Or any sight.
The first time he’d laid eyes on her, he had looked right through her without seeing her at all.The second time, he had been so appalled at how she ran her Saturday evening sky-walks that she doubted her appearance registered at all.And the third time they’d crossed paths… had been because he hoped she could help him marry someone else.
