“Who hates surprises?”Leo openly laughs at me.
“They’re stressful.What if I don’t like surprise?What if I don’t adequately show how excited I am about the surprise?Then how do I reciprocate for the surpriser to show them they are just as appreciated?It’s too much responsibility.”
Leo laughs harder.“A surprise is for your enjoyment.It is not the beginning of a contract.Or a tactic for manipulation.”
“Naive.”
“Curious.”But he says it with a wink this time.Because he knows exactly why I’m so “curious” now.“Tell me, how did Her Majesty react when you told her where we went yesterday?She did not lock you away, so I assume all is well.”
“I didn’t tell her.”I performed verbal gymnastics to avoid telling her exactly where we went when she asked at dinner.I think she thinks we went to Hyde Park again, but I’m too afraid to ask outright.
We both look to Anne.
“And admit I let you go to Limehouse?That’s more than my job’s worth.And nothing happened anyway, so no need to tell,” Anne says.
I smile at Anne, sure I’m growing on her, my curious ways and all.
The carriage stops in front of a row of terraced houses.On the other side of the street is a large green square, filled with leafy trees and birds singing a cheery hullo to us.Leo helps Anne and me out of the carriage and leads us to one of the houses in the row.It’s a four-story house with large windows overlooking the street we’re standing on, white stone covering a layer of brick that I can see on the fourth floor.On the third level, two classical statues of women look down at me and the street-goers.
I rack my brain, trying to think about where we are, but nothing around me gives me any answers.We’re still in the fancy part of London; that much I can tell.“I give up.Where are we?”
“You will see when we go in.You will like it, though,” Leo says with confidence.
“You can’t know me well enough to know that.”
Leo raises an eyebrow to taunt me.“Would you like to wager on it?”
“Didn’t wagering get you into this mess?”I ask gently.
“Yes,” Leo answers immediately, without taking offense.“But this is not hazard.I have done the work, researched the issue, and I am confident that you are going to like this.So confident I know I will not lose.It is not even gambling at this juncture.”
His confidence is infectious and stirs a competitive side I didn’t even think I had.“Sure, let’s wager.What are we wagering for?”
“If I win, you must wear what I pick for you tonight’s ball, without question.”
“That sounds dangerous.And if I win?—”
“Let’s not spend too much time worrying about that.On the off chance you win, you can have whatever you want.”Leo snags my arm and starts up the stairs.
“This is the sort of reckless tomfoolery that got you?—”
“Speaking of reckless tomfoolery, the surprise is deep into the house, so I must request you walk with purpose through some rooms.”I open my mouth to respond to that, but Leo keeps talking.“You can go back and look at them all you want, but the best part is the third room in.That is the one I want to see your reaction to.That room that will win me this wager.”
Okay, so he does sort of know me even though we’ve only met a few days ago, if he knows I’m going to linger in the rooms.I do love a good historic house (or just a house, as they would call it right now).
I don’t know if that means he’s a very perceptive man or if I’m very predictable, but either way, it makes me worry about the wager.
I’m beginning to think I’ll be wearing whatever he wants me to, and I can only hope it’s not Princess Leia’s gold bikini or Princess Jasmine’s turquoise crop top.My only saving grace is that neither of those things exist yet to give Leo ideas.
This is why gambling is bad.There’s no such thing as a sure thing.
“Fine.We’ll move with purpose to get to the special room of wonderfulness.”
Leo opens the door and leads me through a wood-paneled hallway, then a nicely decorated room with a fireplace.I would love to see what period the pieces are from and the overall theme of the house, but Leo is firmly tugging me along.Forcing me to ignore all the furniture and sculptures on the way, like a monster.And there’s a lot of furniture and sculpture to ignore here.Each room is packed with stuff.And I love stuff.
“But we’re right here, I can take a quick—” I crane my neck back and slow my pace to soak in as much as possible while still technically moving forward.
“We shall come back.”Leo doesn’t sound mad or annoyed.More amused that I keep trying to ruin his surprise even after I agreed not to do this.“It has been there for decades, so it is unlikely that everything will up and disappear on us at this late stage.”
