“There are enough tasks to go around.” Polly’s striking aquamarine eyes were focused on the list. “Should we all volunteer for one?”
“I volunteernotto clean any hearths,” Marianne put in.
“You cannot un-volunteer yourself,” Vi protested. At Marianne’s look, she relented. “Fine. I’ll take the hearth. We can cross that item off the list…as well as the one involving the children’s games today. I have enlisted Fredward for the latter.”
“Fredward” was the nickname for Edward Kent and Frederick Ridgely, Marianne and Thea’s respective sons, who’d been the best of friends since they were boys. Now the young men were visiting during a break from university.
“You put my son in charge of the children?” Marianne shuddered. “Anything could happen.”
From what Bea knew of Edward, he was a genius and had a penchant for following his intellectual pursuits…sometimes without considering all the consequences. In that regard, he was a lot like his uncle Harry.
“Don’t worry,” Vi said airily. “Edward and Freddy designed a treasure hunt. I was there when they announced it to the children at breakfast, and you should have seen the excitement. Livy took off like a shot in search of the prize.”
“Well done, Vi,” Polly said in her sincere manner. “I will take any task on the list. The important thing is that we get everything done so that our dear sister can enjoy Hogmanay.”
Later that afternoon,Bea giggled, ducking away from her husband as he attempted to kiss her…again.
“Wickham, we’re supposed to be working,” she said severely. “Do not make me regret enlisting you to help.”
She tried for a stern expression, but it was difficult when her too-handsome husband looked at her with puppy dog eyes, a thick wave of gilded brown hair falling boyishly upon his brow.
He pointed up at the doorway under which they were standing. “It isn’t my fault that our assignment involves standing beneath the mistletoe.”
“Our job is to addthese pieces of rowan tree to the sprigs of mistletoe to bring good luck in the new year.” Bea gestured to the basket of leafy branches on the ground. “If we stop to kiss at every doorway, we’ll be at it until next Hogmanay.”
“If one is going to do a job, one might as well do it thoroughly,” Wick said with a grin so charming she thought it ought to be illegal. “Even if it takes all year.”
Raised voices interrupted their banter. The din seemed to be coming from the antechamber.
“I wonder what is going on,” she said.
“Let’s find out.”
Wick took her hand, and they headed in the direction of the ruckus. They passed the sprawling marble antechamber, entering the drawing room. A crowd of guests had gathered, and Bea stopped short when she saw the cause of the uproar: her brother stood by the fire, and in his arms was little Lady Olivia McLeod. They were both soaking wet.
The Duke and Duchess of Strathaven rushed into the room, the guests parting to make way for the concerned parents.
“Dear heavens,” Emma exclaimed. “What has happened?”
Hadleigh looked uncomfortable, and Bea felt a sharp pang. Her little brother had worn that expression whenever he got into scrapes as a boy. Only now, he was a man with a blackened reputation…and he was holding the Strathavens’ beloved daughter in his arms.
“I solved the clues to the treasure hunt. I found the prize but fell into the pond trying to get it,” Lady Olivia said, her voice clear despite the chattering of her teeth.
A collective gasp went up as horror clamped around Bea’s heart.
“There was ice everywhere, and I couldn’t get out, but the Duke of Hadleigh saved me.” Despite her ordeal, Lady Olivia beamed at Hadleigh, adulation sparkling in her green eyes. “He jumped into the water and fished me out. He is a hero.”
“I do not know how to thank you, sir,” Emma said in a trembling voice.
“There is no need,” Hadleigh muttered. “I did what anyone would have.”
“We must get Livy dry and warm,” Emma fretted.
Strathaven took the little girl from Bea’s brother, pausing to say hoarsely, “I will not forget this favor you have done my family, Hadleigh. I am forever in your debt.”
Then the duke and duchess headed off with their daughter. Lady Olivia’s voice floated behind them, “I know I shouldn’t have climbed the tree, Mama, but I had to get the crown. I won the treasure hunt, which means I am queen for the day…”
The guests dispersed as well, some stopping to offer words of praise to Hadleigh, who stood there awkwardly dripping onto the carpet. Accompanied by Wick, Bea approached her brother. He looked at her warily, his dark sapphire eyes rimmed with red, his skin pale and taut over his bones, his shoulders hunched. The usual tension settled between them, paralyzing her tongue even as her mind spun with things she ought to say.
