“I will be following you all to London in a few days. Perhaps there will be more between Miss Alden and I once we have had more time to spend together.”
“More time with her is only going to ruin her prospects further.”
Felix eyed the house as they drew closer to it, stepping out of the garden and onto the back patio. He glanced toward the terrace above and sure enough there was the imp. His sisters were all with her, the four of them smiling like they were up to no good. He was certain that Miss Alden was at the center of all the trouble, but he doubted his sisters were far behind.
Victoria leaned close to Isabelle and whispered something in her ear. Isabelle smiled and leaned forward on the stone railing, resting on her forearms. Tendrils of her dark hair escaped the twist at the nape of her neck and drifted around her face.
As impish as she was, it was hard to deny that she was a beautiful woman. He knew that he had been wrong to insult her the night before, but she had irritated him beyond all reason. It was as if the two of them couldn’t find a single word of kindness for each other when they were together.
Milton whipped Miss Alden’s gloves out of his pocket. “Do not worry, Miss Alden, I guarded them with my life.”
She laughed as he tossed them up to her. She leaned forward more and for a moment all Felix could see was her tipping over the ledge. Her body would fall toward the floor. Though he would try to catch her before she collided with the stone, he wasn’t sure that he could.
To his surprise, she was nimble, snagging the gloves from the air and tossing them onto one of the terrace chairs.
“Thank you, Lord Milton!” She giggled like a young girl as Milton scaled the several feet up the stone wall that it took to get to her terrace. “You are quite the charmer, are you not?”
Felix pressed his fingers to his temples. There was a pounding just behind his eyes that wouldn’t dull no matter the pressure he applied to them. He took a ragged breath as Milton hauled himself over the railing and jumped down onto the terrace.
This is going to be the scandal of the century.
I must find new friends that possess some sense of decorum. Perhaps one or two will be able to manage themselves without creating more problems in my life.
Felix dropped his hands. “Milton! Get down here!”
“Until we meet again,” Milton said, grabbing a flower from one of the pots on the terrace. He bowed low and handed it to Isabelle.
She tucked the flower into her hair, but Felix didn’t miss the way her gaze cut to him as she did. There was a hard look in her eyes that he couldn’t make sense of.
If Milton truly enraptured her, wouldn’t she be blushing? Shouldn’t she be flirting with him as hard as he flirted with her?
Miss Alden liked to be loud and the center of attention. She was not the demure wallflower who said nothing when a man handed her a flower. Felix certainly didn’t think she was the kind of woman to wear flowers in her hair. Not unless it was the flower crown she and Victoria had made.
What game is she playing?
The imp was going to give him gray hair before his time. He sighed as Milton scaled down the wall and dropped beside him. Milton tucked his hands in his pockets, whistling to himself as they walked back inside.
Milton looked over at Felix. “I do not think it will be hard to win her heart. She seems fond of romantic gestures.”
“You mean to court her then?”
“I mean to court several women.” Milton gave him a roguish smile and turned down the hall toward his study. “Miss Alden will just be one of them.”
Felix stopped and looked at him, wondering what to say to his friend. He wished to tell him that he would never marry Miss Alden. If Milton was unwilling to value Miss Alden as she should be, then he had no right to try and court her. However, there was yet another angle to consider.
Several men would be courting a various women. It didn’t make Milton any different than the others.
Still, he couldn’t shake the idea that Miss Alden deserved someone who was entirely devoted to her.
“You must now find us!” Evangeline said as she found Felix. “You are horrid at this game, brother. Perhaps we should find one that is more your speed.”
“A game for children is not his speed?” Hyacinth asked, popping out of her hiding place before Evangeline had the chance to seek her out. “Oh no.”
Evangeline laughed and clapped her hands together. “I found you too. Now I need only find Lord Milton and Miss Alden.”
Felix leaned against one of the trees and looked around. He and his two youngest sisters were at the far end of the property and the others were nowhere to be seen. It would be awhile before Evangeline thought to look to the trees before she found Miss Alden.
However, he was proven wrong when Evangeline scurried beneath the tree and looked up.
