Spread out over the entire front lawn were academy students, all of whom seemed to be in some stage of distress. Numerous girls were sprawled in the grass with their arms flung over their faces in rather dramatic fashion, while others bent over as they seemed to be trying to catch their breath. His gaze shot to the expanse of lawn that bordered a grove of trees and found, concerningly enough, at least ten young ladies in the process of tossing up their accounts.
Clearly, somethingwasgravely amiss at the academy today.
“Seth! Over here!”
Urging Leonardo forward after he spotted Seraphina gesturing to him, he was out of the saddle a heartbeat later, Seraphina rushing up to join him right as his feet hit the ground.
“What happened?” he demanded.
“A skunk got loose in the castle, sprayed numerous rooms, and...” She waved to the lawn. “We obviously have a situation with the girls, so if you could start passing out cups of water, that would be helpful.” She frowned as her gaze lingered on a young lady who was in the process of retching up a storm. “Don’t, however, approach anyone who’s in that particular state because most of our students would be appalled to be offered assistance from a gentleman while they are making noises that resemble those of a wounded animal.”
“Sound advice to be sure, but don’t you think I would be of better use helping to catch the skunk?”
“Annaliese has numerous members of the staff trying to run that critter down, except for a handful of instructors who were laid low by the stench, which is why we’re woefully short ofhands out here because we’ve only hired on fifteen new instructors since the academy opened.” Seraphina shoved a strand of mousy-brown hair out of her face, the mousiness suggesting she hadn’t tried any of the carrot or beet juice he’d mentioned to her. “Once we get all the students settled, though, if she hasn’t found the skunk, we’ll join in the search.”
“A logical plan,” Seth agreed. “I’ll just head for the kitchen, get some water, then get down to passing it out, but not, again, to any girls who are in the process of losing their lunch.”
“Make sure you don’t put that water in a bucket.”
Seth’s brows drew together. “A bucket would be the most efficient vessel to use when dealing with this many people.”
“But it would also lend the impression that young ladies can use buckets to serve water out of, something I recently discouraged them from doing after one of the Zambarello sisters announced in an etiquette class that she serves beverages to her friends out of buckets all the time because her mother doesn’t like to use any of the crystal glassware except for special occasions.” Seraphina shoved another strand of hair out of her face. “I then felt compelled to pen Elena Zambarello a note, suggesting she invest in some less expensive glassware for her daughters to use so they could avoid buckets going forward.”
“That was brave of you.”
“Elena doesn’t intimidate me, even if she was once considered one of the most terrifying wives of a known Chicago underworld boss.” Seraphina glanced around and frowned. “But speaking of the Zambarello sisters, you’ll need to excuse me since one of those sisters—Penina, to be exact—seems to be in the process of shucking out of her skirt, an indication that she might have gotten skunked.” With that, Seraphina strode into motion, calling over her shoulder that it might be a nice touch if he added some sliced lemon to the water.
Unable to help but wonder if sliced lemon added some type of restorative value to water, Seth headed for the castle, forcedto cover his nose when he hit the entranceway and the stench wafting around him left him with the distinct impulse to toss uphisaccounts. After breaking into a jog, he dashed away tears that had begun streaming down his face from the smell that no amount of nose covering could mask and finally made it to the kitchen, finding Mrs. O’Sullivan, the Merriweather cook, with a scarf wrapped around her face as she filled a large crystal pitcher with water.
“Ah, Mr. McCormick,” Mrs. O’Sullivan began, “I do hope you’re here to lend a hand because this is shaping up to be a disaster of a day.”
“I am here to lend a hand, and Seraphina has already asked me to pass out water, and to add lemon to that water as well.”
“There are lemons on the counter, but wash your hands first before you start cutting them.”
Five minutes later, he was heading outside again, his nose thanking him once he made it down the castle steps and the stench of skunk faded. He then got right down to passing out cups of water and spent the next hour consoling young lady after young lady, all of whom believed they’d experienced a more-than-trying day and all of whom seemed to need more than a single glass of water.
He’d had to resort to asking Riley, the stable hand, to assist him with refilling water pitchers and cutting lemons, but even though Riley then took to helping Seth hand out the water, the line of young ladies never seemed to end.
Frankly, he’d never heard that the smell of skunks made one unusually thirsty, but the reason behind the need for so much water became crystal clear when Seraphina, on her way to helping a girl who was beyond pale find some shade, took a second to tell the line of students who were waiting for water that she had other matters for Seth and Riley to attend to, which meant they needed to take one—and only one—cup of water and put aside any desire to request additional cups in order to linger about.
“Is it just me or did Miss Livingston say something of an embarrassing nature to the girls?” Riley asked as every girl who’d been waiting in line took that moment to flee to the other side of the front lawn, where they promptly dissolved into fits of giggles.
Even though Seth was relatively certain all the lingering had been a direct result of Riley being considered dreamy by the student body, a position Seth had apparently once held and might still hold to a certain extent since girls were lingering near him before Riley showed up, he didn’t want to make Riley uncomfortable and settled for sending him a shrug. He was spared from having to elaborate about the shrug after Riley sent him a bit of a puzzled look when Phoebe glided up to join them, batting her thirteen-year-old lashes at Riley a second later.
“I thought I’d never be given a chance to get a drink, what with the crowd that’s been surrounding you two,” she began. “I was glad to see Miss Livingston take that matter in hand because I’m absolutely parched, but would it be possible to get water without lemon in it?”
“You don’t care for lemon?” Seth asked.
“If it’s in a cake, certainly, but adding a few slices of lemon to water merely makes it taste like a poor substitute for lemonade.”
“I’ll go get a pitcher of plain water,” Riley said, his face turning a little red when Phoebe settled a bright smile on him, paired with another flutter of lashes, something that sent Riley all but bolting toward the castle.
“There’s something very charming about a young gentleman who’s a little on the shy side,” Phoebe announced before her fluttering came to an abrupt end and her eyes turned wide. “But don’t tell Riley I said that and don’t tell Norma Jean either, since she’s already put out with me. It’ll hardly help us repair our friendship if she learns that I think Riley, a young man Norma Jean has her eye on, is charming.”
Seth paused in the act of filling up another glass of water. “Norma Jean has her eye on Riley?”
Phoebe snatched the half-filled cup away from Seth, even though it had a lemon in it, gulped down the contents, and grimaced. “I’ve said too much. Forget I mentioned a thing about any eyes on anything.”
