“Me? I know next to nothing about roses, even my own. I like them, but—”
“Yes, but your entry comes under the aegis of a duke. No one wants to offend a duke. Worse, your title isRoseleigh for goodness’ sake. The odds are stacked in your favor as soon as you enter.” She handed him his tea.
He sipped it, frowning. “I could refuse to enter. Would that help?”
“Probably not. But it might if you made a show of wishing the judges to be broader in their thinking,” she said. “Humble pie?”
“I’m good at humble.” He preened when he said it, making her laugh. He devoured another sandwich.
“Why did you come here?” she asked.
“I told you. I need your help. This meeting will set the rules for next June. I have to make some sort of statement, but what kind? And I need to win over your father, but how?” He sank back, his gaze fixed on her face.
Margaret tapped one finger on the arm of her chair.A statement. Did she dare? Her fantasy had been to waltz into the contest in June with an entry that would set tongues wagging. Maybe now would be a better time.
She returned his gaze.Oh, how I’ve longed to see him.
“I have no idea how to soften my father. If I did, I would have done it long ago,” she said. “But a statement is an idea with merit. I may have something that may help, but it isn’t ready. Can you stay for a day or two?”
She’d shocked him. Shocked and pleased. She could see it in his expression. A woman in an independent household did not ask a single man overnight.
“Why, my dear Lady Margaret. Are you attempting to compromise me?” His irresistible amused grin accompanied his words, and her face heated.
Ellen, in her corner, gasped and looked up, her gaze skittering away quickly.
Margaret’s lips twitched together. “You are horrifying my companion, Your Grace! What you imply would certainly put a period to my father’s objections, but no. Not that. What I need to show you won’t be ready for another day, and there is no respectable inn within ten miles of here. You’ll stay.”
“Of course I will.” His heated gaze set her insides on fire.
She pulled her eyes away, stood up nervously, and yanked the bellpull. The butler entered so fast she knew he’d been hovering. “Wilson, kindly take His Grace to the large guest room. He’ll be with us for a night or two and will want to dress before dinner.”
Chapter Three
Henry kept Margaretlaughing all through dinner. He even gave Ellen a fit of the giggles over his description of Roseleigh’s mischievous potboy who’d gotten his head stuck between two chair rails while crawling under the table to snitch gingerbread. It had taken copious amounts of soap to free him and earned him two days of bread and water. “Though, I suspect several people in the household were sneaking him food.” If Margaret had a guess, Henry was chief among them.
“How is your sister’s baby?” Margaret asked.
“Little Algernon flourishes,” he said.
“Did she really name him Algernon?” Margaret asked.
He chuckled. “Hername is Henrietta, over my objections. Thank goodness she wasn’t a boy. I fear for the next one. Our family has had entirely too many Henrys. ‘Algernon’ is my little protest.”
He went on to describe the delights of a baby, crawling well, just pulling herself up, the joy of all and sundry. “Even if teething did keep her out of sorts when they visited, I adore her.”
“Your family sounds close,” she said.
“Very. We had a contented childhood. The whole family cares for one another—even Aunt Blanche in her own crotchety way,” he said with a wistful glance at her.
“I envy you that,” she murmured, and his gaze narrowed.
After dinner, Margaret described her seven siblings, a contentious bunch, under Henry’s questioning, beginning with her brother Paul, the heir, three years younger than she and “rather too self-important just now. He has a good heart though, and I have hopes he’ll even out.”
“And the youngest is six? How delightful! Children are a blessing. I’ll look forward to meeting her. What is her name?”
“The poor girl is called Ethelberta. We call her Birdy,” Margaret said.
“She’s a sweet child if a bit insecure about herself,” Ellen put in.
