Page 12 of A Wallflower to Win the Viscount

The goose did not move, so he ran to the back gate and pulled it wide open.

‘Shoo, shoo,’ he shouted at the stupid beast.

The goose looked up at him, gave a small honk, then waddled over to the edge of the water.

Lucian looked back at the house. The prospective buyers could not see a goose here. That would not fit their image of genteel Kensington where elegant balls and soirées were hosted. The animal had to go. Now. He darted at the goose, flapping his arms as if in indication of what it was supposed to do—run or fly or something out the back gate.

The obstreperous bird did run off, its wings spread out, moving as fast as its little legs would carry it, only in the wrong direction. It was heading for the house, and in its fright had left an unsightly trail of droppings behind.

‘Damn, damn, damn,’ Lucian swore, feeling ridiculous and completely ineffectual. This was all Miss Fairburn’s fault. She would have to be the one to fix it.

He rushed out the open gate, down the path and through her gate and found her spreading grain on her back lawn. With no preamble he took hold of her by the upper arm and pulled her towards the gate.

‘What are you doing?’ she cried out, seed flying everywhere.

‘Your goose is in my garden. You have to get it out. Now. Before the estate agent and the potential buyers come to inspect the house,’ he said as he went down the back path and through the gate again, bringing her along with him.

They entered his garden. He led her up to the terrace, then finally released her arm. They both looked down at the goose, standing right outside the French doors, pecking at the window and giving the impression he was expecting to be invited into the drawing room.

‘Oh, yes, I see. I’m sorry.’

‘Don’t just say sorry. Do something about it. Quickly.’

‘Come on, sweetheart, you need to come home,’ she cooed, causing the bird to flap its wings but otherwise remain exactly where it was.

‘I’ve never seen him agitated like this before. Not since I rescued him.’ She scowled at Lucian. ‘Did you do something to upset him?’

‘What? No. All I did was try to chase him out.’

Her frown deepened. ‘He doesn’t like being chased.’

‘And I don’t like having a goose in the garden when I’m trying to sell a house. Get him out. Now.’

She wasted a few more valuable seconds frowning at him before turning back to the goose. ‘Come on, sweetheart. I’ve got some lovely corn for you.’ She reached into her pocket and pulled out a bag. ‘Oh.’

‘Oh? What’s wrong?’

‘I seem to have spilled all the corn. That must have happened when you were dragging me down the path.’

Lucian refused to feel guilty for his actions. It might not be the behaviour of a gentleman, but under the circumstances he was sure he could be forgiven.

‘Oh,’ she repeated, looking down the garden.

He followed her gaze, and his heart sank. Oh went nowhere near describing the sight. The other geese were now pecking at the trail of corn which led up the garden towards the terrace. More rabbits than he could count were bouncing along behind them, several ducks had appeared from somewhere, and the goat was peeking round the gate to see what all the commotion was about.

‘Did you leave the gates open?’ she asked.

‘What? Yes. No. I don’t know. Yes, I suppose so,’ he said, hurrying down the garden and calling back at her over his shoulder. ‘You deal with the geese. I’ll get the rabbits.’

What they would do with the goat and the ducks he had no idea, but he’d sort that out once he got the multitude of rabbits back where they belonged.

Shooing rabbits out of a gate was more difficult than Lucian had imagined. Not that he had ever imagined trying to shoo a rabbit. With his foot he gently nudged several balls of fluff in the direction of the gate.

‘Don’t you dare kick Lucinda,’ Miss Fairburn shouted from the terrace, in a surprisingly fierce voice for such a dainty person.

A cacophony of honking erupted from the geese, along with much fluttering of wings, presumably in reaction to hearing their mistress’s raised voice, but despite all this noise, there was not much movement towards the gate.

Damn, damn, damn, Lucian wanted to swear again but kept his peace in case his expression of justified outrage caused even more pandemonium.