Duke with Benefits by Manda Collins

Author:Manda Collins [Collins, Manda]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Published: 2017-06-26T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Maitland had begun to worry that they’d traveled to Bexhill for nothing when Daphne hit on the idea to look for things associated with his aunt. His praise for her idea had not been empty flattery.

She was clever, and if he’d been forced to perform this hunt on his own, he likely would have given up in frustration long ago.

And there was no denying that it was quite pleasant to spend so much time in the company of a beautiful lady who looked at him when she thought he couldn’t see her as if he were some sort of Adonis. He’d been admired by women before, and was under no illusions about the fact that he was handsome, but there was something particularly gratifying to know that Daphne—who was the most intelligent woman he’d ever known, aside from his late aunt—thought him attractive.

Kneeling there beside her, it was difficult to keep his mind on the matter at hand, especially when he could feel the warmth of her while the lemon verbena on her skin seduced his senses. Forcing himself to focus, he watched as she broke the seal and read aloud the message on the folded page.

Huzzah for you

You’ve found this clue

And deserve your due reward.

So leave these cattle,

It’s off to Battle

And Themis’ shining sword.

Secreted there

You’ll find a pair

Who’ll my next note reveal.

Forget thee not

This puzzled knot

Romance’s treasure doth conceal.

“I never knew my aunt had such a knack for penning such awful verse,” Maitland said when Daphne finished. “I mean, sincerely, this is terrible.”

“I should imagine it’s difficult to write lines that rhyme as well as convey the message she wished to hide there,” Daphne said, with what sounded like a bit of defensiveness for his aunt.

“Aside from congratulating us for finding this clue,” he said taking the page from her to read it again, “what is this message she’s trying to convey to us?”

Daphne examined the words, her head close to his as she read.

“Well, discounting the congratulatory note,” she said, pointing to the words, “the first part is this bit about ‘Battle’ and ‘Themis’ shining sword.’”

“‘Battle’ is capitalized,” Dalton said, “so perhaps she’s referring not to an actual battle, but the town of Battle, since it’s so near to Beauchamp House.”

“I agree,” Daphne said. “She showed in her note to me that capitalization denotes something she wishes to call attention to, and in this case I cannot think of an anagram of Battle that would make any sense. And then moving on to Themis’ shining sword, I’m afraid I’ll need to ask Ivy. It looks like a classical reference, but my knowledge in that area is sadly lacking.”

“Huzzah, indeed,” Dalton said with a grin. “Finally, an area in which I know something that you do not!”

Daphne rolled her eyes, but he chose not to notice. “Themis,” he explained to her with what he considered to be great dignity, “was a Hellenic goddess, who was said to represent the divine rightness of law.”

He grinned at her. “I knew those years at Oxford would be useful to me one day.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.