How to Bewilder a Lord by Ally Broadfield

Author:Ally Broadfield
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC (Scandalous)
Published: 2017-05-02T01:02:44+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Unable to concentrate on the journal in her lap, Louisa tapped her fingers against the cover. Most of the guests were worn out from the day’s activities and had retired to their bedchambers. She’d been waiting for Thornbrook for what seemed like forever, but the mantle clock assured her it had only been twenty minutes.

Footsteps sounded in the hall, and she opened the journal and forced herself to read the poem for the hundredth time.

The door creaked open slowly, and Thornbrook stuck his head into the room. He glanced around, presumably to be certain they were alone, then strode into the library, closing the door firmly behind him.

“My apologies for keeping you waiting. I received a missive from home this afternoon that required a reply, and I wanted to make sure it went out tomorrow morning.”

“Is everything all right?”

“Of course.”

“Now I feel guilty for keeping you away from your own affairs for so long. If you need to return to Rosemere—”

He pressed his index finger to her lips, effectively stopping her blathering. “Shh. I’m exactly where I want to be right now. Here. With you.”

She swallowed audibly. A rush of excitement swept through her, followed by an equal measure of dread. She was in conflict with herself. One part of her welcomed Thornbrook’s advances, but the other part of her steadfastly refused to give up her dream to own Walsley despite the fact that every fiber of her being longed for him. How was she to choose between Thornbrook and the home she loved?

He studied her for a moment, then sat on the chair across from her. “Have you made any headway deciphering the poem?”

The journal rested on her lap, but she didn’t need to read the poem as she had already memorized it. “I’m still concerned that it wasn’t meant to be a clue at all and we’re just wasting our time.”

“We’ll have a better idea once we’re able to open the boxes. Until then, we have nothing else to go on. But even if we don’t find anything, that doesn’t mean the poem is useless. It means we’re not very good at following vague clues.”

“Where do you think we should search next?” she asked.

“I don’t fancy dangling off a rope like your fearless, or perhaps careless, brother did, so I’d prefer to leave the wells for last, when we’ve exhausted all of our other options.” He marked his sketch of Walsley. “That leaves the gazebo, the two ponds, and the iron grate to investigate.”

“Let’s search the gazebo first, then your iron grate. If we haven’t found anything by then, we’ll move on to the other two.”

“It seems we have a plan. When do you propose we search the pavilion?”

“If it’s not raining, first thing tomorrow morning. It’ll probably be muddy, but it’s not that far. We’ll take James with us to keep everything proper, but considering how worn out most of the guests were from today, I don’t imagine we’ll have too many early risers.”

Louisa bit back a yawn and watched Thornbrook.

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