“You are a beast.”
He clucked her gently under the chin. “A beast you raised.”
“And it wasn’t an easy task,” she muttered. “I can assure you of that.”
He leaned forward and dropped a kiss on her cheek. “Have fun greeting your guests, Mother.”
She scowled at him, but her heart clearly wasn’t in it. “Where are you going?” she asked as he started to move away.
“For a walk.”
“Really?”
He turned around, a bit bewildered over her interest. “Yes, really. Is there a problem with that?”
“Not at all,” she replied. “Just that you haven’t taken a walk—for the simple sake of taking a walk—in ages.”
“I haven’t been in the country in ages,” he commented.
“True,” she conceded. “In that case, you should really head out to the flower gardens. The early species are just beginning to bloom, and it’s simply spectacular. Like nothing you can ever see in London.”
Anthony nodded. “I shall see you for supper.”
Violet beamed and waved him off, watching as he disappeared back into his offices, which wrapped around the corner of Aubrey Hall and had French doors leading out to the side lawn.
Her eldest son’s interest in the Sheffields was most intriguing. Now, if she could only figure out which Sheffield he was interested in…
About a quarter of an hour later, Anthony was out strolling through his mother’s flower gardens, enjoying the contradiction of the warm sun and the cool breeze, when he heard the light sound of a second set of footsteps on a nearby path. This piqued his curiosity. The guests were all settling in their rooms, and it was the gardener’s day off. Frankly, he’d been anticipating solitude.
He turned toward the direction of the footfall, moving silently until he reached the end of his path. He looked to the right, then to the left, and then he saw…
Her.
Why, he wondered, was he surprised?
Kate Sheffield, dressed in a pale lavender frock, blending in charmingly with the irises and grape hyacinths. She was standing beside a decorative wooden arch, which, later in the year, would be covered with climbing pink and white roses.
He watched her for a moment as she trailed her fingers along some fuzzy plant he could never remember the name of, then bent down to sniff at a Dutch tulip.
“They don’t have a scent,” he called out, slowly making his way toward her.
She straightened immediately, her entire body reacting before she’d turned to see him. He could tell she’d recognized his voice, which left him feeling rather oddly satisfied.
As he approached her side, he motioned to the brilliant red bloom and said, “They’re lovely and somewhat rare in an English garden, but alas, with no perfume.”
She waited longer to reply than he would have expected, then she said, “I’ve never seen a tulip before.”
Something about that made him smile. “Never?”
“Well, not in the ground,” she explained. “Edwina has received many bouquets, and the bulb flowers are quite the rage this time of year. But I’ve never actually seen one growing.”
“They are my mother’s favorite,” Anthony said, reaching down and plucking one. “That and hyacinths, of course.”
She smiled curiously. “Of course?” she echoed.
“My youngest sister is named Hyacinth,” he said, handing her the flower. “Or didn’t you know that?”
She shook her head. “I didn’t.”
“I see,” he murmured. “We are quite famously named in alphabetical order, from Anthony right down to Hyacinth. But then, perhaps I know a great deal more about you than you know of me.”
Kate’s eyes widened in surprise at his enigmatic statement, but all she said was, “That may very well be true.”
Anthony quirked a brow. “I’m shocked, Miss Sheffield. I had donned all my armor and was expecting you to return with, ‘I know quite enough.’ ”
Kate tried not to make a face at his imitation of her voice. But her expression was wry in the extreme as she said, “I promised Mary I would be on my best behavior.”
Anthony let out a loud hoot of laughter.
“Strangely enough,” Kate muttered, “Edwina had a similar reaction.”
He leaned one hand against the arch, carefully avoiding the thorns on the climbing rose vine. “I find myself insanely curious as to what constitutes good behavior.”
She shrugged and fiddled with the tulip in her hand. “I expect I shall figure that out as I go along.”