Page 21 of The Earl and the Reluctant Lady
“I must speak with you about something important,” she whispered to her friends.
Justine’s brow furrowed and she nodded while Matilda merely took on that sly smile of hers. Matilda was always up for an adventure, as was Agnes herself when the adventure wasn’t quite so close to home.
“I’ll wait until we are given entrance into the main room so we’re not so near to the rest of the crowd.” As if by her mere mention of the notion, the double doors opened and they were escorted into the large open room, which she believed had once been a ballroom, but now had been converted into a massive library.
“Is Harriet planning to join us?” Matilda asked.
“No, I believe she had another engagement,” Agnes said.
“Something with Lord Davenport perhaps?” Justine asked with a knowing smile.
“It does seem to be only a matter of time for the two of them,” Matilda said. Then she grabbed onto Agnes’s elbow and pulled her farther into the room away from the crowd. Justine followed. “Now tell us.”
“I received flowers from an anonymous suitor.”
“I’ll bet your mother was over the moon,” Justine said drily.
“As you can imagine,” Agnes said.
Matilda’s eyes widened and her smile grew. “How positively delicious.”
Agnes fought the urge to roll her eyes. Out of all of her friends, Matilda was the one who believed in love the most, which was saying a lot, considering how enamored with it Harriet had always been. “Not in this case. It is not romantic in the least.”
Justine frowned, which seemed to be her most natural expression. “You know who they are from?”
“No, but I know for a fact that the flowers were cut from plants in my own garden,” Agnes said. “Initially, I thought it was merely a coincidence, but I went and walked in the gardens and found the precise plants where the flowers had been taken.”
“Isn’t your garden protected by a wall?” Matilda asked.
“It is.”
“Which means someone did it from within or climbed over the wall,” Justine said.
“Precisely,” Agnes agreed. “But it makes no sense that someone would have done it from within. We’ve had no visitors and none of our servants would do something so foolish.”
“That’s rather alarming,” Matilda said.
“Is this the first gift you’ve received?” Justine asked.
“Yes,” Agnes said, but then the memory of the note she’d found on her doorstep. “There was a letter left on my doorstep, but I hadn’t really thought anything of it.”
“What did it say?” Justine asked.
“It mostly commented on all of my features, my beauty.” She rolled her eyes. “Nothing of consequence.” She shrugged. “It might not even be the same person.”
Matilda snorted. “It is a wonder you don’t have a much longer line of suitors.”
“Christopher manages to keep most of them away,” Agnes said.
“Considering our regular duties with the Ladies of Virtue have been put on hold indefinitely,” Justine said, “it seems this is the perfect thing for us to put our efforts into.”
“Precisely what I was thinking,” Matilda said. “We need to make sure you’re protected, Agnes.”
“I am glad I spoke to you about this,” Agnes said, relief washing over her. She certainly had some skills to protect herself, but with her brother out of town, it was nice to have friends so keen on protecting her. “I had nearly convinced myself I was being paranoid.”
“Do you have any notion of who it could be?” Justine asked. “Anyone who has been paying closer attention to you as of late?”
Agnes thought for a moment before asking. “I danced with Lord Glenbrook, Lord Barrow’s son, and Lord Wakefield most recently.”
Matilda bristled at Sullivan’s name. “But you’ve danced with all of them before, and you and Glenbrook”—his name came out nearly as a curse on her lips—“are friends of sorts.”
Agnes knew her friend did not care for Sullivan, and she had always suspected the feeling was mutual on his end. But their paths rarely crossed, at least around her, so it had never been much of an issue. Still knowing their dislike for each other put Agnes in a precarious position, always wondering if one or the other would say something distasteful in front of her. She wouldn’t hesitate to defend either one of them, they were both friends, but mostly her curious nature just wanted to know why the animosity.
“Oh, I also danced with Lord Travers.” She made a face of disgust. “But I’ve danced with him before also. And he always professes his love and plans to marry me. So anonymous letters seem too subtle for him.”
“I agree. It seems this would be a new suitor, someone trying to gain your favor,” Justine said.
Agnes sighed heavily. “Yes, well sneaking into my family’s private gardens is not the way to go about it.”
