A Lord Rotheby's Holiday Bundle (40 page)

When the gentlemen joined the ladies
in the salon following their after-supper port, a frisson of
excitement hung in the air. In fact, most of the guests had been
anticipating the evening of the scavenger hunt almost as much as
the grand ball Aurora had planned for the final night of their
stay.

After all, a scavenger hunt allowed
for pairs to go off along dark paths only partially lit by lanterns
and candles, in search of both hidden treasures and perhaps a few
stolen moments alone.

Since Lord Norcutt and Rebecca had
taken it upon themselves to destroy Aurora’s plans for a match
between Rebecca and Lord Tucker Flynn, she had no choice but to
redouble her efforts where Nia and Sir Jonas were concerned.
Tonight would be a perfect opportunity.

Aurora clapped her hands to gain the
crowd’s attention. “All right, if everyone is ready, the scavenger
hunt is set to begin. Gentlemen, do please select a lady to be your
partner for the night’s adventure.” As expected, Norcutt
immediately bustled over to Rebecca’s side. In fact, the gentlemen
almost all took up their expected partner in record-setting
time—all save Sir Jonas.

Nia sat in her corner again, looking
down at her hands where they rested in her lap with a blush
coloring her cheeks to a furious red. Sir Jonas looked about, as
though searching for a respite, for any other young lady not yet
partnered. There were none to be found, of course.

Aurora raised an eyebrow at the
blasted baronet, indicating Nia in the corner. Slowly, almost as
though it pained him to do so, Sir Jonas shuffled across the floor
to where Nia sat. He bowed low to her and murmured something Aurora
could not make out, and finally she nodded her assent.

All was as it should be.

“
Very well,” Aurora
continued. “Now, gentlemen, each of you must come and fetch a slip
of parchment. On each slip is a clue to your next clue. You must
all find a series of ten clues, though they will all be different,
save for the very last one. Whichever pair finds the final item and
returns it here, to me, first shall be declared the
winner.”

“
And what shall be our
prize?” called out Mr. Bentley.

Oh, goodness. How could she have
forgotten a prize? What a hostess she was turning out to be,
forgetting such things as that.

But then Quin stepped out from near
the window, where he had been playing whist with some of the older
crowd. “The winning pair shall select what is to be the first dance
at Friday’s ball,” he declared.

Oh, yes. That would be lovely. And it
seemed to suit the gathered hunters rather well, also, as they all
mumbled to their counterparts.

Then the gentlemen came over to her to
fetch their thrice-folded clues before returning to their partners
for the hunt to begin. Still, once they were all set to go, no one
made a move to begin.

“
What are you waiting for?”
Aurora asked. “The hunt is on!”

Without further ado, each of the
partnerships opened their clues and huddled their heads together,
interpreting what they were to look for and determining where they
ought to begin their search.

Within moments the salon had cleared
out except for Quin and his fellow card players. Aurora sat back on
a nearby settee and sighed. The difficult part, for her at least,
was over. Now she merely had to wait for the winners to
arrive.

Hopefully the hunt would not go on so
long that she could no longer keep her eyes open. That would be
rather badly done on her part. But with the way she was feeling,
she might very well fall asleep where she sat if she had to wait
more than about thirty minutes. Oh, blast. Why had she made it so
there were ten clues? She could have done five, and that would
still have been more than enough to provide ample entertainment for
the evening.

In the quiet, she watched Quin from
across the room. He still seemed rather carefree and relaxed, much
as he had that morning when they awoke. When had the change taken
place? She couldn’t be certain. Sometime since he had told her of
Mercy’s death and of his father.

It was good to see him this way. To
see him actually enjoying himself. Indeed, just at that moment, he
played a card and laughed out loud at the frustrated harrumph her
father gave. There was something very different about Quin now from
when they first married. His eyes no longer looked haunted. They
seemed alive—still with a devilish gleam, to be sure.

A rush of footsteps scurried past in
the hall outside the salon, complete with excited voices and a
feminine giggle or two. Out the window, a single lantern seemed to
be floating along in the air of its own accord, headed toward the
orangery.

After a few more moments, Lord Merrick
and Lady Emily reentered the salon. “I’m quite certain that very
tapestry is in here, my lord, and not in the great hall like you
thought,” Lady Emily said. They slipped past Aurora, moving
purposefully along the length of the room almost to the windows.
“See? This is the one.”

Merrick lifted the bottom corner to
reveal a clue placed between it and the wall. He unfolded the
parchment and read aloud: “In the room where once they came to
pray, beneath Lord Rotheby your next clue shall lay.” He crinkled
his nose and frowned. “I do not believe I wish to look beneath
Rotheby, ma’am.”

Several barely muffled snickers
sounded from the card tables, plus one very loud, “I beg your
pardon,” from Rotheby himself.

“
His portrait, silly. The
abbey’s chapel was turned into a portrait gallery. Come on, let’s
go find the clue.”

Just as rapidly as they had come, they
were gone again.

For the next while, the only sounds
other than the card game were those of deciphering clues in the
hall.

“
An armed babe?” from a
masculine voice. “I have not seen a single child in this entire
abbey. What could that be?”

“
Perhaps it is the
sculpture of Cupid? Shall we go off to check the kitchen garden,
then?”

“
Indeed.”

Then more silence, before: “Where else
will we possibly find a ceiling that looks like a star?” This was
from a lady. “We’ve already been to the dormitories and the
portrait gallery. I don’t believe I’ve seen that anywhere else. We
could spend hours trying to find it.”

“
I know I’ve seen it
elsewhere. But where was it? I can’t seem to recall at the
moment.”

“
Well, we’ve already
checked this entire floor. Shall we go up or down?”

“
Down, that’s it! The
undercroft. Quinton keeps his office there.”

From the sounds of things, Aurora had
done an excellent job with her clues. They made the couples stop to
think. Not only that, but some were clearly going to be more
familiar to the ladies of the group, and others would be more
appropriate for the gentlemen. She couldn’t help but be rather
proud of herself.

A few moments later, Rebecca and Lord
Norcutt came bursting into the salon, laughing so hard there were
tears in their eyes and they held their stomachs in a doubled-over
position. Norcutt was dripping wet from head-to-toe.

“
Have you won, then? Where
is it?” Aurora asked, barely concealing her amazement that a dull
dog like Norcutt could have her dearest friend in such stitches.
That sort of laughter was usually reserved for Aurora, not Norcutt.
She supposed, given that they were to marry, it was only
appropriate.

“
N-n-no,” Rebecca finally
managed. “We have hardly won. For that matter, we haven’t even
found our third clue.”

“
After I fell into the
pond, attempting to see if a clue hung from a tree branch, we
decided that perhaps the two of us would be better off allowing the
remainder of the water to remain in your pond, ma’am,” Norcutt
added.

His comments also earned a few
chuckles from those at the card tables.

“
But perhaps,” Rebecca
suggested, “Lady Quinton might appreciate it if you stopped
dripping the contents of her pond all over the floor of her
salon.”

It took every fiber of self-control
Aurora possessed to refrain from saying, “Indeed,” but somehow she
managed it. Quin ought to be proud of her for that. She was most
decidedly proud of herself.

Maybe she was growing a bit—becoming
less selfish.

“
Oh, dear,” Norcutt said,
looking down at the large and growing puddle at his feet. “I do
apologize, Lady Quinton. I shall rush off to have my valet make me
more presentable at once.”

She chuckled and nodded in his
direction. Who would have ever thought she’d find Lord Norcutt
amusing? Certainly not Aurora.

A sharp pain shot through her stomach,
and she fought to keep her gasp as silent as possible. Once it
receded, she glanced around to see if anyone had noticed. Luckily,
Rebecca had gone over to watch the game of whist after Norcutt had
quit the room. No one was paying her any mind.

Aurora remained where she
was, carefully monitoring her breathing so that if another pain
overcame her, she would not be discovered. Oh, dear good
Lord,
please
let
someone come to claim their prize soon. She doubted she could last
much longer without expiring on the spot. It would be much easier
to deal with whatever was happening if she could be alone in her
chamber.

But who was she lying
to?
With whatever was
happening…
Aurora knew precisely what was
going on inside her body. She had been right. She had the same
problems as her mother.

She could only hope that the
miscarriage would hurry and finish its course, that it would not be
a long ordeal. The sooner it was over with, the sooner she could
move on with her life—however her life would be.

The only thing she really
had left to worry about was how to tell Quin. If only they hadn’t
already informed Lord Rotheby of the pregnancy. He still expected
Quin to produce an heir. Which really meant he expected
Aurora
to produce an
heir. Something her body was making it abundantly clear it was not
prepared to do.

Would Quin seek an annulment? Was that
even possible? She still didn’t know, but she wouldn’t be able to
stop him if it was lawful. Maybe it would be best, after all. Then
she wouldn’t have to see him each day, to be reminded of all that
had passed between them.

A commotion sounded from the hall,
with footsteps coming their way. “We have it, my lady!” Was that
the elder Miss Osbourne’s voice?

“
Indeed, we do,” called out
Mr. Bentley. Aurora had been right about which Miss Osbourne she
had heard. “But I’m not certain what we’re expected to do with
it.”

What on earth could he be
talking about? Aurora stood to meet them as they entered, but then
froze to her spot when she heard a bark. A
dog’s
bark.

“
What is that?” she asked
of no one in particular. But before anyone could respond, Miss
Osbourne rounded the corner and turned into the salon with a puppy
in her arms, squirming around and licking her all over, and
generally doing as puppies do. Oh, good God in heaven.

“
I’m afraid that is not
what your clue sent you to find” she started to say, but Quin cut
her off.

“
Indeed, you are the
winners, Mr. Bentley and Miss Osbourne. How very clever of you to
solve that final clue.”

Quin had gone daft. “But the last clue
told them to bring back a delphinium from the hermitage,” Aurora
sputtered.

“
I’m afraid you’re
mistaken,” he said. “The final clue read ‘From whence you might go
to find Cook or a cup, seek out a maid holding Lady Q’s pup’. It
seems that they have brought precisely what the clue
demanded.”

“
I never wrote that clue. I
don’t have a pup.”

But then Miss Osbourne came across the
room and transferred the wriggling, excitable little angel into her
arms, and it immediately started licking Aurora all over her face
and arms and everywhere else it could find with its tongue. “It
seems, my lady, that you do now.”

“
Indeed, I suppose I do.”
How delightful. But oh, dear good Lord. Why had Quin decided to do
something nice for her? Why now, when she was on the verge of
crushing his dreams?

Her puppy stayed with her as they
waited for the rest of the hunters to return to the salon. Slowly,
one grouping at a time, they all made their way back, once they
realized that the pup had already been delivered.

All except Sir Jonas and
Nia.

Indeed, more than a quarter of an hour
passed after the rest of the hunters had returned, including Lord
Norcutt in dry attire, before those two made their reappearance:
she looking shame-faced, and he looking angry. Oh, dear. She wished
they would simply accept the fact that they were destined to be
together. Aurora couldn’t imagine a more perfect match. However, it
seemed that couples Aurora found herself intent upon putting
together tended to find themselves intent upon staying
apart.

Perhaps she ought to stop trying,
altogether.