When Harry Met Molly

who had nothing more to recommend him than loads of empty charm and…and a family name that turned heads.

He was nothing more than a spare, her head told her decisively. A spare who’d gone to rack and ruin, whose heroics at Waterloo were probably as short-lived and insubstantial as a curl of smoke from a fired musket.

Chapter 29

Harry guessed that Arrow and Hildur, Joan and Lumley, and Maxwell and Athena arrived at the final site of the treasure hunt about half an hour after Sir Richard and Bunny had.

Athena was in a terrible snit. “I despise caves,” she said, her hair rather more wild than usual. “I will die before I set foot in another one.”

“She only stood at the entrance,” Maxwell muttered to Harry. “And a bat flew in her hair. You’d think it was the end of the world. It took me a good thirty minutes to calm her.”

Arrow and Hildur both looked half dressed, and their hair was damp. “We lost track of the time,” Arrow said, quite good-naturedly. “We really did intend to win.”

Hildur laughed. “I like waterfalls, Captain Arrow.” She threw him a smoldering glance.

“You do, don’t you?” He shook out his cuffs and winked at Harry.

Joan was in a foul mood, as well. “Those ruins,” she said, “are fake.”

“It’s all the thing, don’t you know,” said Lumley with a shrug. “Build your own ruins, invite friends over.”

“But we were trespassing,” Joan said. “And they caught us.”

“It wouldn’t have been a problem if, um—” Lumley stopped talking and looked worriedly at Molly.

Harry noticed that ever since their time together in the kissing closet, Lumley treated Molly with special deference. She’d asked after his mother’s health, after all. And made him a lovely tart.

“If what, Lumley?” Sir Richard asked nastily.

“If we weren’t naked,” Joan said with asperity.

Harry looked swiftly at Molly. The word naked apparently wasn’t bothering her as much anymore. She appeared to be laughing behind her hand!

The minx.

He caught her eye and grinned, but her expression instantly became serious again.

And it hadn’t improved, all the way back to the hunting box, where they immediately trooped into the drawing room for a late afternoon cup of tea.

Captain Arrow flicked back the curtains. “We’d all best batten down the hatches tonight,” he said. “We had a devil of a red sky this morning. I predict a vast downpour. And gusty winds.”

“But the sky is clear,” said Athena, “save for a few fluffy clouds.”

“Red sky at morning, sailors take warning,” said Captain Arrow. “I’m sorry for Harry and Delilah, though.”

“We’ll be fine,” said Harry, trying to boost Molly’s spirits.

She didn’t say a word.

“Delilah, aren’t you excited about your impending Arabian night?” asked Joan.

Molly sat up in her chair. “Of course I’m excited,” she said, and tried to smile.

But she was a terrible actress, Harry thought for the umpteenth time. She looked as though she’d rather be drawn and quartered than sleep in a Moroccan tent with him.

Athena puckered her brow. “Are you all right, Delilah?”

Molly nodded. “I—I’m fine.”

“I should hope so,” Sir Richard huffed. “While we’ll have roast beef and pudding, you’ll be treated to a lavish meal served by exotic menservants.”

“Where are they?” Molly asked.

No one knew.

But the piece of paper detailing their prize made it clear that the servants would be at the site on the hill near the lake sometime soon after sundown.

Which was in fifteen minutes. So it was time to go.

After many wishes for a pleasant evening from everyone except Sir Richard, Harry found himself alone again on the trail with Molly. She was lagging behind him, perhaps without realizing it.

“Tell me truthfully,” he asked her. “Are you all right?”

“My slipper’s loose,” she said. “That’s all.”

“I could carry you,” he offered with a grin. “It could be fun.”

“No, thank you,” she responded politely, but her smile was weak.

Approaching a bend in the trail, Harry racked his brain for something that would restore the affectionate, cheerful Molly to him. Without her, he was becoming cross. And damned if his head wasn’t beginning to ache. For the first time, his usual charm was failing him utterly, and he couldn’t think how to…how to win her back. She’d been ignoring him, ever since she’d talked to Sir Richard after the treasure hunt.

Wait—

Sir Richard.

Harry braced himself to ask Molly what had transpired between them, but she was staring over his shoulder.

“Oh!” she cried. “I’ve never seen anything like it!”

Straight ahead, shimmering like a jewel among the trees on the side of the hill facing the lake, was a scarlet and white striped Moroccan tent.

“It is rather splendid.” Harry squeezed her hand, encouraged by her enthusiastic reaction.

She didn’t lag behind anymore. In fact, he had to walk faster to keep up with her. All thoughts of asking her about Sir Richard went out of his head. Harry was hopeful that Molly was back, his Molly, the one who made him feel as if every day were an adventure.

A few minutes later, when they actually got to the campsite, there didn’t appear to be anyone nearby, even though there was a small fire and a well-roasted suckling pig crackling and hissing away on a spit above the flames.

“You’re late,” Harry heard from behind him.

“Oh!” said Molly, and whirled around.

In the split second he took to turn, Harry girded himself. He knew that voice, even as the commonsensical part of him insisted that it couldn’t be that person—it couldn’t! Not out here in the middle of nowhere.

But there he was—Prinny himself, sitting in a grand chair between two trees. He was surrounded by two Indian servants waving large feather fans behind his head. And he held an open bottle of wine in his hand.

“Your Royal Highness,” Molly said in a trembling voice, and dropped a low curtsy.

“Your Highness,” Harry said in his crispest tone. “Welcome to my family’s property.” He gave a swooping bow.

Prinny chuckled. “My, my, my,” he said. “So you won the treasure hunt, Harry.” His gaze raked boldly over Molly. “Did this fair lady assist you?”

Harry took a step forward. “Yes, Your Highness, she did. She was indispensable, actually. Never would have won it without her.”

Prinny took a swig from the bottle. “It gave me great pleasure to arrange that treasure hunt. I’m surrounded by very capable advisors”—he paused—“and some dolts, as well, who think I should attend to state matters all the time. But everyone knows a man must have his fun, eh?”

The prince leaned on an elbow and eyed Molly. “Tell me your name, my dear.”

Harry almost couldn’t breathe.

“D-Delilah, Your Highness.” She smiled at Prinny, and Harry prayed Molly’s heavy eye makeup and rouge