“Perhaps you could teach us all to play,” he said, smiling at her. That smile grew tenfold when she glanced back at him with a look of delight.
“I could do that,” she said.
“Yes, teach us baseball,” Amaryllis gasped, as though she’d offered to fly them to the moon and back.
“I want to learn too,” Hazel said. “Perhaps, if I take to it, I could have Mr. Brummel fashion a baseball bat attachment for my arm.”
Lenore blinked in surprise, sending a nervous glance to Hazel’s mechanical arm before deliberately looking away. Her gaze fell on their father. “What do you say, Mr. Mercer? Would you like to learn to play baseball too?”
He loved her. Her simple question, directed without art or malice, toward his father, was like fireworks of desire blasting through him, knocking him off his feet. He actually loved her.
“I’m sure Father would love to umpire the game,” he said, reasonably certain he looked every bit the lovesick schoolboy that he felt.
“Very well, then.” Lenore stood, patting her mouth with the edge of her serviette, then setting it on the table. “Show me to a field suitably large and find me a ball and some sort of stick we can use as a bat.”
Chaos erupted, exactly as Phineas expected it to. The girls dashed outside to find the requested items, and Lenore followed them. But not before she flashed Phin the most beautiful smile of mischief and good humor that he’d ever seen. Which was miraculous, considering how terrified she’d been the day before. It warmed him to his bones to see how comfortable and safe she felt in the protection of his family, which only increased his ardor.
“You need to propose to that woman as fast as possible,” Hazel murmured to him as they worked together to move their father outside and settle him where he would be able to watch the activity unfolding in the yard.
“I half tried already,” he admitted. “On the train. I was disappointed in the results.”
Hazel straightened once their father was settled. “So you asked and she said no?”
Phin winced and rolled his shoulders. “I implied, and she demurred.”
Hazel made a frustrated sound, glancing to their father. “Is this how you raised your heir?”
Their father’s eyes shifted slightly from Hazel to Phin. It was a rare good sign that he was following the conversation.
“You need to ask her properly,” Hazel went on. She glanced across the yard to where Lenore and the girls were choosing from a selection of broomsticks, farm implements, and even an old cricket bat for their game. “The weather is unseasonably warm today. I suggest a romantic picnic for supper this evening. You can go out to Granger’s Hill, spread a blanket, watch the stars come out, and do whatever comes naturally after a romantic proposal.”
Phin gaped at her, then turned to their father. “Is this how you raised your eldest daughter?”
Their father made a gurgling noise that could have been a laugh. Paradoxically, that macabre sound filled Phin with joy. All was definitely not right with the world, but in that moment, he was most certainly happy with his lot. And if he played his cards right, Lenore would be happy with it too.
“I know a secret,” Amaryllis said, an impish grin on her face as she, Gladys, and Lenore joined Phin, Hazel, and their father at the side of the yard.
“Do you?” Lenore said with exaggerated interest.
Amaryllis nodded and giggled. “It’s about Phin.”
Lenore gasped, her mouth open as she turned to Phin, pretending to be shocked. “I was unaware that your brother had secrets.”
“He has loads of them,” Gladys said with a shrug, bouncing the ball they’d found off of the cricket bat as expertly as any of the lads Phin had ever played the sport with.
“And what secret do you know about your brother?” Lenore asked Amaryllis.
Amaryllis giggled, leaned closer to Lenore, and said, “Phin likes kissing people.”
A surprise burst of mortification filled Phin. He prayed to God Amaryllis didn’t know a fraction of the truth behind her statement and that she wouldn’t say anything else.
“I’m shocked,” Lenore said, pressing a hand to her chest. “Utterly shocked. I am flabbergasted and amazed.”
Phin rolled his eyes at her, his mouth pulling to the side in a wry grin.
“I simply cannot believe the coincidence,” Lenore went on, laying it on far too thick. “Because I like kissing people too.”
Amaryllis burst into laughter that doubled her over. Gladys laughed as well, missing the ball and letting it drop to the grass. Even Hazel laughed, which meant Phin couldn’t possibly maintain his stoic mien. He laughed and shook his head, clapping a hand on his father’s shoulder. London seemed a million miles away. Lady Hamilton and Det. Gleason felt like no more than fictional characters. Mr. Bartholomew Swan and the Wyoming Range Wars must have been something out of another lifetime. And Phin would have been more than happy to have all of it stay just where it was.
“Princess Lenore, would you care to have a picnic supper with me this evening?” he asked, throwing caution to the wind.
Lenore blinked, as startled to be asked the question as he was to have asked it. “Why, um, I guess I would,” she said, her smile widening.
“Good,” Phin replied, adding a saucy wink that made Lenore’s cheeks go pink.
Everything was settled, then. He would propose to Lenore under the moonlight, and as soon as she was his wife, he would stop at nothing to sweep all of the troubles out of both of their lives.
Chapter 11
It all felt wrong. Lenore shuffled through the things she’d hastily packed for the trip to Yorkshire, deciding on the perfect outfit for her evening picnic with Phineas, but everything felt wrong. Granted, it felt beautiful as well. The unseasonable warmth that the new day had ushered in made
