“My dear, dear girl, I am ecstatic things have come to this”—the Baron coughed into a handkerchief—“I do so think you delightful.”
“Oh, uh, thank you, Sir Scott, but you misunderstand—”
“You are such an inspiration, too.”
“Am I?” She turned her head to the side and cursed. “Bother.”
The baron nodded enthusiastically, which led to another bout of coughing, through which he nodded enthusiastically all the while. When he caught his breath, he said, “You are, you are, my dear lady. In fact, last night I was thinking of you in bed.”
Tobias just bet he was. His hands fisted. His frown transformed to a glower. He inched closer to Maggie. Her head turned a bit to the right again. She wanted to look. He knew she did. But she behaved and did not. Was she frowning? Or was she being polite and smiling at the poor old man?
“I was thinking of your quiet beauty,” Sir Scott continued, “when the answer to my latest mathematical conundrum struck me. The answer came to me all at once. And it was you who inspired it, Lady Magnificent. It got me thinking, it did, that I would like to have such inspiration near me all my days. And now, with your proposal …” The baron stepped forward.
“It was not that kind of proposal, Sir Scott!” Maggie took a step back, right into Tobias. She could ignore him no longer and swung around, craning her head back to look at him. He’d been right, she had known it was him. Not a hint of surprise shadowed her gaze, but panic burned wild in her brown eyes. “Mr. Blake! How lovely to see you! Have you met Sir Scott? He’s a genius mathematician.”
Tobias stayed close to Maggie. If the older man made her panic, he’d not leave her alone. In fact, he’d chase away the problem. “A pleasure, Sir Scott. I wonder if you can answer a mathematical question for me?”
Maggie looked at him quizzically.
“You see,” Tobias drawled, keeping his arms crossed over his chest. “I’m not, as you may have guessed, a particularly bright man.”
Maggie snorted.
But Tobias would not yet let her distract him. “Can you tell me what one less than three is?”
The old baron appeared baffled.
“Is my question too difficult?” Tobias asked.
“No, no, just the opposite, sir,” the baron assured him. “Even a child knows the answer to that.”
Tobias shrugged. “Alas, I’ve ever lacked enough wit to understand numbers. Do explain.”
The baron scratched his head. “Well, you see, if we have three items and we take away one item we have … well, how many do we have, Mr. Blake?” He spoke slowly and softly as if teaching the child he’d spoken of.
“I must say I’m still lost.”
“Tobias!” Maggie whispered. “This is no time for a math lesson.”
“Perhaps,” Tobias continued, pretending he hadn’t understood Maggie’s warning, “if we demonstrated the principle, I could wrap my sluggish mind around it.”
“You are not sluggish,” Maggie hissed. Her voice rode a wave of irritation, but she remained close to his side. Interesting. Perhaps Henrietta had the right of it. He could change her mind.
Tobias unfolded his arms and held them out wide. “The lady is kind, as always. Sir Scott, what say you to a demonstration? We have, after all, three people right here.”
“At least you can count,” the baron grumbled.
“Just barely, good sir, just barely.”
Maggie growled. “What are you up to?”
Tobias booped her on the head. “One.”
Her mouth dropped open. Her eyes widened in shock.
Tobias smiled and booped the baron on the head. “Two.”
“Here now!” the baron sputtered. “You will not lay hands on me, you heathen!”
