Charlotte examined her nails and huffed at his slowness. Was he really that unintelligent? “They’re all flowers,” she muttered.
He raised his head and looked at her in surprise. “How on earth do you know that?”
“I read them before you, remember?” she asked.
“Yes, but how did you know they were flowers?”
“It’s obvious! Look at the first one.”
He looked down again, one hand holding the parchment and the other holding his chin as if that might help him think. “Sun… follower,” he said slowly. “Sun follower. Hmmm.”
Charlotte tutted and took the parchment off him again. “Really? Which flower follows the sun? I should have thought an infant could work that one out.”
“Oh! Ha!” Alexander grinned in delight. “Of course. Very clever.”
She froze, staring at him. How did he manage to get more handsome every day? Her eyes roved over his entire body, stopping only where she knew his manhood to be. She swallowed, wondering if she’d ever get to see it. To touch it.
Stop it!
Grinding her teeth again, she looked down at the list. “The second isa fastener for a sailor’s garden. Surely you know that one too.”
“Let me see,” he muttered. He raised his eyes to the bright sky, tapping his chin. Charlotte stared at his lips, the way his tongue darted out to moisten them. “A fastener could be a button, I suppose. And a sailor… seadog? Or maybe matelot?”
“Button seadog?” she asked, wrinkling her nose. “Which flower does that resemble then?”
“No, quite right,” he muttered. “Not that one then. Fastener… fastener…”
“Snapdragon,” she replied simply. “It’s very obviously a snapdragon.”
The duke laughed again. “Oh, of course it is! You have a good head for these types of puzzles, I see.”
“I have a good head for most puzzles,” she said. “Come along. If we don’t start finding the items on the list, we’ll lose, regardless of my head.”
She shoved the parchment back into his hand, this time intentionally brushing it, and marched in the direction of the flower garden. She knew exactly where to find the snapdragons. She led them both there as he puzzled over the parchment.
Kneeling down on the gravel, she leaned in and pushing her nail against the stem, she snipped off one of the biggest snapdragons. It was flaming red like the fire in her stomach. The duke stood over her. Though his nose remained in the parchment, he stood close, so very close that Charlotte could have leaned back and into his legs. She held every muscle in her body tense as she resisted the urge.
“I’ve got this one!” he cried. “Heavenly scent. That can only be lilac, surely.”
Charlotte swiveled around and looked up at him from beneath her lashes. “Well done,” she said. “That is one of the two I hadn’t got. How did you work it out?”
Gazing up at him, he seemed so tall, so imposing. She had to crane her neck to see him, and she was acutely aware of the position of her head near his hips. She dared not looked forward, only up.
“Why lilac is known for its heavenly scent, is it not?”
“Do you… do you like lilac, then?” she asked. The words came out as a whisper, though her body screamed at him to take her.
He lowered his arm to his side and looked down at her directly, the clues forgotten. “I do,” he whispered back. “It is… heavenly.”
Charlotte’s lips dropped open, and she prayed for him to get down on his knees, to put his hand on the back of her head and pull her in for a kiss. But instead he cleared his throat and turned away.
“Wherever shall we find it?” he asked, the huskiness in his voice replaced with formality. Charlotte sagged with disappointment, then climbed to her feet.
“I know where,” she snapped coldly. “Follow me.”
She marched away, and the duke ambled after her, his attention seemingly lost to the parchment once more. She wanted to scream at him that if he couldn’t stay away from her, then the very least he could do was kiss her, but she knew she couldn’t. She would sound like a madwoman and besides, from the way he liked to tease her, she was certain he would not want to kiss her.
“A swift thistle?” he asked.
