Page 57 of A Temporary Bride for the Duke

A sudden warmth bloomed just inches from her right shoulder, blocking the chill draft from the hallway. And with that warmth came a familiar drift of cedarwood and the faint, clean scent of starch from a freshly ironed collar.

Edmund.

He hadn’t made a sound, but he had maneuvered his body with absolute precision, placing himself directly in her path. He was close enough that she could feel the faint radiation of his heat.

Daisy didn’t hesitate. She lunged forward, her fingers snapping out like a trap, catching the coarse wool of his lapel.

“Tagged!” she cried out. Hastily, Daisy tugged off the blindfold, letting it fall down to her neck.

Lady Archworth snapped her pocket watch shut with a sharp crack. “By the saints,” she muttered, peering down at the glass. “By a hair! A mere two seconds faster on the aggregate.”

A collective gasp rippled through the parlor. Lady Jane Westfield shot to her feet, her eyes wide. “But how? The Duke did not give a single clue! Your instincts, Lady Daisy, they are positively uncanny!”

Daisy smiled while untying the knot at the back of her head. As the fabric dropped away, she looked up to find Edmund alreadygazing down at her. A tiny, knowing smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“Instincts? It wasn’t instinct, Lady Jane,” Lord Bailey grumbled, getting up as well and brushing lint from his waistcoat. “It was sheer, blind luck. His Grace stood there like a statue. A millstone would have been more communicative.”

“It was actually his standing still that enabled me to identify his scent.” Daisy pointed a finger at her nose. “I’m part bloodhound, you know.”

Edmund gave her an amused look, then offered a faint, elegant shrug, adjusting his cuffs. “I merely refused to make a spectacle of myself. If the rules of the house require me to bray like a donkey to secure a victory, then I am content to lose. But I had every confidence that you would find a way, Lady Daisy. You always do.”

Daisy could feel her cheeks heat with pleasure. Hearing the Duke compliment her always gave her such a rush.

“Splendid! Now for our next task,” Lady Archworth announced, clapping her hands together as the servants cleared the tea trays.

Edmund’s eyes widened.

Clearly, he did not think his aunt would test us twice on the same day.

Daisy sent him a reassuring smile.

She had not anticipated such a twist, either. But now that they had another win to their names, she was ready to accept the challenge that came next.

“A test of wit and deduction,” Lady Archworth continued. “Each pair will receive a single riddle. The solution will reveal the exact hiding place of a hidden treasure within the manor. The fastest team to return to this parlor with their prize wins the round.”

Lady Jane Westfield eagerly snatched an envelope for herself and Lord Bailey, while Daisy took theirs, stepping back to the Duke’s side.

“I suppose you will apply the same agonizing deliberation to this game as well?” Daisy teased, holding the envelope between two fingers.

Edmund took it from her, breaking the wax with a swift flick of his thumb. “Riddles do not require me to stumble blindly into furniture, my lady. They merely require logic. Let us see what we have.”

He unfolded the paper. Daisy leaned close, her shoulder brushing his as they read the neat script together:

I watch the room with silent grace,

A frozen smile upon my face.

Though I wear the stone that catches the light,

I keep it hidden from public sight.

Look behind the lord of woe,

To find the prize in his embrace.

“A lord of woe,” Daisy whispered, tapping her chin. “What do you think that is? Who might it be?”

The Duke looked over the verses not with confusion, but with the sharp focus of a scholar. “Look at the third line. Hmm, ‘hidden from public sight,’ but is worn… meaning…”