Chapter 4

"Montgomery."

Lenore smiled at Rhys's typically dry greeting as he strode across the lower lawn towards her. She tried, unsuccessfully, not to notice the divine way his pale buckskin breeches molded to his thighs, nor the careless disorder of his hair that made her fingers itch to stroke it.

"Morning, Davies. It seems we've been paired together for this challenge."

Rhys's lips gave a cynical twitch. "Indeed. I see you've dressed for the occasion." He sent her pretty lavender day dress a disapproving frown.

Lenore hid a grin. The dress might not be the most practical outfit for a treasure hunt, to be sure, but it did wonders for her figure and the color was the perfect foil for her coppery-brown hair and green eyes.

"We'll be searching the grounds, not paddling up the Amazon." She sent him a challenging, sideways look. "Which I've done, by the way."

A muscle twitched in his jaw. "Yes, I know. Your sister Caro told me all about your intrepid adventures when we were seated together at dinner last night."

Lenore bit her lip. She'd been unreasonably jealous of Caro when she'd glanced down the long table and seen her chatting so effortlessly with Rhys. He seemed to smile and charm with every other woman except her. What was wrong with her?

Both Davies and Montgomery families were amply represented this morning. Cousin Tristan, the architect, stood with his arm around his wife, red-haired Carys. They'd come over after breakfast from their house just over the hill.

Gryff, Rhys's eldest brother, was whispering something in Maddie's ear that made her blush, while cousin Harriet was arguing with her Davies husband Morgan about an alternative way to read the compass she'd pulled from her pocket.

Lenore's sisters, Lucy and Caro, were also there, each with their respective partners. It was going to be an exciting morning.

Aunt Prudence cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. "Ahem! I hope you're ready to begin." She held up a bundle of folded papers. "The aim of this treasure hunt is to find the ten colored flags, like this one Connie is waving about, that have been hidden around the place. They could be on either Davies or Montgomery property, and they could be high or low, indoors or out."

"And don't think that because neither myself nor Prudence are particularly nimble, that they'll all be hidden in easy-to-reach places." Constance said. "We employed several wonderfully athletic footmen to place the flags where we wanted them."

Lenore grinned at the sparkle in her aunts' eyes. They'd probably relished the opportunity to ogle the young men while they worked; they were bawdy old crones.

"There is one clue for each flag." Prudence handed one folded paper to each team, winking at Lenore as she took hers. "When I say go, you may open the papers and read the clues. The team that finds the most flags, and brings them back here to us, will be declared the winner."

"What's the prize?" Gryff demanded, earning him a laughing glance from his wife, Maddie.

"The glory of being the victors, of course." Aunt Prudence said. "And bragging rights over your siblings."

"The very best kind of prize," Morgan chuckled.

Aunt Constance pulled out a silver pocket watch and squinted at the time. "The day will be split into two sessions. You may search this morning until lunch, which can be partaken either here or at Trellech at one o'clock. The afternoon session will start at two, and you'll have until dinner—that's nine o'clock—to find as many flags as you can. Now . . . go!"

Rhys leaned over Lenore's shoulder as she fumbled to open the paper, and the delicious scent of his cologne made it hard to concentrate on the handwritten lines in front of her.

"What's the first clue?"

"I'm a handsome male, a sight to be seen. All eyes are on me when I preen." Lenore read.

Rhys wrinkled his nose. "What on earth does that mean?"

Carys and Tristan were already hurrying away across the grass.

"It's a peacock," Lenore smiled. "Isn't it the males which have the hundreds of ‘eyes' on their tails?"

Rhys nodded. "Of course. Well done. There are scores of ‘em over at Trellech, all wandering around, screeching at people."

"How are we supposed to know which one has the flag?" Lenore asked. "Do they have a cage where they go at night?"

"No. They just roam free. But knowing your great Aunts, and their penchant for making things difficult, I bet it's somewhere near Geoffrey." Rhys said darkly.

"Geoffrey's a peacock?"

"To all outward appearances, yes. But I sincerely believe he's the devil in avian form. I've lost count of the number of times I've wanted to strangle him for waking me up at dawn."

Lenore bit back a smile at how aggrieved he sounded. "Perhaps the Trellech menagerie would be a good place to start?"

"Probably. In fact, I bet that's where Carys and Tristan are headed right now."

Lenore nodded and turned to start across the lawn, but Rhys's hand shot out and he caught her wrist. She glanced down at it, surprised by the contact—and the flash of heat that skittered over her skin—and he released her as if she burned him.

"Don't go haring off to Trellech just yet," he said. "We need to be clever about this if we're going to win." He sent her a sideways glance. "You do want to win, don't you?"

Lenore snorted. "Of course."

"Right, then. There might be other flags, closer to here, that we can find. Let's read the rest of the clues then make a plan for the most efficient route to get to them. No point running back and forth between here and Trellech and wearing ourselves out."

"You can tell you were in the army," she teased. "That's very organized."

He inclined his head at the compliment. "As an officer, having my men conserve their energy was of vital importance."

"Very well, clue two is: I'm part of a ship, a game with cards, I link two houses with a shaking of hands."

"Ships?" Rhys grumbled. "Morgan's bound to get this one. He's the only one of us who joined the navy." He bit his lip and leaned closer, apparently unaware of the fluttering his proximity created in her belly. Or perhaps he knew only too well, and he was determined to torture her until she died of unrequited lust.

"One Davies and one Montgomery have to meet and shake hands on the spring equinox every year to keep the peace." Lenore said evenly. "Perhaps it's a reference to that?"

"Of course. The answer's bridge," Rhys said suddenly. "That's where the captain stands on a ship, and it's a card game, like whist. The flag must be must be on the bridge over the river that marks the border between our lands."

Lenore glanced across the lawn and saw that Gryff and Maddie were already headed in the opposite direction to Carys and Tristan, no doubt on their way to the bridge.

"That's not too far from here," she said. "But there still might be somewhere closer."

Rhys nodded and read. "Clue three is: I have jackets but I'm not a wardrobe. I have thousands of leaves, but I'm not a forest."

"A library!" Lenore chuckled. "Books have dust jackets and leaves, don't they? But which library should we search? There's one here, but I'm sure you have one over at Newstead, too."

"We do," Rhys nodded. "It's where Tristan proposed to Carys after they'd been chasing that wretched bear all over the county."

"I heard about that. It sounded very exciting."

"Not nearly as exciting as the story Caro told me last night about you chasing off a panther," he said. His brown eyes sparkled with interest.

Lenore fought a blush. "It's wasn't as impressive as it sounds. It was when we were in Brazil, in the rainforest. I was in my tent one evening, and I heard a strange sound, almost like a cough, then a growl. I opened the flap, and there was a black jaguar, just slinking through the camp, not five feet from me. I panicked. I picked up the closest thing to hand, which happened to be my shoe, and threw it at him with a shout. It hit him on the tail, and he ran off into the forest."

She shook her head in recollection. "He was such a beautiful creature. His fur wasn't completely black, but dappled, and his eyes were the most incredible yellow. I'm glad I got to see him."

She glanced up at the man next to her. Rhys reminded her of that panther. Dark and muscled, with a sinuous, athletic grace. And yet his comment about taking care of the men under his command showed there was more to him than just his outward appearance. He was responsible, compassionate. Kind.

"So, we'll check the library here first, and if there's no flag, we'll head over to Trellech. Next clue?"

"Clue four: Red or white, the ancients say there's truth in me." Lenore read.

"That's easy. Wine. In vino Veritas, and all that."

"So, a wine bottle? Wine cellar? Both houses have those, too."

Rhys shrugged, an elegant lift of his muscular shoulders. "We'll have to look in both, I suppose."

"Right. Next clue. Number 5. A foolish ruin." Lenore thought for a moment. "Oh, that's folly. There's one on the Montgomery side of the river, in the woods. Our great grandfather had it built when things like that were all the rage."

"Excellent. Clue six?"

"A healthy source of water."

They both frowned. "What could that be? A water source could be a spring, a river, a stream. But why healthy?"

"What's another word for healthy?" Rhys asked. "Hale. Hearty?" His brow cleared. "I have it – well! As in, not sick. And somewhere you can get water."

Lenore nodded enthusiastically. "They must mean the wishing well, near the western border. That's about halfway between here and Trellech. So is the folly. We should go to them one after the other."

"Agreed."

Lenore smiled, her heart beating in satisfaction at how well they were working together. They made an excellent team.

"Clue seven is: I'm surrounded by water, but I'm not a fish. No man is this, according to John Donne."

Rhys chuckled. "That one is for you and your sisters. You've spent time on several of them. The answer's an island."

Lenore gave a good-natured groan. "One flag's on an island?" She sent a mock-furious glare over at Constance and Prudence, and the two of them erupted into fits of giggles.

"Figured out clue number seven?" Pru chuckled. "We thought you'd appreciate that one, my love."

"And you'll need number eight to get there," Constance added.

Lenore glanced back down. Clue eight read, I can have gravy in me or water under me. "A boat," she said. "I thought I'd seen the last of boats when we docked in England."

"What's clue number nine?" Rhys asked.

"I have hands but no arms, a face but no eyes. That's a clock," Lenore frowned. "But there must be hundreds of clocks between this house and Trellech. There's one in almost every room."

Rhys glanced over at Prudence and Constance, who were watching them with undisguised interest.

"That's true, but knowing how much your Aunts love excitement and entertainment, I doubt it's going to be hidden behind some nondescript mantel clock. It's going to be something big and bold." He thought for a moment. "The most visible clock—and the most difficult one to get to—is the one in the highest tower at Trellech. I bet it's somewhere like that."

"You're right," Lenore nodded. "They did say they weren't going to make it easy for us."

"Very well. What's the last clue?"

"I could be an admiral, a monarch, an emperor, or a painted lady."

"Another naval question," Rhys grumbled. "They're clearly favoring Morgan again. What have an admiral, a king or queen, and a courtesan have in common?"

Lenore laughed. "They're not people. Those are all species of butterfly. I bet my father helped them write that clue. The flag must be somewhere in the butterfly house. That's at the far end of the gardens, behind the trees over there."

She gestured past the edge of the formal lawns, toward the walled garden.

"Right. So, by the sounds of it, there are three or four flags here near Newstead, three in the land between the two houses, and another three over at Trellech. Let's check the closest ones first, like the library, the wine cellar, and the butterfly house, then head further afield. Agreed?"

Lenore nodded. She'd spent ample time with men who simply told her what to do without asking for her agreement or her opinion, but Rhys had seemed pleased at her cleverness in deciphering some of the clues, and keen to work with her as an equal.

"Agreed."