“Yes, but…” Nathanial’s voice trailed off.
“You’re overthinking this,” Charlaine told him. “It’ll make your head hurt if you keep it up.”
A disbelieving chuckle rumbled in his throat. “Why do I even bother?” he mumbled as though to himself.
Charlaine stopped and grinned up at him. “I don’t know. One would think a man as intelligent as you would have learned his lesson by now.”
“One would think so, wouldn’t one?” he asked mockingly, a wide grin on his face.
Charlaine nodded, then turned when she glimpsed Daphne and Susan darting in and out of the small grove nearby. “They’re up to something,” she mused as they headed onward. “They keep asking me about frogs.”
“Frogs?”
“Yes, if I’ve ever seen one, ever caught one.”
Nathanial frowned. “Why?”
“I don’t know. They’re quite tight-lipped about it.” She wondered why the girls had not told her. “Perhaps they’ll confess to you.”
“Me?”
Charlaine smiled at him. “Ever since you secured a necklace for Mary, you’re Daphne’s hero and, therefore, Susan’s also.”
Nathanial scoffed. “I doubt they’ll tell me anything they’re not telling you.” He shrugged off her hunch in a way that made Charlaine think he was pleased by her assumption nonetheless. Indeed, he wanted to be someone’s confidante. He wanted to be the hero, and who could blame him?
Who didn’t?
“There they are,” Nathanial said, pointing through the small grove at the lake situated behind it. In summer, the dense vegetation almost completely blocked their view. Only the sun’s rays bouncing off its shiny surface here and there whispered of a hidden treasure behind the grove. “Are they allowed out here by the lake on their own?”
“No, they’re not.” Charlaine picked up the pace, releasing Nathanial’s arm as she entered the grove. “I suppose they, once more, slipped from Emma’s grasp. They can be quite ingenious when they want something.”
A few more steps and Charlaine moved out into the sunshine, her eyes gliding over the small lake, surrounded by tall-growing trees as well as a meadow that ran all the way to the horizon. Wildflowers bloomed everywhere, and the air smelled of summer, fresh and intoxicating.
“What are you two up to?”
Kneeling by the lake’s surface, the two girls flinched at the sound of Charlaine’s voice. Susan almost slipped and fell in, but Daphne grabbed her arm and pulled her up the bank after her. “We were just looking around,” she said innocently, her eyes never meeting Charlaine’s.
“I thought you wanted to see to poor Mary. How is she?”
“Better,” Daphne replied lightning-quick as Susan all but cowered behind her, her little head bowed, not daring to look up.
Charlaine crossed her arms as Nathanial came to stand next to her. “All right, out with it! What are you two up to? It must be something utterly devious judging from the looks upon your faces.”
With her little hands clasped together, Susan looked up, her eyes moving from Charlaine to Nathanial and then back. “We’re looking for frogs!” she all but yelled.
Daphne rolled her eyes, then huffed out an annoyed breath.
“Frogs?” Nathanial asked for the second time that day. “Why are you looking for frogs?”
Daphne’s lips thinned, but her wide, brown eyes looked calculating, trying to determine whether or not to trust them with their secret. “Oh, very well,” she huffed out a moment later, her shoulders slumping in defeat. “We want to kiss one.”
Out of the corners of her eyes, Charlaine noticed Nathanial’s jaw drop in surprise at Daphne’s confession. “You want to kiss one?” she asked, remembering the fairy tale Emma had been reading to them lately.
It had a frog in it.
As well as a prince.
Daphne and Susan nodded. “We thought that would be the best way to meet a prince,” Daphne explained reasonably. “So we need two frogs. One for Susan, and one for me.”
“That does sound reasonable,” Charlaine replied, fighting to maintain a straight face. “And may I ask, what will you do with your princes once you have them?”
Daphne’s eyes narrowed, suggesting Charlaine had to be a fool to ask such a question. “We want to marry them, of course.”
“Of course,” Charlaine echoed as she glanced at Nathanial. His face seemed a bit strained as well, laughter lurking just below the surface. “And why, pray tell, do you wish to marry a prince?” Of course, Charlaine had her suspicions.
“We want to be princesses!” Susan exclaimed from behind Daphne, a large smile on her flushed face.
Daphne nodded in agreement. “Princes are good and kind. They protect the lady they love and they always sweep her off her feet.” A little frown appeared upon her little face. “I’m not certain what it means, but I think it means he’s strong so he can carry his lady.”
Susan frowned, too. “Why does he need to carry her? She’s got two legs and can walk on her own, can’t she?”
Daphne nodded as the two girls stuck their heads together. “Perhaps only when there’s mud so she doesn’t get her shoes dirty.”
“What about his shoes?” Susan threw in.
Daphne shrugged. “I don’t think men mind that much. They like mud.”
“How can anyone like mud?” A little shudder went through Susan.
Holding her breath, Charlaine had to fight to keep from laughing. Nathanial, too, had to turn away, his face a bright shade of red as he drew in deep breaths through his nose. “Aren’t they adorable?” Charlaine whispered once he returned to her side.
Nathanial nodded, his lips still pressed into a thin line…no doubt, as a precaution.
“Supper will be ready soon,” Charlaine told the girls, a little desperate to change the subject. “How about we return to the house now and come back here tomorrow and look for frogs?”
While the girls looked a bit disappointed, the promise of food soon had them racing back to the house, their little faces flushed once more from the exertion.
“Do you truly intend to look for frogs tomorrow?” Nathanial asked, his left brow raised in doubt as they followed in the girls’ wake.
Charlaine chuckled. “Why not? Don’t you think they deserve princes?”
Shaking his head at her, Nathanial laughed. “You’re impossible! What if those girls truly end up kissing a frog and then see that no prince materializes?”
Charlaine grinned at him. “What if one does?”
Chapter Twenty-Five
On the Hunt
Indeed, life at Markham Hall was quite informal as Nathanial came to see when he rose the next morning.
Breakfast not only included the lord and lady of the house as well as Charlaine and himself, but also Daphne and Susan as well as Miss Glass, the governess, and Caroline’s lady’s maid, Sarah. First names were used by all around, except for Miss Glass, who addressed Lord Markham—or Pierce—by his title, her pale eyes rather flitting, whispering of a certain unease. While she seemed utterly devoted to the family, the young woman appeared similarly taken aback by the lack of formality even after three years in the household.