Page 6 of The Milliner and the Griffin Rider

“Oh, what are we to do, Chloe?” Maddie wailed. “We both invested everything we had in setting up this store and took out a debt on top of it. We’ll never be able to start again if Gannon forecloses on us and takes the shop. We’ll both end up in debtor’s prison—or dead on the streets.”

Chloe laughed, her natural good humor reasserting itself in the face of Maddie’s dire predictions.

“Dearest Maddie, don’t worry so. I know a certain young man who would never allow that to happen.” She gave Maddie a significant look, and Maddie blushed rosily.

At twenty-eight, she had despaired of finding love until Everard’s newest apothecary had arrived. At thirty himself, and a sweet, gentle man besides, he was an excellent option for Maddie. Chloe couldn’t be more pleased for them both.

“But it’s not going to come to that,” Chloe declared. “I’ll learn from my failure and try a different approach next time.”

“Do you already have an idea?” Maddie asked.

“I daren’t try anything too similar since the captain is already suspicious,” Chloe said. “But surely he doesn’t shadow the Duke around his own house. I’ve heard the Duke is to throw a garden party in two days’ time, and it should be a simple matter to join the festivities—as long as I have the right dress.”

She clasped her hands together and smiled so angelically at Maddie that the other girl laughed, her worries temporarily forgotten.

“If you were planning to force your way into a ball, there’s nothing I could do for you in only two days. But a day gown I should be able to manage. I’ve actually been working on a few more gowns for you already, since you can’t wear the same one every time you see the Duke.”

“I knew you would come to my rescue, oh best of friends and most talented of dressmakers.” Chloe threw her arms around Maddie and squeezed until Maddie protested, a laugh in her voice.

Satisfied with her efforts, Chloe drew back and declared she needed to hurry up and change, or else she would be spending all night catching up on the work she had missed. She had three outstanding hat orders that needed to be completed as soon as possible.

But when she managed to prick herself with her scissors, having already done so three times with her needle, she gave up and retired to bed. There was no point trying to work when her thoughts insisted on circling endlessly back to a certain tall, commanding captain whose arms held safety but whose eyes held suspicion.

She had mostly managed to banish thoughts of Captain Harrison by the time she approached the manor grounds two days later. Mostly. As she neared the manicured section of the gardens, her mind sharpened, her focus finally narrowing to the task in front of her. It was crucial that she slip into the event without being seen. Once she was inside, she would blend in easily with the small crowd, especially since the event had been thrown open to not only the gentry and nobility of the region but also some of the wealthier business families.

Circling away from the main carriage drive that approached the front of the manor house, Chloe searched for a gap in the hedge that shielded the lower gardens from the road beyond. The tall hedge didn’t circle the whole way around the manor, so she was certain to find an end to the greenery eventually. She just hoped she wouldn’t have to go quite so far.

Her eyes fell on a ragged section of hedge, and she hurried over to examine it more closely. With a relieved sigh, she concluded that she should be able to squeeze through without tearing a second one of Maddie’s creations.

Turning sideways, she eased into the gap, using her hands to press her skirts against her legs. Holding her breath, she edged along slowly, untangling her gown from any branches the second the material became caught. As long as she moved carefully, she should make it through.

But just as she popped out the other side, a sigh of relief ready on her lips, a final branch caught at her hat, tearing it from her hair.

“Botheration!” she cried, as her elaborate hairstyle tore partially free, the pins pulling at her hair until her scalp stung. She turned to stare up at her beautiful hat, now hanging from the hedge.

“That’s funny,” said a drawling voice that made her instantly stiffen. “I don’t remember your name on the guest list, Miss Chloe.”

Captain Harrison stepped into view. Had he been watching her the whole time she shuffled through the hedge?

Chloe clenched her teeth as he retrieved her hat from the hedge and offered it to her with raised brows. She hadn’t even made it safely beyond the hedge before he found her. The man was insufferable!

It didn’t help that he was looking even more attractive than on their first meeting, the cut of his jacket flush against the muscles in his shoulders, and his hair an elegant riot of short brown waves. A treacherous part of her wanted to reach out and touch one of the waves, while the rest of her was desperately conscious that she herself looked disheveled, her hair half hanging around her face.

“Thank you, Captain,” she said woodenly, accepting the offered hat.

Hesitating for a moment, she finally sighed. Grasping the edge of the hat between her lips, she held it there as both her hands plunged into her hair, rescuing pins and re-clipping curls in a frenzy of movement. As soon as her hair was close to respectability again, she retrieved the hat and jammed it back onto her head, replacing the hat pins that had been keeping it in place.

Only once she had succeeded in righting her appearance—as much as was possible without a mirror or extra pins—did she look again at the captain. He was watching her with something in his eyes that she couldn’t read.

The moment stretched between them as she waited for him to make further accusations. Her mind was racing with possibilities as to how she should answer, but he remained silent, his intense gaze focused on her face.

Just as she was about to crack and break the silence herself, another voice hailed them.

“What have you found?” the man called, striding into view a second later.

Chloe instantly recognized him as one of the riders who had accompanied the captain on their previous meeting, and his presence reminded her of his words on that occasion.

Whatever had held the captain still and silent broke, but he kept his eyes on Chloe as he spoke. “You’ve arrived just in time to hear Miss Chloe explain her unexpected arrival. I am most curious to hear what dire circumstance has motivated her to make such an awkward entry.” He glanced at the hedge. “However neatly it was accomplished. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the party currently underway, but I confess I can think of no explanation.”