Chapter Four

Chloe was nearly out of her mind with boredom. The ladies of the house party were content to sit about, chatting and working on their needlepoint. She didn’t mind those pursuits in moderation, but this had been ongoing since breakfast. In another two hours the dinner dressing bell would ring. Did no one else desperately wish to do something?

Like manna from heaven, Porter stepped inside and moved directly to her. “I have a favor to ask.” He spoke quietly but urgently.

“If it involves leaving this room, I accept.”

A little smile tugged. “That was easier than I expected.”

“What is it you need?”

“Lewis has seen that it is snowing and wishes to play in the snow. His nursemaids are convinced he’ll dart and be all the way to Scotland in the blink of an eye and, therefore, have refused to indulge him.” Porter sighed. “They are likely not entirely wrong. He behaves well for me, but I would be far more likely to meet with success if you were with us as well. He listens to you better than almost anyone.”

“He’s afraid of me.”

His smile grew. “No, he’s not.”

Chloe rose. “We had best go collect the little demon and take him out into the snow.”

“Little demon,” he repeated with a shake of his head. “I wish I could say he didn’t sometimes earn that description.”

“Lewis is wonderful,” she assured him. “He is simply very energetic.” She met Mrs. Northrop’s eye. They exchanged a nod, both acknowledging her departure. As she and Porter stepped into the corridor, Chloe took up a different topic. “Mrs. Northrop has been quite busy on your account. I have seen her deep in conversation with every eligible lady here today. You may very well be married by tomorrow afternoon.”

Porter actually cringed. She had expected a roll of the eyes or a shake of the head—she was being silly, after all—but his discomfort was unexpected.

“Are you not happy about her doing what you brought her to do?” Chloe pressed.

“I am happy. Grateful.” His brow pulled low. “I’m nervous, is all. We need someone, Lewis and I, but I know I’d never find anyone on my own. What if she can’t find anyone either? What if everyone she tries to convince takes one look at me and refuses? What if—”

“Oh, pish.” Chloe likely ought not to have laughed, but the poor soul was so far off the mark that he might as well have been shooting in the opposite direction. “‘What if ladies run screaming in abject horror at the thought of me?’ Have you truly evaluated the situation and come to that conclusion?”

The droop in his shoulders indicated he had.

“You are young and handsome, though Vance would tease me mercilessly if he heard me say as much. You are not in the poor house nor an inveterate gambler.” She counted off the arguments on her fingers. “You are spoken highly of. You claim membership at White’s, which, while not as important to ladies, will certainly give you some cachet with their fathers and brothers. You are gentlemanly and pleasant. And, most important of all, you are not a terrible dancer.”

Porter had turned a bright shade of red. “The dancing is most important, is it?”

“Crucial.”

“And I am not an agile, brown, courageous, dead cat. That must be a point in my favor.”

They had reached the nursery wing. Chloe’s laugh brought the scolding eyes of several nursemaids on her immediately. She clamped her hands over her mouth to stifle the noise, hoping she didn’t awaken any of their charges.

She needn’t have worried about her noisiness. In the next instant Lewis flew across the room and tossed himself against his father. “Can we play? Can we play now? It’s snowing.” He looked at her. “It’s snowing.”

“No,” she said solemnly. “I am certain you are mistaken.”

He popped his fists on his hips and pouted mightily at her. “It is too. I saw it.”

“I believe you will have to show me,” she said. “If I put on my coat and gloves, you and your father and I can go outside and see for ourselves.”

Lewis looked up at Porter. “Can we? Can we show her?”

Porter scooped him up. “That is the plan.”

Not ten minutes later, bundled against the cold, the three of them wandered down a meandering back path surrounded on either side by a vast expanse of lawn being slowly covered in a blanket of snow. Flakes floated down toward them and stuck to their coats and scarves.

“I told you,” Lewis said, pulling his hand from his father’s to reach out and catch the lazily falling snow.

“Are you certain this is snow?” Chloe caught a flake as well. “It is possible someone simply spilled sugar from a very high window.”

Lewis eyed her narrowly. “Are you being silly at me?”

She bent low and tapped the tip of his nose. “Yes. I. Am.”

His face split into an enormous grin. “I like when you’re silly.”

“That is a very good thing, my little Lewis, because I am always silly.”

His eyes darted to his father, then back to her, then back to him again. “May we play chasing?”

It was by far Lewis’s favorite game, though it was exhausting. The child could run for hours without growing tired of the endeavor. She had no such endurance. She suspected Porter didn’t either.

“His nursemaids would likely appreciate us returning him with some energy spent,” Porter said.

“Do you really think we will be dragging his sleeping frame back inside rather than the other way around? Because I suspect he can outrun us both.”

“I more than suspect; I know.”

She took in a quick breath of cold air. “I have an idea.” She bent low and said to Lewis, “We should play hide and go seek.”

He bounced up and down, nodding eagerly. “Please. Please. Please.”

“Follow my lead, Lewis. I know how to convince your father.”

Staying low on Lewis’s level, she looked up at Porter, jutted out her lower lip and gave him her most pitiful look of begging. Lewis copied her expression.

Porter burst out laughing. He was not an unhappy or grumbly person, but he did not often laugh out loud. She wished he did, though. The sound of it was almost magical.

“I think we should play hide and go seek,” Porter said.

“Perfect.” Chloe stood straight once more and took hold of Lewis’s hand. “I think your father should have to do the searching first.”

“Very well. I will give you until the count of twenty.” Porter closed his eyes and began to count aloud.

“I know the perfect place.”

Chloe pulled Lewis gently toward a high shrubbery along the side of the path. A break in the bushes allowed them to step behind and to the other side. She had walked in this particular garden before and knew that a small statue sat up against the back side of the shrub, with cobblestones all around it that she and Lewis could stand on and avoid the mud of the snow-moistened ground.

They hunched down a bit to the side of the statue. Lewis tucked himself up against her, and she wrapped her arms firmly around his middle. He bounced and shook as they stood there, waiting for Porter to come looking. Lewis was only ever still when he was asleep. It was little wonder Porter so often looked entirely exhausted.

“Will Papa find us?” Lewis asked in an eager whisper.

“I hope he does eventually, otherwise we are going to get very cold.”

He bounced even faster. “We are hiding good?”

“We are hiding the most good of anyone.”

“Anyone ever?” Awe filled the question.

She pulled him in closer. “Ever and ever.”

Very little time passed before she heard Porter’s footsteps approach. Truth be told, she and Lewis were not very well hidden. She knew the little boy too well to think he had patience enough for a prolonged bout of hiding.

“He’s coming. He’s coming.” Lewis’s whisper grew louder with each word.

Porter appeared in front of them. He looked about, making quite a show of not seeing them there.

Chloe stood, giving Lewis a nudge. “Run, Lewis. Save yourself!”

He darted. Porter reached for him but missed by too large a degree for his effort to have been anything but for show. Chloe made to rush past as well, but he caught her about the middle.

“You’re not getting away so easily.”

“Save me, Lewis,” she said with a grin.

Porter’s laugh rumbled against her. “I suspect, Chloe, you are something of a mischievous influence on him.”

“I certainly hope so.”

She met his eye, as she’d done many times before. In that moment, however, something was different. She was oddly more aware of him: of the precise shade of his brown eyes, the tiniest asymmetry in his smile, the hint of sandalwood in the scent of his shaving soap. The warmth of his firm, steady embrace. Her lungs seemed to narrow even as her heart expanded almost painfully in her chest.

“We are fortunate indeed to have you in our lives.” He spoke with a quiet earnestness that tugged ever harder at her heart.

She recognized the feelings for what they were. She simply didn’t understand where they were coming from. She’d known Porter for ages and, though she had always truly and deeply liked him, she hadn’t ever felt something deeper. Until now.

“Papa, do I need to save Chloe?” Lewis stood near, asking the question with his brow puckered.

“That all depends,” Porter said. “If she wishes to stay and we want her to stay, then she doesn’t need to be rescued.”

She knew he was indulging his son’s imagination, but his words raised a question in her already befuddled mind: what did she want?

“Can we hide now, Papa?” Lewis asked. “Chloe can look for us.”

Porter’s arms slipped away. Chloe missed the feel of them on the instant. This was so very unexpected.

She managed a smile and agreed to continue the game. But her mind was spinning. Porter Bartrum had only ever been a friend. If her view of him had changed and her feelings grown more tender but he was actively looking elsewhere for a wife, their once easy and congenial connection was about to become extremely awkward.

* * *

From the window of her bedchamber, Adelaide watched the game unfolding below. These three were already very much a family, though none of them seemed to realize it. There was love and tenderness between them all. How was it people were so often unaware of what was so obvious to everyone else?

This matchmaking assignment was proving to be a rather simple one. Nothing stood between the would-be couple other than their own lack of awareness. Chloe, she felt certain, was beginning to see the truth for herself. Adelaide would focus on helping Porter make the same discovery.

The answer would be obvious to both of them soon enough. They simply needed a bit of matchmaker magic. Fortunately, that was Adelaide’s specialty.