“Because I needed to know for your surprise.”

“Another surprise? I’m not certain how many more surprises I’m capable of experiencing today.”

“Have no fear. Come.”

He released her one hand, then, still holding the other in his warm grip, he led her toward the copse of elms. Curious, she looked around, but did not see anything out of the ordinary. When he stopped near the tallest tree, however, the scent of freshly dug dirt tickled her nose, and she looked down. And stilled.

There, in the pale glow of the moonlight, stretched an unfamiliar flower bed filled with a profusion of plants of various sizes surrounding the two outermost trees. She instantly recognized the familiar foliage, and her breath caught. “What is that?”

“Do you not recognize the plant? It is-”

“Dicentra spectabilis,” she whispered. “Yes, I know.”

“You said the bleeding heart was your favorite. I noticed a number of bleeding hearts scattered about your garden, but not a single large grouping.”

As if in a daze, she released his hand and crouched down to run her finger gently over a delicate row of tiny, perfectly shaped red-and-white hanging blooms. “You did all this?”

“Well, I cannot take all the credit. I enlisted Fritzborne’s and Spencer’s help.”

“They know of this?”

“Yes. Spencer helped me pick out the plants when we visited the village. Fritzborne hid them in the stables, then transported them here this afternoon. Spencer and I planted them.” He chuckled. “I think keeping this a surprise nearly killed the lad.”

“Yes, I imagine it did.” She pulled her gaze away from the stun-inducing wonder of the flower bed and looked up at him over her shoulder. “This is why you wanted to go to the village? To purchase these?”

“Among other things, yes.”

She moved to rise, and he immediately extended his hand to assist her. She slipped her hand into his, absorbing the warm, callused texture of his palm as it surrounded hers. When she once again stood facing him, she did not release his hand.

“Other things?” she repeated, her heart thumping in slow, hard beats. “Don’t tell me there are more surprises.”

He smiled. “All right. I won’t tell you that.” He brushed an errant curl from her forehead, and her hard-thumping heart skipped a beat at the intimate gesture.

“I cannot believe that the small flower shop in the village had such an abundance of plants available,” she said.

“Actually they had only a few. When I told the shopkeeper I wanted more, he suggested some of the village residents might be willing to sell their plants. So Spencer and I proceeded to knock on doors.” He laughed. “I think we met nearly everyone in the village in our quest for bleeding hearts.”

She could only stare. “You’re saying you went to the homes of people you didn’t know to ask them if you could purchase plants from their gardens?”

“That sums it up very well. Everyone was quite happy to allow Spencer and me to dig up their plants for ‘Lady Catherine’s surprise. ’”

Heavens, there had to be at least three dozen plants surrounding the elms. “You went to a great deal of trouble.”

“I wouldn’t call doing something for you trouble.”

Her gaze drifted downward again, and at the sight of what he’d done for her, a rush of tenderness swamped her, swelling her throat with emotion, and pushing moist heat behind her eyes. Returning her gaze to his, she squeezed his hand and spoke the simple truth, “No man has ever done such a lovely, thoughtful thing for me.” And romantic; her inner voice chimed in with a feminine sigh. You forgot to add romantic.

He raised their joined hands to his lips and pressed a kiss to the sensitive skin inside her wrist. “I did tell you I enjoy being first.”

The feel of his mouth on her skin, the quiet words breathing heat, licked tiny trails of fire up her arm. He then lowered her hand to press it against his chest, where his heart thumped strong and fast against her palm. Almost as strong and fast as her heart was beating. Because of the way he was looking at her. How close he stood. And because of not only what he’d done, but the way he’d done it.

“The flowers are even more special because you included Spencer in your surprise,” she said softly. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

To her mortification the moisture building up behind her eyes overflowed, and a pair of tears leaked from her eyes.

His eyes widened with a look that could only be described as masculine panic. “You’re crying.”

He sounded so horrified and accusatory, the sob that was caught in her throat bubbled forth as a laugh. “I’m not.”

“Then what do you call this?” He caught one tear on the tip of his finger while his other hand frantically patted his pockets, presumably for a handkerchief.

Now amused-thank goodness-she slipped her own lace hanky from her long sleeve and dabbed at her eyes.

“Are you still crying?”

“I was not crying.”

“Again we require the dictionary.” He reached out and took the handkerchief from her, then gently dabbed at her cheeks. When he finished, he tilted his head first left, then right, peering at her closely. “It appears you’ve stopped.”

“I had not started. I’d simply… sprung a freakish leak of the eyeballs. Today’s Modern Woman does not cry when a man brings her flowers. Heavens, if that were the case, I’d have been in a state of constant hysterics for the past fortnight.”

She said the words in a teasing manner, but the instant they left her lips, she realized that these were not just any flowers. Moreover, it was becoming alarmingly clear that the man standing in front of her was not just any man.

He handed her back her handkerchief, which she tucked up her sleeve. “Well, consider me relieved that your, er, freakish eyeball leak has corrected itself.”

He did indeed look relieved, and she had to bite back a smile. Even in the aftermath of the shooting, he’d remained calm and collected. Yet the sight of feminine tears clearly undid the man, a trait she found utterly endearing.

Dear God. She simply did not want to find something endearing about him. Bad enough she already found him painfully attractive. Speaking of which, her inner voice interjected, ‘tis well past the time to put your plan into action.

Angel’s Smile would do just as nicely as the gazebo, and she did not want to wait any longer for him to hold her. Kiss her. Which, for some reason she could not fathom, he had yet to do. She wanted to grab him by the shoulders, shake him, and demand to know what the bloody blazes he was waiting for. Well, it was simply time to take matters into her own hands.

Giving him what she hoped passed for a carefree, yet with a hint of alluring smile, she said, “Your generosity and thoughtfulness makes me feel all the more guilty about the wager we made.”

“Wager?”

“Regarding you reading A Ladies’ Guide?”

His confused expression cleared. “Ah, yes. That wager. Why do you feel guilty about it?”

“When we made the wager, we’d agreed upon a time of three weeks. Since then we’ve mutually decided that you’ll only be in Little Longstone for one week. I’m afraid that given the time constraints and the fact that it would prove nearly impossible for you to secure a copy of the Guide here, I think we need to discuss terms.”

His expression turned thoughtful, and taking two steps backward, he leaned his back against the thick trunk of the elm behind him and studied her. “If it would be nearly impossible for me to secure a copy of the Guide here in Little Longstone in one week’s time, I don’t see how I would have been able to accomplish the task in three weeks. Or three months for that matter. Which makes me wonder if perhaps I was duped.”

“Not at all. With three weeks at your disposal, you would have had sufficient time to send an order to a London bookstore and have had a copy delivered to you here. If you’d been so inclined.”

“Ah. But now that I only have a week-”

“I fear that is no longer a viable option,” she said, injecting just the right note of regret in her voice. However, her conscience made her ask, “If you still had the three weeks’ time, would you have sent an order to London?”

“No.”

It was all Catherine could do to keep her lips from curving into a triumphant smile. Perfect. He’d swallowed her bait without a hitch. Now all she had to do was reel him in.

“I thought not,” she said, keeping her expression serious, “which means that-”

“Our wager is void.” He nodded. “Yes, I suppose you’re right.”

She stared at him. “Void? That is not what I was going to say at all.”

“Oh? What were you going to say?”

“That I was the winner.”

His brows shot upward, and he folded his arms across his chest. “How did you arrive at that conclusion?”

“You just admitted that you would not have made arrangements to secure a copy of A Ladies’ Guide from London, regardless of the length of your stay in Little Longstone. You will recall that in order for you to win the wager, you had to read the Guide, then engage in a discussion about it, which you cannot do if you do not have a copy, which you cannot secure without making special arrangements, which by your own admission you’ve no plan to do, which, even if you did plan to do, you no longer have the time to do.” She finished her speech with a flourishing wave of her hand and sucked in a much-needed breath. Then she offered him her sweetest smile. “Therefore, that means I am the winner.”

He remained silent for several seconds, studying her with a slightly bemused expression that delighted her. Excellent. She’d obviously thrown him off-balance. Her strategy was working brilliantly. Now for the final step…