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“Your mother just announced that all pairs must tackle the list on their own,” Giles pointed out. “Two gifts for the winning couple.”

His voice was positively chilly.

Lady Stella was looking embarrassed. It wasn’t reassuring to have one’s partner chase across the room and begin smiling at another lady.

Yasmin surreptitiously elbowed Silvester. “Of course we won’t break the rules.”

“The scavenger hunt begins in Covent Garden Market,” the dowager bawled. “You must be checked off there by my head footman, whom you’ll find at the main entrance, wearing Huntington livery. Return there at your appointed time, three hours later. A tardy couple cannot win. The couple who finds the most objects—or obtains one of the first three items—wins.”

Chatter rose in the room like water in a flooded stream.

“Number two is the Bishop of Norfolk,” the dowager continued. “I haven’t seen my brother in ages, so if anyone manages to snag him, he has to agree to come for tea before he trots back to the cathedral. Just so you know, he is in London.”

“How could we possibly find a bishop?” Yasmin asked the group.

Silvester glanced at his partner. “I might have an idea.”

“Wouldn’t that be cheating since he is your family member?” Lady Stella asked. Her tone strongly suggested that she would expect nothing more.

“It isn’t based on intimate knowledge,” he answered. “I read in the morning paper—”

“Don’t forget to take a chaperone, if you’re an unmarried chit!” the dowager barked. “I don’t want any fuss and bother from outraged mothers. Every maid in the house is waiting at the front door. Take one of ’em and go. The carriages are waiting!”

“Excellent,” Giles said, drawing Yasmin away without a farewell to either Silvester or Lady Stella.

Yasmin apologetically smiled over her shoulder as he towed her to the door. “We needn’t be in such a hurry!” she protested. “I haven’t the faintest interest in a vulture crown. Have you?”

“I want to make sure that Lydia leaves with a chaperone,” Giles said, his voice tight.

Once in the entry, she saw his shoulders relax. Yasmin came up on her tiptoes. “Wasn’t she paired with Patrick deGrey?”

“Apparently, she switched partners, as her current partner is Lord Pettigrew.”

“He’s a nice man,” Yasmin said. “I understand that he is very kind to his dogs. Oh, and you probably know this, but he studied to be a barrister for the pure fun of it. Of course, he doesn’t have a regular practice, but I understand that he occasionally argues cases for those who cannot afford legal defense.”

Giles looked at her. “Dogs?”

“A poodle, a dalmatian, and a pack of hounds,” she told him. “Pedigreed hounds, not the regular sort.”

“Do you know everything about everyone?”

Yasmin blinked. “Yes, of course. I have astonishing powers of perception. I can see into the heart and soul of a person and ascertain whether they are an adulterer or a spy.”

Giles had been watching his sister leave; he looked down at Yasmin when the door closed behind Lady Lydia. “I see.”

“Did you even hear what I said?”

“You are gifted with godlike powers of discernment. I expect that must prove useful in navigating polite society.”

Yasmin sighed. “Do you mind if we pause for a moment before we run out the door to try to find these items? I still don’t understand the game.” Giles was a wooden statue without a sense of humor. She was astonished to think that she even bothered to waltz with him, let alone speak to him. Or allow him to kiss her.

“Number one,” she read aloud. “Queen Elizabeth’s coronation crown? That is impossible.”

“Ignore the first three,” Giles said. “Traditionally, the first three items are jokes, items that are impossible to obtain.”

“I take it that we want to win the contest?”

Like her grandfather, a shrug was beneath the Earl of Lilford, but he moved his shoulders restlessly. “We needn’t play at all. We could simply return here in three hours.”