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She whisked herself back to the foot of the stairs and looked up. “Come down. I’ll catch you.”
Fiona came next, straddling the rail instead of attempting to sit sideways. Likely the safer of the two options. Down she came, and Isleen caught her sister around the waist. The two of them giggled and shushed one another.
Rosalind braved the journey next, using Fiona’s method, and they helped her come to a soft stop. Then Isabelle, chewing her bottom lip, came to the top of the stairs and stared. She looked back at her brothers, then squared her shoulders and faced forward again. She tried Isleen’s tactic and likely was a fine horse woman, given how well she kept her seat.
Her sister helped her land, and the two of them collapsed to the floor in a fit of quiet laughter. They nearly fell all over each other in their mirth. And suddenly, Isleen stopped thinking of them with their titles. They were only children, playing a game together.
“I have never done that before,” Isabelle whispered.
“Me neither.” Rosalind shivered, then rose from the floor. “It feels dreadfully wicked. Grandmother would faint if she saw us.”
“She wouldn’t,” Isabelle argued. “She’d lecture us in French untilwefainted from shame.”
James landed next and glowered at all of them. “I can hear you all the way upstairs. Hush.”
His sisters hid their smiles behind their hands, but their shoulders still trembled with their laughter.
Isleen peered upward, watching as Simon stood with hands on his hips at the top of the stairs. After all of them had slid down the banister, he would do the same. She didn’t doubt him for a moment. But she certainly didn’t want to miss it.
He heaved a sigh, saluted her mockingly, then threw a leg over the banister and came down at top speed. Isleen had to leap out of his way as he landed, his feet hitting the carpeted floor with an enormous clomp!
She brought her hands together in silent applause. “Well done, my lord.”
He gave her an overly dramatic bow, his smile slight and his eyes sparkling. “I could hardly refuse a challenge issued by a lady such as yourself, Miss Frost.”
The children had already started making their way across the Carriage Landing, a long open corridor, toward the other side of the house. Isleen slipped closer to Simon as he watched them comically stoop to half their heights, even Isabelle, and slink softly across the carpet, occasionally freezing as though they had heard something and then continuing onward.Giggling softly all the while.
“This is a marvelous game,” she whispered.
He looked down at her, one eyebrow arched upward. “Did you think me incapable of providing entertainment for children?”
“Not incapable. I merely did not take you for one who would spend time on such a thing.”
“You know little about me, it would seem.”
She had to nod her agreement to that. “Every time I learn something new, I like you the better for it.” She smiled, then pointed to their path. “We had better get started on this leg of the journey.”
“After you, Miss Frost.”
“Thank you, Lord Farleigh.” And away she went, looking over her shoulder, surprised to find him bent in half like the rest of them. She couldn’t deny her pleasure in joining in the game, folding herself over as much as she could and still tiptoe across the floor.
Thus far, every challenge she had given Simon for the wager he had met easily. Even though they had all been things meant to check his pride and provide amusement for others.
Maybe it was time to rethink her strategy. Maybe, instead of trying to make him do things he would not like, she ought to think of things he would genuinely enjoy. Because he wasn’t a stuffy Englishman as she had thought when they met.
He had only forgotten what it meant to enjoy himself.
* * *
Simon adjustedhis cravat using a mirror hanging above the hearth. The guard room was mostly silent, except for the quiet tap of shoes as a guard-turned-footman walked from one side of the room to the other, lighting candles.
Simon picked up his walking stick from where he’d leaned it against the stone frame.Tonight, they dined with a local gentleman who had been friends with Simon’s father for years. A few hours out of the castle would likely be refreshing for their guests. They hadn’t left once in the week they had been present. If the children needed a reprieve in the form of their game that afternoon, the adults would certainly appreciate the same.
Somehow, Simon had escaped the day with only that single challenge issued by Miss Frost. Sliding down the banister. A thing he hadn’t done in over a decade.
And he had enjoyed it, too.
He gave the stick a twirl in his hands, then tucked it casually beneath his arm. He couldn’t help grinning as he thought of Miss Frost sliding down the stair rail. He wished he had seen it for himself. Which was a highly inappropriate thought in need of a quick dismissal.
