Page 61 of Lady Waldrey’s Gardening Almanac for Cultivating Scandal (Love from London #3)
F rom Flowers and Botany, Volume III-
Roses—the classic and most revered of all blooms—are also the most prolific.
Although often used in traditional, more formal gardens, roses can also be tucked into more casual groupings.
They offer a stately presence among other flowers, and the bushes themselves can be ornamental, even when not producing blooms. However, it is worth noting that even the most beautiful varieties contain thorns.
“What’s the matter?” Lord William Cavendish asked.
“Nothing at all,” James said.
They rode side by side; the rest of the hunting party had gone ahead. Though it was nearly ten, the sun had barely broken through the low clouds. It was perfect weather for hunting—cool and a bit overcast. Still, James frowned down at the field below.
“It’s to be like that, is it?” William rested his hand on the pommel, holding his reins loosely. “You aren’t going to enter into my confidence in the matter?”
James shrugged, grunted.
Ever since his friends had arrived with those detestable ladies in tow, James's life had tumbled down the gulley. Last night had been a debacle from beginning to end. He had many regrets, the first of which was the fact that Daisy Knope and her crowing counterparts had arrived at all.
“Oh, come now,” William pressed. “Just because the marquess has gone off his head and may be lost to reason forever doesn’t mean that I’ve joined him.”
James shook his head. He should have known better than to try to keep something from William.
Though he was quite a bit younger than James, the man was the shrewdest businessman James had ever met.
He was so good at reading expressions, sometimes James fancied the man could actually hear others’ thoughts.
“I have noted you keep a special distance from the ladies,” James said.
He gave a sly smile. “I told them I have a terrible rash under my jacket. Very contagious, the doctor said. Then it was just a matter of scratching myself every so often on the journey, and none of them have hinted at needing my elbow for anything.”
James couldn’t help it—he chuckled, though his laughter dropped off as if it had stepped off a cliff.
“Tell me—did last night ruin whatever is between you and your lovely Candace?”
James's eyes slid sideways toward him. “What makes you think there’s anything between us? ”
“Is there not?” He shrugged. “Then perhaps I’ll use this trip to get to know her better.
She’s always been stunning and lively, not to mention fashionable.
The way Shelbourne treated her was loathsome, and the lady may be recovered enough to accept someone else’s suit.
I daresay Alcott Court could use a lady’s touch to spruce it up a bit. ..”
“Your seventeen sisters aren’t enough of a feminine touch?” he grumbled.
“I have eight sisters, James, as you well know. Candace would get along famously with them all. Actually, why am I here hanging about with you when I could be bringing her a bouquet of flowers right now ...”
William made to steer his horse away, and James turned to him abruptly and frowned.
“Ah,” William said, victorious. “I knew it.”
James sighed and finally admitted, “I fear I may have ruined everything last night. The way I spoke to her...”
“May I give you some advice?”
“What advice could you possibly have to offer? You’re unmarried at seven and twenty and have no desire to change that in the near future.”
William waited, his eyebrow raised.
“Apologies,” James said. “I fear I’m not myself today.”
“It’s to be expected. As far as my experience with ladies, surely it must come as no surprise that a man with eight sisters has a wealth of knowledge on the subject of women. After all, they discuss matters of the heart freely in my presence.”
“They do?” James's brow wrinkled.
“They feel comfortable doing so because I pretend not to be able to hear them when I’m working on my ledgers.
I feign deafness when I look at my books, only answering when they call my name in the most strident of tones.
Therefore, they’ve grown comfortable telling each other anything, as if I were not even in the room. ”
“That’s a shocking admission.”
Despite his words, James was begrudgingly impressed. Perhaps the man was even more clever than James had realized. It was a bold statement, as James found him very intelligent indeed.
He waved his hand airily to dismiss James's unauthentic astonishment. “If every man had eight sisters such as mine, we’d all know that women are far more intelligent and complex than we give them credit for. If Beaufort had eight sisters such as mine, he never would have asked that daft cow to be his bride.”
James chuckled and shook his head.
William continued, “Regardless, one of the many things I’ve learned about women is that they often need time and space to really know what they feel. Give her a day or two, then have a private conversation. I’m sure things aren’t nearly as bleak as your expression suggests.”
“I was...I said harsh things. All the more terrible because there was truth behind them. But I hadn’t looked at my own shortcomings in the moment, didn’t bother to truly examine what happened from her perspective before I jumped to the worst conclusions.”
“I suggest you tell her as much when you get the chance. Apologize, James, and endeavor to do it sincerely. Women can smell a falsehood from a hundred miles. ”
“I won’t need to endeavor to do it truthfully, when the time comes. I regret much about the evening.”
“As do I—starting with the regret that our friend Beaufort couldn’t see past a nice bosom to notice the snake it’s attached to.”
“ William .”
He shrugged. “It’s the truth, though I think after yesterday evening, he might be noticing the scales and fangs, after all.”