Free Lady Falls (Black Rose Trilogy) by Renee Bernard

the first few items on his list and nearly laughed.  It was a masterful scavenger hunt and he immediately grasped that there was nothing indolent or simple to be found.  If he’d planned on lazily picking up a few things and strolling to victory, the shape of his day altered quickly.
    “Item No. 4: First Earl of Trent’s eyes are cast upon it.”
    Portrait gallery? First I have to locate the dusty boy’s painting and then figure out if he is looking at something in the portrait itself or does his gaze lead to an object nearby…God, I’m having fun already.
    He realized the other players were having similar experiences as they quickly sought to thank the mistress of the game before they left the library.  Phillip waited until they were all gone before he stepped up to her.  “It’s a clever list, Miss Wells.”
    “Oh! Do—do you think so?” She blushed, suddenly shy with him.  “Well, I…shall let you run your race then, sir.”  She retreated quickly and he watched her go in astonishment.  She’d saucily stood over him on a cobbled street and then debated men three times her age with the self-possessed confidence of a duchess, yet now she blushed and ran.
    Phillip sighed at the puzzle and decided the only cure was to do as she bid.  “Very well, let’s run our race.”  He unfolded his list again and studied it more thoroughly, starting to group the items to save himself some steps and—
    Item number thirty leapt off the page and his breath caught in his throat.
    Mystery solved.
     
    Phillip deliberately collected several other items before he approached the gazebo.  He did not want to look like an overeager schoolboy but he would be damned if he would ignore her invitation.  He walked into the garden, dazed at the dreamlike sight of Miss Raven Wells perched on the cushioned bench inside. 
    She stood as he came up the steps, suddenly shy.  “You came.”
    “You were in doubt?”  He smiled and held up his list.  “I can’t think of a reason short of Armageddon that would have kept me from seeing if I can claim number thirty.”
    She smiled.  “Ah, what a compliment!”
    “I could have professed something about my competitive nature driving me here.”  He shook out the small paper and read the item in question aloud.  “A kiss from the girl in the gazebo.”
    “The girl.  That isn’t very specific.  It could have been a scullery maid,” she said mischievously.  “What if I had recruited Lady Baybrook?  Would you look so cheerful then?”
    “What do you think?” He came up the last step and stood before her. 
    “I think…” She pressed her fingers against the blaze creeping up her cheeks.  “You must have the most brazen impression of me.  That this idea was…”
    “Tell me.”
    Raven looked up into his face and suddenly, her words were a tumble as the truth yielded to his kind expression. “I am not fast.  You see, I’m to debut in London and there is nothing to say that it won’t be an unmitigated disaster. Especially since few things are ever as glorious as one hopes but I thought—I have so little to say over anything.  But a kiss—a first kiss.  I wanted to have a say, Mr. Warrick.  And rather than risk some unwanted mishap or leave it up to an irascible and unreliable fate, what if I asked you?  And as you are, I think, the most strikingly handsome man I have ever seen…”
    “I see.”
    “Do you?  Life is not nearly as predictable as I keep hoping.  But if you would oblige me in this, I would be very grateful.”  Raven finished her case and then was torn between a prayer that the earth would swallow her whole to escape the embarrassing moment and the fervent wish that the man would hurry up and be done with it.
    Just lean over and press your mouth against mine and I will be a woman kissed, at last!
    Mr. Phillip Warrick shifted forward to pull her into his arms and Raven nearly squeaked in happy delight that it would be the latter.  Though she