Free Romancing His English Rose (Entangled Scandalous) by Catherine Hemmerling Page B

removed Rose’s glasses and put them on. He tapped his finger against his lips thoughtfully for a moment. “Nope, nothing…I barely remember what I had for breakfast this morning.”
    “You told me you didn’t have breakfast this morning. That is why you had three helpings of dessert tonight,” William said.
    “Oh, yes, that’s right. Then these definitely aren’t working,” Alexander said sadly, taking the glasses off and handing them back to Rose.
    Rose shook her head, as she returned her spectacles to their rightful place.
    “May we continue now?” Simon asked, more than a tad sarcastically.
    “I don’t know. I think I may need a bit more brandy if I am going to have to put up with these two all night,” William said.
    “Splendid idea, big brother…drinks all around!” Alexander announced, jumping up to gather the empty glasses.
    “Good Lord,” Emily groaned.
    …
    Simon seconded Emily’s sentiment and he was about to tell Alexander what he could do with his drinks when he noticed that Rose had suddenly gone very quiet and the look on her face could only be described as one of intense concentration.
    “Rose?” Simon queried.
    She waved her hand at him sharply and he drew back in surprise. Clearly she did not want to be disturbed. It didn’t appear that the rest of the chatter in the room was bothering her, so he took a seat next to her and just watched as she slowly worked through whatever it was she was remembering.
    The rest of the group began to notice something was going on when Rose started mumbling to herself and gesturing to people and moving things that weren’t there.
    Finally, she looked up to find an entranced audience. She smiled weakly and waved at her baffled friends.
    “Are you all right, Rose?” Simon asked.
    “Yes, yes, I’m fine.”
    “Did you…remember something?” Simon said, because for the life of him, he couldn’t imagine another explanation for her bizarre behavior.
    “Actually I did,” Rose said slowly. “It was something Alexander said…about drinks all around.”
    Alexander puffed up proudly and elbowed Emily with a meaningful nod, as if to say, See what I did? In response, she rolled her eyes and got up to sit by Sarah, as far from Alexander as she could get.
    Simon watched the exchange in exasperation, before turning his attentions back to Rose. “Go on, Rose.”
    …
    Rose looked at him and the other faces around her. She didn’t want to disappoint them, but the truth was she didn’t have much to report.
    Yes, she remembered the events of the evening now as clearly as if they had just happened, but the key piece of information had not revealed itself and she was just sick about it. It was her idea to get everyone together, her belief that recreating the night would work, and now she was going to have to tell everyone that the entire effort was for naught.
    “Well, as I said, it was Alexander who got me thinking. Frederick was fine throughout dinner and from where Caleb was seated he had no opportunity to access his brother’s plate or beverage. Also, although we had not gotten that far in the recreation, I remembered that Caleb did not arrive until just before dinner was served, and therefore had no chance to poison the food prior to it being brought to the table.”
    “That’s right,” William said. “His mother was quite put out by Collicott’s late appearance. As a member of the family, he was expected to be there earlier to help with the hosting.”
    “Exactly!” Rose replied. “So, considering all that, it stands to reason that the poisoning had to have occurred during after-dinner drinks.”
    “I guess that’s it then,” David said dejectedly. “Rose would not have been with us men after dinner, so there is no way she would remember seeing anything.”
    “No, that’s not true!” Hannah exclaimed. “Lady Shrewsbury insisted that we all take drinks together, remember?”
    “Yes. She wanted to make sure Frederick and Miss Waterston