Definitely Not Mr. Darcy

Chloe stepped out from under the Plexiglas bus stop, into the rain, to watch the woman take her seat and wave.

She col apsed back down on the bench under the covered bus stop and buried her head in her hands. Maybe that old woman didn’t know what she was talking about. Maybe she had Alzheimer’s or dementia or some sort of addled-brain disease that Chloe was convinced she would get someday, too, if she didn’t have it already. She better start doing crossword puzzles or something—and soon. Wait a minute. Crossword. Acrostic

—she opened her wedding reticule and pul ed out the wel -worn folded-up poem from Sebastian. The acrostic jumped out at her now: A s the sun shines high in the sky

Love blooms in my heart, I cannot lie.

Let our love grow

Is what is want, I know.

Still I cannot be convinced

Nay, I need more evidence

Of your intentions, are they true?

To convince me here is what you need to do:

As the clock strikes two you must find

Something in a garden where light and shadow are intertwined

Inspect the face in the garden bright

Then follow the line of light

Straight to a house without walls

Enter the door and go where the water falls

Extrapolate from this poem the puzzle within

Make a note of the six-word answer, write it, and you will win

Send your missive through the secret door and the answers you seek willbe in store!

The first letter of every line was to be read down, and it spel ed out ALL IS NOT AS IT SEEMS. She squeezed her eyes shut and heard something familiar in the din of gushing rain and cars. The sound of hooves clomping on the cobblestone.

It was Henry on a white horse. On Sebastian’s white horse. Rain dripped from his wide-brimmed hat and nineteenth-century greatcoat as he rode right smack down the middle of the road and ignored the chaos he was causing. Two hunting hounds nuzzled up to Chloe and slipped their soaked heads under her hands. Never in her life had she been so happy to see a dog, not to mention two sopping wet hounds. She rubbed their bony heads. But Henry? If he was real y the master of Dartworth Hal , he had lied to her. And who the hel was Sebastian, then?

Henry slowed his horse right in front of the bus stop, tipped his hat, and held out his hand to her. “Miss Parker, your conveyance has arrived.”

She folded her arms and the dogs wagged their tails against her wet gown. The lady was not amused.

His lips curled into a smile as he eyed her up and down. “I must say that your dramatic exit from the church was better than any production crew could dream of. Even now they’re salivating over the prospect of skyrocketing ratings. Wel done.”

Traffic wove around the horse. Chloe looked up the street, and half expected to see the camera crew. A smal crowd under umbrel as gathered around them.

“And where are the cameras now? I’m sure they’d love to get me on film looking like this.”

“No cameras. I lost them in the deer park. And as for your looks, wel , I’ve never been happier to see you.”

“I wish I could say the same.” If what that woman said was true, then he’d been lying to her for weeks! Chloe took off her glasses and tucked them into her soaked white reticule. She looked away from Henry and toward Dartworth Hal , where a patch of blue sky had broken through the clouds.

Henry dismounted, tied his horse to the bus-stop sign, and sat down next to her on the bench. She slid over and looked the other way.

“Can I buy you a cup of coffee? How about a double espresso nonfat latte?”

How did he know what kind of convoluted coffee she drank? The rain made a soft splashing sound on the cobblestones, the breeze picked up, and she shivered. Across the street, people darted into the red-brick pub with leaded windows. A sign swung on a wrought-iron post that read THE

GOLDEN ARMS in forest-green letters. She’d been in England for almost three weeks and hadn’t even been to an English pub.

Henry slid closer. “Or maybe a pint sounds better?”

There he was, reading her mind again.

“If you bought me a pint, I’d probably dump it al over you.”

He looked confused. “Lady Anne informed me that you pontificated to no end about my merits.”