If You Give A Girl A Viscount

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

It was time for the sheep-shearing contest at Castle Vandemere, but Charlie wasn’t feeling in a competitive mood. He was worried about Daisy. She’d been acting distracted all afternoon, and he could swear she’d been crying. But she wouldn’t tell him anything.

She stayed busy with the guests, which was typical of her.

“You asked for a godmother’s help, so let me help,” he’d told her.

“No,” she’d said flatly. “But thank you.”

And moved on.

And then taken a step back. “Sorry,” she’d whispered, and thrown him a small smile. “I do appreciate your concern.”

Charlie didn’t know if he’d ever understand women. He also didn’t know if he’d ever understand what being a godmother was about, and he wished with all his heart that he didn’t have to worry about such matters.

Except that serving as his grandmother’s stand-in had brought him to Daisy, and he couldn’t regret that.

Now that the contest was about to begin, he felt compelled to find her in the crowd and reassure himself that she was all right.

A moment later, he saw her in conversation with Miss Cassandra, slightly apart from the crowd, and neither of them looked at all happy.

Mr. King saw them, too. “What are they doing?” He stared at them with his hands on his hips, ignoring the noise of the crowd surrounding them.

“I don’t know.” Charlie was equally fascinated, but he was trying to be low-key about it.

“They appear to be in an argument of some kind.” The American watched the pair avidly. “I wonder who started it?”

“I don’t know.”

Charlie was glad no one else was paying the young ladies the least bit of attention.

“She’s stunning,” Mr. King said. “The stepsister. I never noticed her before now because she’s always staring daggers at your fiancée. But she has a fine figure. And some spirit, doesn’t she?”

“I suppose she does,” said Charlie, not willing to dash her character to this stranger. He wouldn’t be much of a gentleman if he did that.

Mr. King gave a little laugh. “She’s the one who belongs in a peer’s bed. Or anyone’s bed who’s powerful and rich.”

“No,” Charlie replied strongly. “No, she doesn’t. Miss Montgomery was in her cups when she said that, and I’m sure she regrets it.”

They both watched as Miss Cassandra put her nose in the air.

Daisy’s throat and cheeks turned pink.

And then the two women walked in different directions.

“They don’t like each other,” Mr. King said. “That’s for certain.”

Charlie saw, too, that something ugly was going on between them, but he’d have to stave off his curiosity—and concern—for a little while.

He had this nuisance of a contest to win.

Yes, he liked to be the best at everything, but these were sheep.

Sheep.

If they were dragons, he’d be more interested in looking manly and courageous in front of Daisy and the crowd. As it was, if Mr. King somehow beat him, he’d just be glad his London friends weren’t here to see him make a fool of himself—and Daisy probably wouldn’t care that he’d lost, either.

“What’s the prize if you win?” one of the visiting men called out as he and Mr. King pushed their ewes into position within circles Joe had drawn with chalk on the grass.

“No prize,” replied Charlie, “just the glory of winning!”

The man grinned and gave him a thumbs-up.

Charlie was a bit distracted—his first sheep was perhaps more stubborn than he’d realized—and he wondered if his shears were sharp enough. The crowd was also bigger than he’d imagined.

Perdita, dressed in her Highland garb, sat in a large chair ready to cast judgment on the proceedings, although a village elder was the real judge.

Even so, Perdita was obviously in her element.

Suddenly, there was a loud roar of approval—about what, Charlie had no idea.

Mr. King grinned. “Absolutely,” he said to the crowd, then looked at Charlie. “What do you say?”

“To what?”

“The loser must buy a round of drinks for everyone at the new pub in Glen Dewey,” Mr. King replied.

A handsome man stepped forward. “At the grand opening which I, Gavin MacKee, will hold this very night!”

All the men shouted, clapped, and whistled.

“I’ll do one better,” Charlie told them. “If I lose, I’ll bring down another cask of Joe’s whisky to pass round instead.”

“Oh no, ye won’t, Lord Lumley,” Gavin chided him. “I needs must make my living at the pub. Ye’ll be buying the round if ye lose, my friend.”

“If you don’t win today, you need to feel the pain of losing in your pocket, lad!” someone else called out.

“Tha’s right,” an old man said. “Whichever rich nabob loses must pay!”

The crowd endorsed his remark with a hearty “Hurrah!”

It was a simple, friendly bet.

But it was a dangerous one to Charlie.

He couldn’t afford to lose any longer.

If he did, he’d have to borrow money from Daisy. A man didn’t shirk a bet. He’d have to buy a round of drinks for the men of the village.

Which would mean he’d lose the bet with his friends in London.

Which meant he’d be thrown onto the Marriage Mart because he was an honorable man, and honorable men confessed when they lost bets.

Why, oh why, couldn’t it have been anything but a sheep-shearing contest?

Inhaling a breath, he held his ewe still while the village elder walked to the center of the pen and lifted a scarlet handkerchief high in the air. “Just remember, gentlemen, you’re being evaluated on your speed and the quality of the shearing. No nicks on those poor ewes, mind you. And the fewer cuts the better. On your mark, get set, go!” The man brought the handkerchief down on the word go, and the match was on.

Do it right, Charlie told himself.

Finding the place to start was the hardest part of all. He put his arm under the ewe’s neck, just as Joe had shown him. When she tried to leap away with her hind legs, Charlie was able to tilt her back so she sat up like a person. Grabbing a fold of wool and skin on her belly, he made the first vital cut and prayed he wouldn’t nick her.

And he didn’t. Breathing a discreet sigh of relief, he vowed not to observe what strategies Mr. King employed. Charlie would stay focused. Extremely focused.

The crowd called to both of them, and Charlie ignored them as best he could. The ewe struggled more and more as he snipped at her wool with the shears, attempting to get the fluffy stuff off in one, big piece.

He felt the stress build up in his belly and chest, which didn’t improve when he lost his grip and the ewe bolted.

He cursed a blue streak in his head. He wasn’t laughing at all. Especially when he saw Mr. King’s tremendous progress, which he couldn’t help observing as he was required to chase after his ewe and bring her back to their shearing place.

A shout went up. Mr. King was done with his first ewe!

Dear God, Charlie thought. I’m in for it.

Visions of London debutantes clamoring to marry him besieged him, but he was determined to cast them aside.

A moment later, he’d finished his first sheep. He patted her rear and she ran bawling away, naked as she could be, with just a few little clumps of wool left on her. He thought he’d done a good job, but had he done it fast enough and well enough?

“Only two to go!” he heard Joe call to him.

Bloody hell, this was going to take ages.

And it did. Charlie had never worked so hard in his life. It was meticulous work, all to be done while a sheep struggled beneath his nose. Sweat poured from his brow. His whole body was soaked with it, which made holding on to the next two ewes that much more difficult.

People came and went. Refreshed themselves from a bucket of water, drank from flasks, made comments on their progress.

Meanwhile, Mr. King was slaving away, too. Charlie had no idea how well he was doing, but he suspected they were close. The crowd’s teasing remarks ceased. Their noise got louder, more frantic.

Charlie felt panic build in his middle, but he pushed it down once again.

He couldn’t lose!

“Charlie!” he heard Daisy’s voice call above the others.

He took a half second to look up. She was over by the byre, standing on a low-lying stump so she could see him. Her eyes were lit with concern, and she was biting her lip when she caught his eye and waved at him.

Cassandra stood next to Daisy. She wore a close-lipped smile when she waved at him, too, but her face was tight with something unpleasant.

Daisy glanced down at her stepsister and made a small grimace that Charlie recognized as annoyance and perhaps a bit of confusion.

Why was Cassandra standing so close? Why couldn’t she watch the contest somewhere else?

Charlie was indignant on Daisy’s behalf. She was only trying to cheer for him, but Cassandra was proving a bit of a bother.

Daisy appeared to give up wondering why her stepsister was there because she cupped her hands together and called to him, “Win, Charlie, win!”

That spindly utterance, delivered over the roar of the crowd, gave him a tremendous boost, and he went back to work with renewed vigor.

Daisy had no idea what the true stakes of this match really were. If she knew, would she care?

The third ewe bucked and bawled worse than the others. He’d saved her for last because he’d seen her around the pastures. She was bossy, given to bursts of pique.

“Go, Viscount, go!” he heard a little boy scream from his right.

“Mr. King’s ahead!” someone else called.

“Aye, and it’s close,” an old man to the left of Charlie said.

The ewe wriggled so hard, Charlie had to hold the shears up and away. He stumbled backward, the ewe twisted …

“Go!”

“He missed a spot!”

“That damned ewe reminds me of my wife!”

“Hurry!”

Charlie had no idea if the crowd was talking about his ewe or Mr. King’s, and he certainly didn’t know which of them had to go or hurry.

He reestablished his stance: knees bent, toes in …

Sheep locked into position between his legs.

This was it.

Without blinking or breathing, he finished shearing the sheep.

He dropped his shears and looked up and—

Mr. King was shearing the last bit of wool off the right side of his ewe and …

It was over.

Over.

Charlie wiped the sweat out of his eyes. His lungs were near bursting, but he forced himself to take slow, measured breaths. Already the village elder and his cohorts were examining the last two sheep for nicks and holding up the fleeces to see how neatly they’d been shorn.

Charlie was sore, but he moved toward Mr. King as if he’d not just been working harder than he ever had before. Mr. King came toward him, as well. His rival looked as worn out as Charlie felt.

They met in the middle and clasped hands.

“It was a fine match,” Charlie said.

“It was indeed.” Mr. King’s handshake was firm but quick.

A little too quick, Charlie thought, to be considered entirely sporting.

He looked over his shoulder—Daisy was still in front of the byre, her hands clasped beneath her chin. Cassandra stood beside her, both her hands resting on one hip, a casual pose that belied her taut expression. Daisy jumped up and down on her little stump and waved again.

He raised a hand to her and grinned, glad he was worth more than a meager hop. He merited full-fledged bouncing, didn’t he?

Take that, Mr. King, he thought, remembering that first meeting in the hall at the Keep when Daisy had been so enthusiastic about the man.

But then a drumbeat called his attention in another direction. It was time to find out who’d done the best job shearing.

Perdita stood, her fists on her hips.

The village elder cleared his throat. “The laird has made his choice.”

Please let me be the winner, Charlie prayed. He really didn’t want to have to buy that round at the village pub.

He thought of Daisy, at how fresh and real and feisty she was, and felt a keen ache to win the bet he’d made with the other Impossible Bachelors. There was no way he wanted to enter the London Marriage Mart and wed a simpering miss.

Ever.

He bowed his head and awaited his fate.

“The winner is … Lord Lumley!” cried the elder.

“Aye!” Perdita gave a mighty growl and punched the air with her fist.

When Charlie raised his head, he found himself grinning from ear to ear.

He’d won. Thank God.

He immediately turned around to see Daisy. There she was, smiling at him! She looked a bit strained because Cassandra lingered at her elbow, but that smile lit every corner of his heart.

The fact that she was happy delighted him no end.

He winked at her. She blushed, which made him wish he could go over there right now and receive a celebratory kiss.

Later, her expression said.

Later, he confirmed with his eyes.

Which was exactly when Miss Cassandra gave her a lovely little push, causing Daisy to stumble off her stump and teeter backward into a slippery patch, where she landed flat on her rear end into a pool of mud.