Page 35 of Good Duke Gone Hard

It was down to one toss: Margaret. If she made it, they would win.

Margaret inhaled slowly and then exhaled, counting to ten. She pulled her arm back and then swung it forward. She launched the horseshoe–

Bwa! The tantara of the trumpet sounded. “Tea time!” Her mother’s voice called out.

The horseshoe landed wide.

“We won!” Bella exclaimed. Jonathan grabbed her hands, and they did a silly jig together, then folded over in laughter.

How utterly inappropriate, Margaret scowled as loud as she could.

The Colonel ducked his head beside her ear, “If the trumpet hadn’t blasted at that exact moment, I have no doubt in my mind we would have won.”

“Mmhmmm,” Margaret hummed her agreement. She should have been placated at his reassuring words. At the very least. Then when he took her arm in his and led her to the picnic baskets, she should have been distracted by him and his good nature.

But she was only distracted by the godawful, two-timing, jig-dancing nature of the dolt behind her.

Chapter 13

JONATHANWATCHEDMARGARETCHOMPeach bite of fruit into her mouth. Her jaw was set, he wasn’t sure how she was even chewing, and she had a flare in her eyes.

The troops were sitting under the canopy on cushions eating a nice picnic of cold meats, biscuits, and raspberry cake. There was lemonade and tea served, and each person had helped themselves to a few servings.

Before everyone else had finished their current refreshments, Margaret had popped to her feet and was urging the Colonel to do the same.

“Off we go! To a game of shooting now,” Margaret declared. She pointed her finger in the air and whirled it around conveying some coded message to the troops still lazing about under the canopy.

Jonathan lip twitched into a half smile as he watched Margaret march off toward the targets.

“I don’t think I’ve ever shot a gun before,” he overheard Agatha confide in Reggie.

“Don’t worry, pet, I’ve shot enough for both of us,” Reggie reassured her.

“Well, that’s just fine then.”

“We can’t let those two sneak in any practice shots,” Kat said loudly enough to Lyle for the group to hear.

That stoked a fire under a few bottoms, and soon everyone was tromping off down the lawn not wanting to be left behind and miss out.

Jonathan turned toward Bella, still sitting in her chair sipping tea. He reached for her hand, “Lady Bella?”

“Why thank you.” She stood and smoothed her skirts. As she took his arm, she said, “I should warn you, I’m a terrible shot.”

Jonathan scoffed, “I’m sure you’re not that bad.”

But she was. Almost worse than he had predicted Agatha would be. The ladies’ shots were flying wide, even after some pointers. Only Margaret’s were consistently hitting the target. Jonathan had been dead center every shot and was the only reason he and Bella were still in the standings.

“I can’t seem to make this part–”

“Whoa!” Reggie screeched as he saw Agatha waving the gun around in the air. “Alright, little thing, that’s enough guns for you today.” He disarmed Agatha and put the gun on a nearby table.

Kat declared, “You two are disqualified.”

“But–”

“Safety first.” Kat nodded her head. “Now I believe it’s my turn. She took aim and shot high. Into the branches. Something fell out of the tree.

“Eek!” Kat shrieked. “Was that a…?”

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