Page 34 of A Wish Upon an Earl
Blast.Why hadn’t that occurred to him?“It does seem like it, doesn’t it.”
“We’ll have to practice that part too, I guess,” Ash said, scrubbing his head in a way that made his hair stand on end.
“Practice?How will we do that?”
Ash let out a long sigh.“I’m going to have to stand on a chair and you’ll have to lift me down.”
Jack shook his head as he smacked a gauntlet against his helmet.“That’s very sporting of you to offer, but?—”
“You’re not attempting it for the first time on Sarah,” Ash said, his voice growing hard.“In order to marry her, she has to survive this house party.”
“That’s one way to put it.”Jack laughed despite himself.“And you’re right.It’s one thing to avoid touching things and another to hold them without breaking them.Can you believe men actually went to war in these and completed complicated tasks in them?”
Ash shrugged.“You’d get the hang of it in no time, I’m certain.You’re already miles better than when you started.”Then he pushed Jack on the shoulder, and he hardly felt it, but Ash bounced back.“Gads, you’re like a boulder in that thing.Impossible to move.”
Jack chuckled at that.“Now that I’m not bumbling about in it, it’s a bit fun.”
“All right, time to practice.We’re already late for dinner.I’ll climb up on the chair and you help me down.”
“Fine,” he mumbled as Ash climbed up onto the wooden seat.“You’re quite a bit taller than Sarah.”
“And the chair is shorter.You’ll adjust.”
“You’re also heavier,” Jack said, looking through the slits.
“And you’ve always been annoyingly strong,” Ash snipped back.
Jack reached up, accidentally knocking Ash directly in the stomach.The man toppled over, falling off the chair.
“Ash,” Jack yelled, ripping off the helmet and tossing it to the side.“Are you all right?”
“You’re going to break my entire family in that suit.”Ash grunted as he rose.“That’s going to leave a mark.”
“I think I’d better practice without the helmet.”
Ash groaned out his agreement.“Please do.”
“Ha!”A male voice shouted from behind them.“I knew it!”
Jack turned to see Sir Henry bouncing on his heels a few feet away.He sighed with resignation.“Good evening, Sir Henry.”
“I knew you were the bumbling knight,” Sir Henry chortled, his hands clapping gleefully.“The only thing that confused me was your usual grace.”
Jack arched his brows as he held back a growl of irritation.He had a grand gesture he was rehearsing for, and Sir Henry was doing his best to ruin it.He was a nice enough man, but he was proving a nuisance.“The suit is a bit difficult to adjust to.”
Sir Henry nodded.“Quite right.I had to wear one when I was a boy.Awful things.”
“Sir Henry,” Ash asked from next to the chair as he held his side, “how did you know it was Jack?”
Sir Henry chuckled.“Have I mentioned what a delight this party has been?I haven’t had this much fun in years.”
“Thank you,” Ash nodded.
“But I was fairly certain that it was Jack simply because I’d seen him with your sister several times the past two days, and as the Bumbling Knight was out on the terrace with Lady Sarah the night of the masquerade, I was fairly certain the knight and Lord Bentley were the same person.”
“Wait.”Jack went very still.“How did you know we were on the terrace?”
Sir Henry cocked his chin.“Because I was out there too, of course.Dances this time of year get dreadfully hot.”
