Surrender by Amanda Quick Page B

considered quite fashionable for young ladies to learn to sketch and paint flowers.
    But Lucas was startled at the clarity and liveliness of Victoria’s work. Her plants bloomed on the pages of the sketchbook, glowing with exuberant energy. They were not just artistically beautiful, they were precise in every detail.
    Lucas was fascinated as page after page full of roses, irises, poppies, and lilies came to life in front of him. Each one was labeled in a fine hand with its formal, botanical name:
Rosa provincialis, Passiflora alata, Cyclamen linearifolium
.
    He looked up to find Victoria still watching him with an oddly anxious expression. He realized then that her art was a vulnerable subject for her. He closed the sketchbook. “These are excellent, Miss Huntington, as I’m sure you’ve been told. Even to my untrained eye these sketches and watercolors are beautiful.”
    “Thank you.” She smiled suddenly, very brilliantly, as if he had just told her that she, not her art, was beautiful. Her amber eyes were almost gold. “You’re very kind.”
    “I am rarely kind, Miss Huntington,” he told her quietly. “I am merely telling you the truth. I will admit, however, that I don’t recognize all of these plants. Where did you get your subjects?”
    “From the conservatory,” Cleo explained. “Together, Victoria and I have established what I like to believe is a most creditable botanical garden. Nothing on the scale of Kew, of course, but we’re rather proud of it.Would you care to view the conservatory? Victoria would be happy to give you a short tour.”
    Lucas nodded. “I should very much like to see it.”
    Victoria rose gracefully. “This way, my lord.”
    “Run along, then,” Cleo said. “Perhaps you will join us for a dish of tea when you have finished viewing the plants, my lord?”
    “Thank you.” Lucas smiled to himself as he followed Victoria out into the hall and down a short passageway that led to the back of the house. Matters were going well, he decided as she led him into a large glass gallery filled with plants and the rich, humid scent of soil. Already he was alone with his quarry.
    He looked around and realized that today he would be doing his hunting in a real jungle. He examined the view through the glass. Beyond the conservatory windows was a large, charming garden with a familiar-looking brick wall covered in ivy.
    “I wondered what the garden looked like by day,” Lucas remarked.
    Victoria’s brows snapped together in an admonishing frown. “Hush, my lord. Someone might overhear you.”
    “Not likely. We appear to have the place to ourselves.” He examined the lush greenery and the array of exotic blooms that filled the glass room. “You and your aunt are, indeed, interested in horticulture, aren’t you? This is amazing.”
    “My aunt had the conservatory built some years ago,” Victoria said as she started down one green-shrouded aisle. “She has friends who travel all over the world and send us cuttings and small plants. Recently Sir Percy Hickinbottom, one of her many admirers, sent a new variety of rose he discovered on an expedition in China. He named it Cleo’s Blush China in her honor. Wasn’t that sweet? Last month he sent the most beautiful chrysanthemum plant. We are quite hopeful it will survive. Are you at all familiar with chrysanthemums, my lord?”
    “No, but I do know what it means when a person suddenly becomes excessively chatty. Relax, Victoria. There is no need to be so anxious.”
    “I am not at all anxious.” Her chin lifted proudly as she paused beside a large tray of strange, lumpish-looking plants that were covered in thorns. “Do you care for cacti?”
    Lucas glanced down curiously at the assortment of spiny plants that were unlike anything he had ever seen. Experimentally he touched one of the thorns and discovered it was needle sharp. He glanced up and met Victoria’s gaze.
    “I am always interested in an adversary’s defenses,’ Lucas