Romancing His English Rose (Entangled Scandalous) by Catherine Hemmerling

you don’t have any idea where it may be.”
    “Er, yes.”
    “That does present a problem, you realize,” Rose said, giving Simon a long sideways glance.
    “We know where the murder weapon—so to speak—probably is, but we don’t know how to find it?”
    “Precisely.”
    Simon and Rose sat quietly for a moment, both lost in their own thoughts, when Simon suddenly had an idea. “William!” he exclaimed.
    “No, Rose,” Rose said drily, pointing to herself.
    Simon gave her a withering look and Rose just grinned.
    Shaking his head, Simon continued. “No, William, the Earl of Pembroke…he visited Frederick at the house quite regularly. I doubt Frederick would have told him where the hidden room was, but I am willing to bet that between the two of us, he and I could come up with a pretty accurate floor plan of the interior of the house.”
    “That makes sense, but if neither one of you knows the location of the room, what good is a floor plan going to do us?” Rose wondered.
    “On its own, not much, but what if I were to take a walk around the outside of the mansion and create a general outline of the external plan—”
    “Then compare the two and see where there are any discrepancies!” Rose finished. “That is positively inspired, Simon!”
    Simon actually felt a blush rise to his cheeks. There was something about a compliment from Rose that affected him like no other. Perhaps it was because he felt she was in possession of such intellect herself, that she would be able to recognize it in others so much more readily than anyone else of his acquaintance.
    “I think we should meet with Lord Pembroke as soon as possible. We are running out of time. Dr. Orfila will only be here for eleven more days.”
    “Perhaps it would be more time-efficient if I met with Pembroke at his house alone. He and I could develop the internal floor plan and then later I could stroll leisurely past the Shrewsbury mansion a few times and take some surreptitious notes about the layout.”
    “I suppose that would work.”
    “Perfect! I will arrange to meet with Pembroke tomorrow. The day after that I will take the outside measurements and meet you back here, all right?” Simon said as he stood to leave.
    “All right,” Rose agreed.
    “I’ll see myself out, sweetling,” Simon announced cheerfully. “And I will be by to see you around noon the day after tomorrow.” With that, he whistled his way out of the library, out the front door, and down the front steps.

Chapter Ten
    The course of true love never runs smoothly.
    —The Duke of Lancaster

    Rose sat in the front parlor room anxiously awaiting the arrival of Simon. He was due to be there any minute and honestly she didn’t think she would survive if he were even a second late.
    It had been an entire day since she had seen him, and while she told herself that her anxiety was due to her desire to see the plan he and William had drawn up, deep down she knew that she just really wanted to see him again.
    How funny was it that she went from going days, even weeks, between seeing him with nary a thought and now she suddenly couldn’t go even twenty-four hours without missing him? Even funnier was that it seemed he was feeling much the same way. She still had serious concerns about his sincerity, but in her weaker moments she found herself actually daydreaming about being married to Simon. Shaking her head, she told herself she was a fool.
    Yet, she looked at the clock again for what must have been the fourth time that minute.
    Where is he already?
    …
    Simon was standing in the hallway just outside of Rose’s line of sight.
    He could see her reflection in one of the mirrors on the wall and had to smile when he saw her check the clock one more time. He supposed he should have made his presence known when he first arrived a few minutes earlier, but he couldn’t resist the opportunity to just look at her.
    She really was such a pretty little thing sitting rather impatiently in