“Silvester told me that you consider him frivolous,” Yasmin said, too surprised to censor herself.

“Not so. He and I are opposites.”

Yasmin gave him a rueful smile. “He talks all the time, and you never speak? He’s cheerful, and you’re grumpy?”

“He’s free,” Giles said unexpectedly.

“What on earth do you mean?”

“He does and says whatever he wishes.”

“I don’t see why you can’t say what you wish,” Yasmin said, just as the carriage rocked to a halt.

“The duke’s family is famous for its eccentricities,” Giles said. “Mine is equally famous for less salubrious reasons.”

“You feel that you need to mend the family reputation, whereas Silvester can simply cavort as he wishes?”

Giles nodded, then pushed open the door, jumped out, and helped her to step to the ground.

“You are an earl,” Yasmin said. “You can surely do as you wish.”

“A noble ancestry doesn’t give carte blanche,” he stated. “To the contrary, it binds you more to virtue.”

She didn’t have the virtue he required. He might as well have announced, Only virgins need apply.

Yasmin turned away. “I see my favorite flower seller. Hello, Lulu!” she called, waving her parasol.

The yellow-haired flower seller looked up from her cart. “Good day, Lady Yam!” she replied.

“No time to buy flowers,” Giles said. “If we’re snarled in traffic returning from your grandfather’s house, we could be late to return.”

Yasmin didn’t feel like answering, let alone listening, to him, so she walked over to the flower seller.

“I saved one for you,” Lulu said. Her bright face was mischievous. “Got one for Mr. and Mrs. Addison too.”

“What do you have?” Yasmin asked.

Lulu pulled a bunch from under the flowers filling her cart. “This! For the hunt.” It was a large boutonnière composed of a number of fluffy pink blossoms.

Giles appeared at Yasmin’s shoulder.

“For you!” Yasmin said, turning to him. She had never seen the grim-faced earl with a boutonnière, let alone a pink one. “Lulu was kind enough to save us one of her last boutonnières.”

“It’s number twelve on the list,” Lulu said importantly. “The gentleman must return wearing a button-ear that includes at least three flowers of one color.” She held out the monstrous thing with a beaming smile.

“Thank you,” Giles said, handing her a coin.

Yasmin took the posy and went up on her tiptoes to pin it to his lapel. “There,” she said with satisfaction, patting the spray of flowers. She looked up and met his eyes. His expression . . . She stepped back, feeling heat rising in her cheeks.

Her heart was racing, and blood was thumping through her body. This emotion wasn’t all on her side. His eyes held frank desire, and his “thank you” had a husky undertone that made her feel weak at the knees.

“You look a treat,” Lulu advised. The flower seller turned to Lord Wade, who trotted over accompanied by Miss Yates clutching the scroll, a maid trailing behind them.