My Sweet Daisy

Chapter 21 - The Matchmaker

Chapter 21

The Matchmaker

The afternoon sun blazed hotly on them while they toured the marketplace. Daisy assumed it was midday, making it almost an hour since they parted with the royal guards. She was beginning to worry about Richard roaming the packed streets in the heat without rest.

"This is a special offer for someone so prestigious. Don't miss out, My Lord. Front row seats. I have two tickets for you and your beautiful lady." A boy from the circus trailed behind them, aiming to persuade Richard to buy the same tickets he had sold to others at half the price he was calling out to them. Obviously, he had pinned them down as people of high class and foreign in the territory he could scam. "My Lord, buy my tickets and I will speak to Sue to do a Serbian dance for you."

They had seen the little dark-skinned girl dance for the entertainment of a group of men. Though she looked around the age she should be learning her alphabets, she'd been dressed to look much older in an Ottoman harem belly dancer's costume, a sheer clothing that barely covered her navel and ankles. She had danced with fluidity that had excited the men she was entertaining; it was no wonder the boy would mention her as an enticement to get the money he sought from Richard. He, however, showed no interest in his offer.

As Richard remained unresponsive, the boy turned his attention to her. "Sue will have a private section to teach you how to move to entice his lordship."

The thought of a dance lesson, even one that promised to have no set of rigid steps, made her grimace. She inquired from him instead, "Have you come across some officers in purple and gold coats?"

"My Lady, his lordship is a reserved young man. Only you can unleash the overpowering heat in him. Sue's dance moves would enhance that powerful hold you already have on him. I am a matchmaker, and I can tell you two are destined to be together." He delivered with a persuasive grin. Upon seeing Richard's scowl, he took the hint not to press his luck. "I say, I have two fierce-looking men who've paid twice the front row seats to look for a young golden-haired man and a sunset-haired lady. You must be those two people they are desperately searching for."

"Why are you mentioning it only now?" Richard demanded.

"Come along now. They are waiting in my tent. I've been promised an additional twenty pences if I find you, so make haste."

Richard seemed not to believe him but seeing no other way to locate his guards in the crowd, he followed behind when the boy began dragging Daisy by the hand down the lane.

Sampson and Jack waited outside the tent in the middle of the circus camp. When they caught sight of them, they ran to Richard's side.

"Thank goodness we've finally found you, Your Highness?" Jack cried in relief.

"Are you alright, Your Highness?" Sampson inquired.

"I am, Sampson. Daisy took good care of me," Richard responded.

"My Lord is a prince of this country?" The boy mused. "Which of them? The Noble Lord, the Lord Grand Duke of Duntenstrong? No, he will be older than you are, and Prince Albert is no longer in the country. Prince Richard? Please don't tell me you're Crown Prince Edward. No, he already has a beautiful princess he finds delectable and won't look at another lady if he can help it. I met him once myself during one of our journeys, he, and the crown princess. Of course, at the time she was only a duke's daughter, and he was disguised as a stable helper for the Lord Philippe. I can see the resemblance, but you are not him."

"You could read my destiny but not my present?" sarcastically Richard asked.

"I'm merely a matchmaker, not a fortune-teller, Your Highness. Before all you sirs and lady... and sire leave here, can I interest you in my little game? I only wish to make a memory with Prince Richard," the boy extended an inviting hand toward the entrance of his tent.

"Take one more swing at us and I'll cut off your tongue." Jack stepped forward towards him threateningly.

He laughed nervously, turned, and bolted without another word.

Satisfied the prince looked unharmed, Sampson, the more friendly-looking of the two, approached Daisy. "And you, Miss, are you also alright, please?"

Daisy smiled and replied that she was.

"Very well." He nodded. On his face appeared what she thought was a smile, the first he had seen on that solemn face.

They set off on their journey back to the capital after they have indulged in a variety of delicacies the town's marketplace had to offer; once again on the insistence of Daisy, six royal guards and the prince sat by the roadside and ate like common folks.

There had been a few interesting places he had anticipated to show her, but given the time they had lost in Wenworth, it would be evening before he got her back to Reneway Manor. If they were to make a detour. He wouldn't mind taking her along on another tour. The day had been enjoyable. Daisy made a company. She had even gotten the rigid palace guards to share a laugh or two over her witty countryside jokes while they had their lunch.

"Could you make time on Sunday for us to see Shawn and its neighbouring towns?" he asked. There was no reply. "Daisy?"

When again he didn't get a response, he turned up the lamp. She was fast asleep, her head bobbing on her chest with the movement of the carriage. He looked out and signalled to Sampson. "Inform the drivers to move at a slower speed."

"On it, Your Highness."

Richard slipped into the space beside her and gently laid her head on his chest. She stirred a little, muttered something about being deadbeat and nudged herself closer.

"What do I do with you, Daisy? What an unusual creature you are!"

She slept on, breathing evenly like a baby with no care in the world.