Enola had been drinking in the beautiful man's appearance to the point that she hadn't realized quickly enough that she was staring. Thank god she was in relative darkness because the spreading warmth on her cheeks was probably evident. Clearing her throat and looking anywhere but at him, she cooly composed herself and tried to hide the wince that resulted from her upper arm being in pain. she then hurriedly uttered a

"I'm fine." Or at least I will be, she thought.

The young man wasn't convinced, but he dropped it. Instead, he looked at her with curious eyes and a boyish smirk. At that, she decided that she was going to go on that walk that she desired earlier. As she turned to leave, she had noticed that he intended to do the very same thing. She couldn't just shoo whoever this man was off. not after he was why she was even out here. Enola was many things, but she wasn't rude (on purpose anyway). So what could she do but allow him to fall in step beside her? But wait. She hadn't even asked this stranger his name to properly thank him.

"You're Enola Holmes, right? I remember seeing your picture when the selected were being announced."

She nodded and then proceeded to ask him with a small polite smile,

"So what name should I attach to the face that helped me get out here."

That seemed to shock him momentarily. His expression and silence seemed to weigh whether she was joking or not because he genuinely could not tell. Though she couldn't think why she would be. Was she supposed to know who he was? See, Enola had grown up in the countryside in all fairness and though she did read and get an education, she wasn't as attached to today's famous figures as most of the people her age were (if this man could even be deemed notable, that is). She had still been waiting for a response from him, and when he realized, he scrambled to respond with an "I'm Reese."

That was enough to make her stop walking just as abruptly as he had said it. Did she hear that correctly? She looked at him to see if he was deceiving her, but then it all started to click. She actually took in the crisp suit he was wearing and the slightly loosened tie around his neck. No doubt expensive, and he must have been working late and finally caught a break , she thought. That would have explained his absence at dinner tonight. His hair was slightly disheveled but somehow kempt. Probably from running his hand through it on more than one occasion today. He looked like he could have needed the fresh air as much as she did. Which meant that...he actually was the prince. Shit .

Pull yourself together, Holmes! she thought to herself. Even if he was the man she had negative preconceived notions about. She still had to keep her guard up and stay in the game. But he didn't seem like a stuck up prick. Not if the way he helped her out just now said anything. She had already embarrassed herself twice that night in front of the prince, no less, and she wasn't going to do it a third time. She could already see the amusement dancing in his kind dark eyes. And she decided then and there that she would have to put distance between herself and yet another man. Especially if they were eliciting notions of kind eyes . Really, what had gotten into her, she had only just met the heir, and she already sounded like she had a crush on him. She tells herself that she doesn't , at least.

"so you're the man all this fuss is for" she hadn't meant to say it, but he seemed to take amusement in the statement and laughed. She'd decided that the sound was...nice. But she'd never let him know that.

"and I believe you signed up to be a part of it, lady Enola and as they say, teamwork makes the dream work," he winked. There was no trace of mean-spiritedness in his remark, and she couldn't help but smile because he did have a point. Even if she was there for entirely different reasons than he probably thought.

"Touché," she conceded in fun.

"So how do you like the palace so far?" he had his hands behind his back and fell back into step with her.

"well, your highness-"

"-please call me Reese."

"well, Reese, honestly? I think it's...huge for lack of a better word. And so...rich."

He snorted at that with an eyebrow raised. "Rich?"

She could see the amusement and lightly shoved him, hiding a smile. She'd realized that he was easy to warm up to. She didn't know if that was good for her or not, considering her intentions of being here in the first place.

"yes, rich, and don't get me wrong, it's beautiful and all but...you know? You'll have to forgive me for my limited vocabulary. It's been a long day," she chuckled.

"Understandable. I like to come out here after one of those too. That and my little passion for botany."

"So am I looking at ye pride and joy?" she joked as they strolled.

"Oh, absolutely, a thing of beauty isn't she," he played along.

"Could use a trim if you ask me," he let out a laugh, and it was starting to worry her how she couldn't help but genuinely smile every time he did so.

"So Lady Enola, am I to assume you'd find a way to trim an already perfect hedge?"

"Perfect in whose eyes, Reese?"

"Mine"

That one word and the way he said it lit something warm inside of her. Maybe she was reading too deeply into this, but it had sounded like a double entendre. Her blush was making itself known. And the look he was giving her wasn't helping the little somersaults her stomach was having either. Were they still talking about the hedges? Doing her best to keep things relatively normal, she cleared her throat. She continued like nothing had internally tripped her up in the first place.

"Right. But if I may be honest with you, I don't really care about flowers. At least not the way you seem to."

"Not many people do, I'm afraid. But that's alright. We can't all be blessed with taste" that earned him another shove.

"Prince Reese everyone, a true comedian" rolling her eyes smiling,he mock bowed, and she laughed.

"No, really, though, flowers can be used to communicate how one feels. Like a language of sorts. A lot of people use them for love and-"

"-is that what you intend to do? Leave various flowers for all of us to decipher your affections" she was joking, of course. Still, he didn't catch it quickly enough if his rising blush was anything to go by.

"oh! no, I mean maybe, but I genuinely intend to talk to you all and get to know you but honestly...I'm not sure how to go about all of this. I know the basics but dating 35 girls at once is...I just feel like I don't know what I'm doing."

Enola could sympathize, and guilt was starting to rare its ugly head. Here, she took advantage of a prince who was basically pouring his heart out to her and giving her an escape from her brothers while trying to find a wife and balance his duties in front of the entire country. Damn her conscience for what she was about to tell him.

"Ok . You should probably know something."

He looked deflated, "oh, you have a boyfriend back home, don't you?"

"no!-no. It's not that. I don't actually," why was she so eager to shut that down? And why did those somersaults return when he perked up at her debunking his theory? Anyway,

"I was just going to say that my intentions for entering the selection weren't entirely pure. You see, my brothers are looking for me and wanted to drag me back to a life of misery. My oldest brother Mycroft more than my other one Sherlock, really. And to put some distance between them, I entered this competition knowing that they wouldn't be able to touch me if I got selected by some miracle. And now I feel terrible because, excuse my french Reese or Viscount Tewksbury, but you're not the prick I thought you would be. I feel terrible knowing that you're practically housing and feeding me when I initially had no intention of helping you. On top of that I could be wasting your time and in the place of a girl that truly wants to be here. A girl that could end up being the love of your life. I'm truly so sorry." she had finally stopped pacing and looked him in the eyes to weigh his reaction.

She couldn't quite read the shifting emotions on Reese's face, which only worried her more. She was sure that she'd be the first girl to be kicked out of the competition now. And the irony of her also being the first of the selected that the prince even got to spend time with like this wasn't lost on her either.

"Did you really just call another of my titles after my first name? You do know that Viscount could also act as a first name as well as Reese, right? Or even Tewksbury. It's all the same to me."

What ? Is that what he picked up from all she had just said? Enola was now stunned to momentary silence.

"wait, you're not... mad ?" she really was lost here.

"How could I be mad at honesty?" he was as collected as she had first seen him earlier that night under the dim lamplight. He really was telling the truth.

"So I guess I should prepare to leave then?" she was trying to find some sort of course of action.

"Now, why would you do that? Wouldn't that make it easier for your brothers to get to you? They already know where you are, so the news of you leaving would be spoonfeeding them your whereabouts."

Did she hear that correctly? Was he suggesting that he'd actually let her... stay ? Maybe he had a longer day than she did because he just might be delirious, but she wasn't complaining. And his earnest eyes that were honestly considering and assessing her and her situation only made her want to hug him.

Was she becoming soft?

"So are you saying..."

He looked at her with a small smile and confirmed her suspicions,

"Yes, Lady Enola, I'm saying you can stay. I'll keep you in the competition until you decide to leave or come up with a plan to escape your brothers if you choose to drop out. Just let me know."

This man was heaven sent. There was no other explanation for it. He really did care. And before he knew it, she was barreling towards him for a hug repeating phrases of thanks. His minor shock passed as his arms enveloped her, and enjoyed the warm gesture. Her hair smelt of roses, and he tried his best not to take a whiff. He wasn't a creep. Realizing her actions, she hurriedly pulled away and composed herself. She knew that she'd just have to find a way to repay him somehow because that's just the way she was.

In fact, she had an idea of how.

"What if, in exchange for staying here, I help you pick out the girl of your dreams? You know, be your wing-woman of sorts. It's the least I could do." His gaze on her lasted a beat longer than usual, and he responded with,

"Would you really?"

He seemed relieved. There was something else there that Enola couldn't quite place, but that didn't matter right now. What mattered was helping him because she knew she could, plus she perceived he needed it.

"Of course, it'll be fun and something to do while I'm here. Please. I insist. we can even have a secret signal we can use with each other if we need to tell the other something important. or if we just want a private audience with each other"

"like a wink?"

"something like that but maybe something more discreet?' I say an ear tug."

He agreed and sincerely couldn't find it in him to say no to a deal like that, so he didn't.

He offered his arm, to which she accepted, and they both walked back to the palace with renewed promise and closeness that wasn't there at the beginning of their encounter.