Ahead of the Field

I found these red roses waiting for me this morning. Their presence posed several problems - was His Lordship losing the plot and got the day wrong, had he got a bargain with 6 red roses rather than the 12 of Mills and Boon novels or was there some other reason.
Under interrogation it appears he did know it was not St Valentine’s Day but thought to get ahead of the competition by presenting them today. Who am I to disabuse him as to the length of any queue of suitors? That’s for me to know and him to guess.
Maybe there is something in the mantra -Treat them mean and keep them keen, ensuring they are always on their toes.