Abandoned to the Prodigal - Mary Lancaster Page 0,29
sniffed, but he could tell she was pleased. He suspected kind words didn’t come her way very often.
The kitchen door opened, and a young maid came in, yawning prodigiously. She stopped dead at sight of Dan, fear sparking in her eyes. It was the girl who’d walked past on the other side of the river yesterday morning. With her lover.
“Good morning,” Dan said, amiably.
The girl blushed a fiery red and bobbed a hasty curtsey.
“Hurry up, girl!” the cook commanded. “Let’s have water on to boil and then grate yesterday’s bread to coat the fish. A day off yesterday doesn’t entitle you to another today!”
Dan watched thoughtfully as the maid rushed to obey. “What’s her name?” he asked the cook.
“Susan? Smith, apparently. Why?” The cook glared as though he was disappointing her by planning the seduction of her assistant.
“Oh, no reason,” he replied, picking up Gun’s empty bowl and dropping it in the basin. “I met another Smith recently.”
He left by the back door and lingered a moment, half-expecting the maid to come and speak to him. When she didn’t, he set off toward Hornby, cutting across country to the river. Gun was learning manners and had stopped trying to chase the cattle, though he did shoot off at random angles often enough to worry his master. However, he always came back quickly with great excitement. If he was chasing something, he never caught it.
When he crossed the bridge, there was no sign of Juliet. The stab of disappointment took him by surprise, but since Gun dashed happily off toward where they had left her yesterday, he followed. Around the bend, he still could not see her. He hoped he hadn’t hurt her feelings by his hesitation yesterday, for she had been hurt enough. Then it struck him it was probably best if she was hurt, or at least offended because these clandestine meetings would not be good for her reputation. Still, he would miss her. He had looked forward to seeing her again.
A movement in the trees caught his attention. A young lady standing before an easel, busily painting. In the early morning light, it was a delightful vignette, and he couldn’t help smiling with relief as well as pleasure. He turned off the path and strode toward her.
Gun, already investigating the wood, exploded through the trees, throwing himself at Juliet. She laughed, setting down her brush just in time to receive his full weight. She staggered backward before she pushed him off and ruffled his head with both hands.
Still smiling, she straightened to face Dan. “Good morning. I wasn’t sure you would come, so I prepared to entertain myself.”
She had been painting the sunrise over the river in watercolors. The pink and gold of the sky reflected in the water, the whole framed by the tree branches she had been looking through.
“That’s rather good,” he said, impressed. “Have you been here since four in the morning?”
She laughed. “No, I always paint quickly, because I have no talent, only instinct.”
“They seem to be the same thing in your case. Do you want to finish it before breakfast?”
She considered. “Do you know, I might leave it as it is?”
“Eat, then see what you think,” he advised.
She had come prepared this morning, with a blanket already thrown on the ground. He dropped the cook’s parcel on top, and Juliet hastily retrieved if before Gun could get to it.
“Did you carry this all the way here yourself?” he asked.
“It would defeat the object to bring a footman. Or my brother. Actually, I thought about bringing Ferdy, but I don’t want him to have to lie. I suspect he would like you, though.”
“I’m a likable fellow,” Dan said with mock pride. “I gather you are still restricted?”
She wrinkled her nose, settling on the blanket while he pushed Gun off and sat in the dog’s place. “I am. But Kitty and Ferdy—my sister and brother—are working on my father’s sympathies for me. Personally, I doubt he will be in the least receptive unless he gets some kind of reasonable answer from the Alfords. Though, what he would count as reasonable, I have no idea. How is your grandfather? Is he still improving?”
Dan reached for some bread and ham. “So far as I can tell. But you could have knocked me down with a feather when I found who was waiting for me when I got back to Myerly yesterday. My mother.”
“Goodness! Did that please or anger his lordship?”