at Dan.
“Cousin Daniel?” he exclaimed in amazement, mincing toward him. “What the deuce are you about in this wretched neck of the woods?”
“Much the same as you, I imagine,” Dan said, grasping his cousin’s gracefully offered hand. “Answering his lordship’s summons. How are you, Hugh?”
Hugh had caught sight of Gun by then and staggered back in alarm. “What in God’s name is that?”
“This is Gun. Friendly and harmless, though he will muddy your pretty coat.”
“Then he is not harmless,” Hugh pronounced. “But where are my manners? Papa, have you met Cousin Daniel Stewart before? Aunt Jenny’s son.”
The older gentleman, who held a handkerchief to his nose, goggled.
“Dan, my father.”
“How do you, sir?” Dan said politely, offering his hand to Mr. Ames.
His uncle took it mechanically, in a limp kind of way, lowering the handkerchief from his face to say, “Poorly, I’m afraid, poorly. I have the most dreadful cold, and the last thing I need is to be shut up in an airless carriage for days on end.”
“Days?” Daniel said, startled.
“One day,” Hugh corrected, “though it does feel like several. Neither of us would be here, to be frank, except Mama wrote and said everyone else was, and I would be missing out. However, I can’t imagine seeing me will soften the old gentleman’s heart, so not sure of the point.”
“To entertain his lordship one last time,” Dan said cynically. “I think we’re probably meant to fight over our inheritance.”
“And how is that going?” Hugh inquired.
“I’ll leave that to your own observations. My belief is, he’ll leave everything to an orphanage just to see our reaction.”
Hugh considered that doubtfully. “So, he hasn’t croaked yet?”
“No. In fact, he appears to be rallying.”
Mr. Ames sneezed into his handkerchief and turned away.
Hugh made a comical, long-suffering face. “Offer you a seat to Myerly, old fellow?” He eyed Gun with clear misgivings.
“No, thank you,” Dan said hastily. “I’ll just finish my ale and ride back when the horse has rested. Good luck.”
“Same to you,” Hugh said with his unexpectedly sweet smile and assisted his father back into the chaise.
Chapter Nine
“Did you leave your card at Myerly?” Juliet asked her mother over dinner. They had no guests, so she had been allowed to join the family.
“Yes, I did, but I didn’t stop.”
“Then you did not see anyone?” Kitty said, disappointed.
“A young man rode up the drive as we were leaving,” Mama said. “He was not dressed for riding and wore his hat at a crooked angle, but he had a good seat in the saddle, and he bowed to me.”
Dan, Juliet thought with glee. She wondered where he’d been, felt a wistful longing to have accompanied him. Which was silly. She had only seen him this morning. And would again tomorrow.
“Oh, we must remember Lawrence is coming over tomorrow, Juliet, so you must keep out of the way.”
Juliet sighed and nodded. She wondered if she could sneak away while everyone was occupied, ride further afield, perhaps to Kidfield. Or Myerly.
“Is that really necessary, Mama?” Kitty argued. “Lawrence knows all about this scandal and believes in Juliet’s innocence quite as much as I do. He knows she is here, so it is silly to keep her from him. In fact, it looks positively odd.”
“You may have a point,” the countess agreed. “What do you think, Cosland? Shall we relax the rules, just for Lawrence’s visit?”
“I suppose so,” the earl said grudgingly. “So long as the Kings don’t object.”
In her present circumstances, it was enough to give Juliet hope. She looked forward to seeing her sister’s betrothed again, of seeing them together, and refused to think about the possibility of Jeremy’s presence at Hornby next week.
She went to bed early and rose at dawn. She crammed a book into her reticule in case she had to wait for Dan, but this morning she didn’t doubt that he would come.
And she was right. As she came in sight of the bridge, he was already walking over it. Gun shot past him, hurling himself at her with great glee. When she had fended him off, laughing and ruffling his head, Dan was there, offering his arm in courtly fashion. They walked together, talking like much older friends than they actually were.
“Mrs. Harper has left Kidfield for Aldergreen,” Dan said. “I left her a note at the Black Cat, but we can’t be sure she will come back.”
“And it would be good for her peace of mind to know as soon as possible that her daughter is safe and well.