My father is acquainted with the colonel at Aldergreen. I shall write to him and ask him to look out for Mrs. Harper and her inquiries.”
“Susan’s soldier is called Jim Owens.”
She nodded. “I don’t think we can do anymore for now.”
“And what of your own problems?” he asked.
She wrinkled her nose and told him about Jeremy’s letter and Kitty’s advice. “The trouble is, I’m not sure I could re-engage myself to him quite so cynically, just to dismiss him again when all this nonsense blows over. For one thing, what if it doesn’t? For another, although he deserves the humiliation, I don’t think I could bring myself to smile at him, let alone accept his offer again.”
Dan was silent a moment. “You might feel differently when you see him again. After all, you must have liked him when you accepted him the first time.”
“I did.” She frowned. “I suppose it’s easy to like someone when you don’t know them. Everything was always so formal, not like—” She broke off, taking the stick from Gun’s mouth and throwing it for him. It served to hide her embarrassment at what she had so nearly said. Not like it is with you.
“However,” she said lightly, “it has clearly eased my father’s mind to the extent that I am now allowed to be present when Lawrence—Mr. King, Kitty’s betrothed—calls on us this afternoon. How is your party at Myerly?”
He grinned. “Growing. My cousin Hugh and his father appeared yesterday.”
“Was he wearing his pink coat?” she asked eagerly.
“No, it was plain blue, but his yellow and blue waistcoat more than made up for that. As did the long yellow traveling coat, I first saw him in.”
“Like a sunbeam?” she asked.
“Very much.”
“Do you know, I think I would like a yellow coat now? Not a pale pastel shade, but a vibrant yellow.”
“It will look beautiful on you.”
“Perhaps Mr. Ames’s coat will look beautiful on you, too. Would you wear it?”
“I’ll wear anything if I’m cold enough.”
Although he spoke in the same bantering tones, the answer made her frown. “Are you often cold? Dan, are you really poor?”
“Apparently not if I don’t choose to be,” he said with an unusual hint of bitterness, which he seemed to shake off with an impatient shrug of his shoulders.
“What do you mean?” she asked. “No one would choose to be poor, would they?”
At first, the deliberate smile in his eyes told her he was about to laugh it off, to change the subject, and then the smile drained away, and he blurted, “My mother has received an offer of marriage from a very wealthy gentleman. She has decided to accept him, and I am afraid it is for my sake. And my fault.”
“What does your mother say?”
“That he makes her happy.”
“Is she in the habit of lying to you?”
“No,” he conceded. “But this is different. She wouldn’t tell me the truth if it made me feel bad about not providing for her.”
“And you feel she is still trying to provide for you?”
“Exactly.”
She mulled that over for a little. “What will you do?”
“Tell her I won’t take a penny from him. If she still marries him, it’s because she wants to. Probably.”
Without thinking, she threaded her fingers through his and squeezed. His hand closed on hers in instant response, but his glance was curious.
“What is that for?” he asked.
“Comfort. I’m returning the favor.”
His eyes gleamed. “As I recall, I kissed you.”
She laughed, although heat surged into her face. “I don’t feel your distress is great enough for that.”
“It’s the best argument I’ve heard for misery.” He swung her hand into the air and drew her back toward the woods.
*
Although it was getting increasingly hard to leave Dan after their walks, Juliet cheered herself with the thought of this afternoon’s treat of meeting Lawrence King with Kitty. All the same, she could not help dwelling on her time with Dan, for he had kept hold of her hand for most of the walk through the woods. And she had let him. Which was both foolish and improper. They were not children. He did not wallow in his anxiety over his mother. On the contrary, he was as entertaining as ever. And yet his strong, roughened fingers had held lightly on to hers, novel, exciting, and strangely sweet.
But he was still Dan, her friend. He had taken no liberties as they’d parted near the driveway, merely smiled and said goodbye until tomorrow. She could have imagined the warmth of his eyes. It was