Abandoned to the Prodigal - Mary Lancaster Page 0,71

then? Imagining they’re also friends with me? And looking for this chit, I imagine.” He glared at Juliet, and it was quite an effort of courage to glare back. “What the devil were you doing in that house?”

Juliet blinked. “I live there.”

“Not Hornby! The Princess of Wales’s establishment.”

“I was doing, as I thought, my duty,” Juliet replied stiffly. “Protecting Her Highness.”

“She doesn’t need protecting from what I hear,” Myerly said with an unpleasant chuckle.

Juliet lifted her chin. “Her Highness is a kind and misunderstood lady.”

“As I suppose, are you?” Lord Myerly mocked.

“In this matter, yes. I was deliberately tricked and traduced by a so-called gentleman who is now at Hornby, and who is one of the reasons I have sought refuge with you.”

“My.” The old man sat back, regarding her. “Honesty, at last. I like her. She can stay. I might even come down to watch all you young bucks fight over her. Now, go away. I’m going to rest for a while.”

There was nothing for Juliet to do but rise and drop a curtsey before walking out of the room.

“Well done, my dear,” Mrs. Stewart murmured. “He actually likes people who stand up to him.”

“I’m afraid I was distracted from proper gratitude by temper,” Juliet said ruefully.

“No,” Mrs. Stewart said simply.

From the floor below, came sounds of scurrying feet. Whether family or servants, they had clearly been waiting to hear how Juliet had been received.

Mrs. Stewart said bluntly. “Did you leave a note for your family?”

“Yes,” Juliet admitted. “But I just said I was going somewhere safe, and they should not try to find me until I wrote again. They’ll never think I would come to Myerly.”

Mrs. Stewart nodded. “Well, I am going to lie down for an hour after all this excitement.”

“I was going to see Patrick,” Dan said, glancing at Juliet. “Care to come?”

“Everyone will know who she is,” Mrs. Stewart warned. “Word will get back to Lord Cosland,”

“I shall be discreet,” Juliet told her.

“And Patrick won’t gossip,” Dan said, “The rain’s gone off for now, but you can take my cloak until your own dries. Come on then. Gun will be desperate.”

Five minutes later, they left by the kitchen door, collected the ecstatic Gun from a very pleasant, if overgrown, walled garden just beyond the vegetable patch and set off over the fields.

“I didn’t mean to spoil your plans,” Juliet said as they walked.

“You didn’t,” he replied at once. He cast her a quick smile. “Though I may have to adjust them slightly. So might you. Your father will find you, you know. Even with discretion, he’ll know you’re here within—what? Two days? No more.”

She sighed. “Probably. But presumably, he wanted my answer this morning because Barden did. Hopefully, he’ll then give up.”

“Barden?” he said doubtfully. “He’s gone to a great deal of trouble to give up at the first setback. What I can’t understand is why your father is even considering giving you to such a vile man.”

“I couldn’t understand it either,” she admitted. “I was too hurt and too angry that he did. Now that I’m calmer, I think he is simply trying to preserve my reputation to make my life easier. I would not be the first woman to make the best of a bad marriage. Also…he probably feels guilty because he won all that money from Barden in the first place.” She shrugged a little wearily. “I’ve always thought of myself as a dutiful daughter, but I won’t pay the price for that folly.”

“It sounds like you would both pay the price.”

She cast him a crooked smile. “You mean I am doing my father a favor by hiding from Barden? At least he will remain better off. To give him his due, he prefers Jeremy of my two options.”

He turned his head. “Do you?”

“Probably. But it doesn’t matter. I’ve no intention of marrying either of them. Or even being engaged to either of them until the scandal blows over, which was Kitty’s advice. Just to be engaged to someone.”

She searched his face, waiting for him to speak. To say something about his feelings, his kisses, and an offer that was a natural progression from there.

He didn’t.

She swallowed. He was a poor man, and she a wealthy heiress. Of course, he would not speak. She drew her gaze free. “If you like,” she said with difficulty, “I could be engaged to you.”

He didn’t answer for so long that she felt dizzy from holding her breath. She exhaled in a rush, and at last,