from this vital, fun, necessary being…
His arm came around her shoulders in a brief hug, although he let her go again almost immediately. She wanted to cling, hide him, keep him safe…
A few minutes later, they came to the hamlet, basically just a few cottages and a tavern. Juliet drew the cloak more tightly about her and pulled the hood up over her bonnet, so that she looked as little like the earl’s daughter as possible. A few curious glances were cast at her, but the locals appeared to know Dan, greeting him with nods and the occasional, amiable word. Apart from the man in the red coat who sat outside the tavern and who gazed with unfriendly eyes as they stopped.
“I can bring you a drink if you like?” Dan offered.
“No, thank you,” she replied. “I believe I would rather get back to the house.” She frowned, finally realizing that the man with the hostile eyes wore a military coat.
Dan seemed to notice him at the same time, for he strolled toward the man. “Beautiful day, is it not?”
“If you say so,” the soldier replied insolently.
Dan regarded him for a moment. “My name is Stewart. I’m staying up at Myerly Hall.”
“I know exactly who you are,” the soldier retorted.
“And you don’t seem to care for the knowledge,” Dan observed.
Juliet’s stomach lurched. Soldiers had firearms… At least he didn’t have a rifle slung over his back or a pistol lying on the bench beside him. She refrained from catching at Dan’s arm and dragging him off, but only with difficulty.
The soldier curled his lip.
“What’s your name?” Dan asked.
The soldier met his gaze with defiance. “None of your business.”
Dan shrugged. “As you wish. I just thought you might be Susan Harper’s sergeant. Owens, isn’t it?”
The soldier jumped to his feet. “If you know about me, you should be quaking in your shoes!”
“I should?” Dan said, startled.
But Juliet suddenly understood and let out a peel of laughter. “Dan, he thinks you have led Susan astray! He is Susan’s sergeant.”
“I don’t see what’s so damned amusing about that!” Sergeant Owens said aggressively.
“Keep a civil tongue in your head when you address a lady,” Dan commanded, and rather to Juliet’s surprise—and possibly the sergeant’s—Owens muttered an apology.
“Thing is, I know she works up there at the big house,” the soldier said in a rush. “And I hear you are too dam…dashed friendly with her. I know your sort. Think you’re a lady’s man and don’t care about the carnage you leave in your wake. Why—”
“You’ve got the wrong end of the stick,” Dan interrupted before the tirade went any further. “I’ve never seduced anyone’s housemaid, least of all my grandfather’s. Does she know you’re here?”
Owens shuffled his feet. “Not yet.”
“Then we’ll tell her where you are,” Juliet said sternly. “And if she wants to see you, she will. If she doesn’t, you can go straight back to your barracks. And incidentally, Sergeant, do you have a firearm with you?”
The man’s mouth fell open. “Firearm? What would I be doing wandering around Yorkshire with a rifle? Don’t even have the French to fight anymore.”
“Just curious,” Juliet replied. “Good day, Sergeant.”
“Subtle,” Dan murmured in apparent amusement as they walked on.
“Well, I thought I might as well ask.”
“And did you expect a truthful answer?”
She glanced at him in dismay. “You think he was lying?”
“Not necessarily. Don’t know the man well enough to say.” He gazed thoughtfully down the road toward Myerly. “I wonder if it’s a good thing or a bad that he came after Susan?”
“He does seem quite an angry young man,” Juliet admitted.
“I might be angry, too, if someone enticed my beloved away.”
“Yes, but I don’t think anyone did entice Susan, did they? She left the sergeant and got work here, where she met her farmer.”
“It’s easier to blame other people than yourself,” Dan said vaguely. “But it will be easy enough to find out how long he has been sitting outside the tavern.”
*
“She is what?” Lord Barden asked, staring at his host. He didn’t believe a word of it.
“My daughter is not in the house,” Lord Cosland repeated. “She cannot, therefore, give you or I the answer you seek.”
They faced each other in the library once more, but this time neither of them sat.
Barden gave his most unpleasant smile. “That is a pity. I had hoped not to bring up the subject of your daughter’s sadly fallen reputation, but—”
A knock at the door interrupted him, and he broke off.
“Enter,” Cosland commanded.
Catesby came in and