Abandoned to the Prodigal - Mary Lancaster Page 0,95

Susan’s farmer and her sergeant. Presumably, both had come to see her, and Mrs. Harper was preventing them.

Mrs. Harper’s face lit up. “Miss Smith! How amazingly fortunate! Is it within your power to have these brutes thrown out of this house and kept from my daughter?”

“Well, yes, probably,” Juliet said. “But…how is Susan?”

“Weak as a kitten, but so glad to see me. She wept, Miss Smith. Wept.”

“I’m not surprised,” Juliet murmured, wondering how to explain that her name wasn’t Smith. “But…has Susan said whether or not she wishes to see either of these gentlemen?”

Mrs. Harper’s jaw dropped.

“You have to ask her,” Juliet said gently. “You can’t protect her from everything, or you’ll make her run away again.”

Mrs. Harper looked outraged and then miserable. Without a word, she turned and hurried up the attic steps. Immediately, Owens charged after her, and the farmer grabbed him by the arm.

“I don’t think so!” Juliet cried, incensed. “Stay exactly where you are! There will be no fighting in this house unless you want to be barred from it for good. You will wait to be invited, and if you are not, you will leave. Is that clearly understood?”

The farmer gulped and tugged his forelock. “Yes, m’lady.”

She glared at the silent sergeant who eventually gave a reluctant grin. “Yes, ma’am, m’lady, whoever you are.”

“Mrs. Stewart,” Dan said severely, from behind her. Keeping his eyes on the love rivals, he drew her farther back. “Well?”

“You might need to deal with Sergeant Owens’s disappointment. Susan is making up her mind.”

Dan looked skeptical, which surprised her until Mrs. Harper reappeared at the top of the stairs. “Sergeant, she will give you five minutes. No longer.”

An expression of utter relief broke out on the sergeant’s face, softening it into something close to fatuous as he dashed upstairs, unhindered by his crestfallen rival who turned away, head bowed.

Juliet turned to Dan, open-mouthed. “How did you know?”

He shrugged. “He followed her here. He was angry, but never with her. There just seemed more feeling than either Susan or her mother credited him with. Such feeling usually has a reason, in my experience.”

“The reason being Susan actually loved him?”

“Perhaps. Come and look at this. They’re wheeling out the most ancient coach you’ve ever seen. And our horses are saddled.”

The ride to Hornby was just what Juliet needed—time alone with Dan to come to terms with the astonishing knowledge that he was her husband.

Her heartbeat quickened with more than the exercise of riding as they entered Hornby woods, and their horses slowed to a halt. While his mount cropped at the undergrowth, he reached out for the bridle of Juliet’s horse, drawing it close enough to his own that he could lean across and kiss her.

Somewhere, she was aware the birds still sang in the trees, that other small creatures scuttled beneath. The scents of the wood did not change. But his kiss, the first as her husband, seemed so momentous that everything else faded.

“Afraid?” he whispered.

“Of what?”

“Of what we’ve done.”

She smiled, shaking her head so that her lips brushed back and forth across his. “No. Are you?”

“I think I should be. But all I know is that you are my wife, and I have never been so happy in my life.”

*

The Alfords were stunned, although there was no time for them to work up to offense. After all, it was their son who had broken the engagement. They had claimed to have come to Hornby through mere friendship, with no promises, so they could hardly take it amiss when Juliet chose elsewhere.

Kitty wept and laughed and hugged her. “I was so afraid you would hate me for telling them where I thought you were! But of course, you married your Daniel!”

Ferdy just laughed and clapped Dan on the back hard enough to make him stagger.

“I hope that was affection,” Dan protested.

“It was,” Juliet assured him.

Considering the mix of guests at this very peculiar wedding breakfast, it passed with surprising joy. At least, if others were not joyful, Juliet was far too happy to notice. The air was even cleared between her mother and Dan’s, as before the dining room was ready, Mrs. Stewart came and sat beside them.

“I hope you won’t take this amiss, Lady Cosland, and I have no hesitation in speaking in front of Juliet. But I want to say how pleased I am to make your acquaintance, and to finally make peace with your husband.” She smiled rather ruefully at the countess’s sudden stiffening. “He and I would have