the highest order.”
“Should I consider that a compliment or insult?”
“You should consider it the truth. Now, I really must go before someone sees us.”
“May I call on you tomorrow?”
She rose from the ground and looked down at him. “I can’t allow that, sir. Please turn your attentions to someone else. Now, leave the way you came while I watch for you.”
He grinned and blew her a kiss.
The back door opened and Hamlet rushed out. He stood on the top step and barked a couple of times before he came running down the steps at top speed toward Millicent. Her heart jumped to her throat.
“Hurry, Lord Dunraven. Hamlet knows you are here,” Millicent whispered to him but he was already disappearing through a small opening he had made in the bottom of the shrub. It closed back together as soon as he was gone.
Hamlet headed straight for the hedge where Lord Dunraven had disappeared. He sniffed around the ground and barked.
Millicent looked back to the rear door saw that it was her own maid, Glenda, standing in the doorway. Millicent flinched. She wondered how long Glenda had been standing there. Could she have seen Lord Dunraven from where she stood? Would she say anything to her aunt if she had seen him or would she consider it none of her concern and remain quiet?
A small young lady with large dark eyes and sallow skin, Glenda was the quietest person Millicent had ever known. She could enter a room without anyone ever knowing she was there.
“Miss, are you all right?” she called.
“Yes, Glenda,” Millicent answered and without looking back toward Hamlet, she started walking toward her maid.
“You have a visitor.”
“No, no, I don’t have a visitor,” she fibbed, trying not to sound or act nervous, but wasn’t so sure she managed it. “I don’t know what Hamlet is barking at. Maybe a rabbit or a cat.”
She could strangle Lord Dunraven for putting her in this awkward position.
Glenda walked down the steps to meet Millicent. She presented Millicent a card on a silver tray. “No, miss, I mean you have had a visitor call on you. A young lady.”
“Oh, yes. I see. Thank you.” Millicent tried to calm her breathing as she picked up the card and read. “Lady Lynette Knightington.” She looked up at the maid. “Is the lady still here or did she just leave her card?”
“She’s in the front parlor, miss, but says not to bother you if she’s called at an inopportune time.”
Millicent wiped her lips with the back of her hand, remembering Lord Dunraven’s kiss, wishing she had more time to ponder why he was pursuing her.
She would think about him later.
This pleasant day had certainly turned into an exciting one. Should she greet the young lady who had been so friendly the night before or should she tell Glenda to say she was unavailable?
Millicent threw down the card on the tray. Angels above, her aunt couldn’t expect her to attend two and three parties each evening and not develop at least one friendship.
“Tell her I’ll be right there, then ask the housekeeper to speak to the cook about a fresh pot of tea and sandwiches.”
“Yes, miss.”
“Lady Lynette, how kind of you to call,” Millicent said a few moments later as she entered the front parlor. Her off-white day dress swept the floor, and her steps were soundless in her comfortable satin slippers.
Lady Lynette turned from the fireplace, where she was looking at the painting of a much younger Lady Beatrice that hung above the mantel. She smiled graciously at Millicent. “I’m so happy you were available to see me on short notice. I promise not to stay long.”
“Nonsense. Stay as long as you like. I’m having some tea brought in for us.”
“Thank you. And remember to call me Lynette. We are friends now, and there should be no formalities with us.”
“All right. Please sit down.”
Millicent motioned for Lady Lynette to take one of the twin burgundy-colored settees that were placed in the center of the cozy room. Matching gilded armchairs flanked each end of the settees, and a satinwood pedestal table with alabaster inlays stood between the settees. Burgundy and green-striped velvet drapery panels had been pulled back from the windows and daylight lit the parlor with brightness.
Lady Lynette was an imposing young lady, tall and robust. Her sapphire-blue walking dress spread out over the small settee as she sat down on the edge. Her matching bonnet had a wide ribbon sash tied under her chin that