The Virtuous Ward - By Karla Darcy Page 0,53

squeezing it in her excitement. "I am so thrilled for dear little Amity. She must be over the moon with elation at her good fortune."

"I suppose so," Max said. "I was assuming all would be successful but with this new start one wonders if she has lost her wits entirely. A soldier," he snorted in disgust.

"You mustn't be too harsh with the child," Honoria said, her voice soft with appeal. "She is new to the ways of society and has much to learn. I am just pleased that you now will have an opportunity to warn her. Ever since I saw her with the young man I have been in a quandary over what action to take to protect her from her own folly."

"Telling me was the proper action, my dear. I shall get to the bottom of this." Max's tight lips and grim features indicated that the subject was closed and his ward would have much to answer for her actions. Returning to the ballroom, he noted the bouncing step of Honoria and realized she was relieved to have confessed her guilty secrets. Amity must be made aware of how good a friend she had in Honoria. Thank heaven that he understood women, he thought in relief.

When Max returned home it was late and both Lady Grassmere and Amity had retired. He debated waking the girl but he was so angry with her that he knew he was not in the proper frame of mind to deal with the situation. The thought that she had been participating in secret meetings with some unknown soldier quite infuriated him. How could she be so stupid as to risk her reputation in some light flirtation?

He entered the library and poured himself a large brandy, sipping the liquor without conscious awareness of its fine quality. Throwing himself into his high backed chair, he stretched out his legs, prying each shoe off with the toe of the other. He propped his feet up on a footstool and once more considered the problem of Amity.

Granted she was impetuous and childlike in her curiosity and enthusiasm, he had never felt she was either immodest or flirtatious. She was congenial to all the men who flocked around her but he had noticed that she never permitted any of the men to make advances to her. In fact he had heard her scold them when they praised her with the flowery compliments they were accustomed to use. She treated them all with the avuncular affection reserved for younger, and not necessarily brighter, brothers. It seemed out of character that this practical miss should have fallen foul of some soldier with immoral intentions; Amity was far too honorable to be involved in some tawdry liaison. Despite Honoria's interpretation, Max felt that there had to be some other explanation.

There was much going on in his household that he felt needed clarification. He was still chagrined that he had not been able to discover what a piglet was doing loose in his foyer and what had been going on in the garden storeroom. It had been several days before he was able to visit the area, since he wished to avoid any appearance that he was snooping in his own garden. When he went to the storeroom, the only evidence that he could discover of any animals' occupancy was a strong aroma of the barnyard and a chair minus several mouthfuls of stuffing.

Although this might have been enough to worry him he had noticed other peculiarities in the running of his household. Most of the servants employed on his various estates had been affiliated with his family for years. However over the past several weeks he had noticed an increasing number of new faces in and around the townhouse and the stables. Despite the fact he had never paid much attention to his household staff, he could swear there was an ever-changing supply of strange men in his employ.

Amity's arrival in his life had turned his well ordered bachelor existence topsy-turvy. Perhaps he might have been more zealous in his investigations but he had to admit that in some ways there were benefits to the reformation of his life. From one day to the next he had no way of predicting what novelty he would find in his household; instead of the boredom he had been prone to, he discovered he awakened in the morning with anticipation of what the day might offer. There was an atmosphere that pervaded the townhouse,