Abandoned to the Prodigal, page 4
George’s lips curled in return. “Do you really think that accent entitles you to everything? I’m afraid I’ve stepped in before you, old fellow.”
The dog stuck his head in front of Daniel, staring. He growled deep in his throat, as he had once done to the porter.
“Gun,” Daniel said casually. “Fire.”
Immediately, the dog leapt forward, snarling. George stepped rapidly backward, all but falling over a chair. Gun came after him, and he turned tail and bolted toward the front door, which Daniel kicked shut behind him.
Gun slid to a halt, whining in disappointment.
“Did that oily little toad dare lay a finger on you?” Daniel demanded, striding toward her. “I thought you wouldn’t like a pinch-up in front of you, but give you my word, I’m more than happy to go and beat him to a pulp outside.”
Juliet was so relieved that his contempt had not been directed at her that she could only smile tremulously. She sat down a little too quickly, and he immediately dropped to a crouch in front of her.
“Hello there!” he called abruptly. “A glass of water for the lady!”
“No, no, I’m fine,” she insisted. “It’s just I was afraid he associated me with the article in that horrid paper, and I thought you…” She broke off, grateful to see Mrs. Burton, the innkeeper’s wife, emerging from the kitchen, wiping her floury hands on her apron. Daniel straightened and stepped back.
“Why, my lady!” Mrs. Burton exclaimed, hurrying toward her. “Maizie! Bring water this instant! Is your ladyship ill?”
“No, no, just tired. I wonder if you could arrange for a chaise—with two seats.”
“It’ll be about an hour to wait. Why don’t I send instead to Hornby Park…”
“Then, I shall have to wait two hours. Please, Mrs. Burton.”
“Of course.” Mrs. Burton curtseyed and glared at Daniel while Juliet took the glass of water from the maid. “And what can I do for you, sir?”
“Nothing, thank you,” Daniel replied politely, just as Gun trotted across the room toward her.
She squealed in fright and backed away. “What in God’s holy name…! Does that beast belong to you, sir?”
“He does, but—”
“I’ll thank you to get it out of my coffee room before he eats my guests!”
“He is quite harmless,” Daniel assured her, pulling the dog’s ears.
“Unless you tell him to fire,” Juliet reminded him. Suddenly, she wanted to laugh, and Daniel grinned at her, making it worse.
“Inappropriate humor,” he admitted. “But who could resist?”
“Please let him stay, Mrs. Burton,” Juliet said, sobering. “He is very well-mannered as you see, and he’ll come with us in the chaise. Oh, and this is Mr. Stewart, who is on his way to Myerly.”
“Secretly,” Daniel said unexpectedly. “So, I’d be very grateful if you didn’t tell.”
“Mr. Stewart?” the innkeeper’s wife repeated, distracted. “Then you are Miss Jenny’s son? I beg your pardon, Mrs. Stewart’s son. His lordship’s grandson.”
“Indeed, I am. But for his lordship’s health, I don’t want anyone mentioning I was ever here.”
Surprisingly, Mrs. Burton nodded sagely with another glance at Juliet. “I see. Of course, my lips are sealed. There will be no gossip reaches either of their lordships through my servants or me.”
“Thank you,” Juliet said as she bustled away. She raised her gaze from Mrs. Burton’s back to Daniel. “What on earth were you talking about? What is the secrecy about?”
Daniel pulled a chair to sit astride it with his arms resting across its back. “Nothing, of course. Just didn’t want gossip circulating about you and me traveling together. She clearly knows my grandfather and your father don’t talk and why.”
Intrigued, Juliet said, “I just thought no one spoke to Lord Myerly. Is there a feud?”
“I wouldn’t call it a feud,” Daniel said, “And I’m not sure you should look quite so delighted by a quarrel.”
“Actually, I was hoping for scandal,” she said ruefully. “I need all the ammunition or at least all the sympathy I can muster from my father.”
“Sadly, he was pretty much blameless. The scandal was my mother’s. She was engaged to your father and then ran off with mine. Your father apparently blamed my grandfather, who would never have accepted any kind of criticism for anything, let alone blame.”
“Oh, dear,” Juliet said. “And that is the real reason your grandfather quarrels with you? Because he disapproves of your father?”
Daniel shrugged. “To be honest, I never heard of anyone he does approve of. I’m actually honored because he has never let my mother in the house since the day she left, while I have been summoned several times over the years.”
“Then I can see why your heart isn’t really in this reconciliation,” she said. “And I’m glad you’ve decided to come in the chaise.”
“Well, someone has to protect you from oily toads and weasels.” Slowly, he drew the newspaper from inside his coat. “Is this the reason you fled London on the stagecoach?”
She blinked rapidly. “I had been staying with my betrothed’s family when I was summoned by the princess. The next morning, when I returned, they would not receive me. Jer… my betrothed ended our engagement without even listening to me. He gave me money to get home, and I was too proud to take it.”
His eyes remained steady on hers. She was sure she saw a spark of anger there.
“Did you love him very much?”
“I thought I did.” She dragged her gaze free. “But how could I love someone so shallow, so devoid of feeling or even interest in me?” She cast him a difficult smile. “I believe Jeremy must be one of your oily toads.”
“He sounds more like a weasel. Well, we can fire Gun at him later. You are clearly much better off not marrying such a man. What I don’t understand is why anyone could even be expected to believe this drivel.”
“Because enough of it is true,” she said ruefully. “The Alfords knew I was summoned to the princess. We all were, apart from Hazel, who was starting her scheduled duty. None of us knew the princess had left that morning, so we just hid from the vulgar party going on downstairs.”
“Did you not wonder why she didn’t send for you?”
“We thought she was…” Juliet blushed, “…saying goodbye to a friend from whom she was about to part. We all thought we’d been chosen to accompany her abroad and were so excited about it. I suppose we didn’t properly consider the rest of the situation. As soon as we discovered Her Highness wasn’t there, we fled, hoping our families would be able to douse any suspicion of scandal. I thought Lady Alford would… I never imagined Jeremy… It’s this rag of Oily George’s! The Alfords had already seen it, and they rarely rise before eleven.”
Daniel frowned. “And when did you reach their house?”
“About seven, I suppose.”
“So, between that evening and seven the next day, someone had seen you at the party, reported it to this rag, who then printed it among the rest of their nonsense, and delivered it to your betrothed in such a way that he rose from his bed to read it?”
“It doesn’t seem very believable,” she allowed. “Besides which, we were never in the midst of the party. We never even entered the drawing room, just locked ourselves in the room next to the princess’s, ready to guard her if we needed to.”
“I think someone has set out to hurt you,” Daniel said grimly. “You or one of the other ladies listed here.”
“But who would do such a thing?”
“Some jealous lady of the princess’s?”
“They had no reason to be jealous. I was to have been married next month and meant to leave her service then. Even if I had been abroad at the time.”
He gave an apologetic half-smile. “Jeremy? To give him an excuse to throw you over for some other lady?”
“What other lady?” she said bluntly. “I’m an earl’s daughter, and I come with a sizeable dowry. I don’t see how he could do much better, and the man I saw yesterday is certainly not capable of the kind of grand passion that might make him oblivious of worldly advantages.”
“Perhaps someone with a grudge against your family, then.”
Her eyes widened. “Surely not Lord Myerly?”
Daniel’s smile was crooked. “He might give you the cut direct, but I can’t see him going after you in such a vicious, underhand way. After all, like me, you are an innocent party in his quarrels. Does your father have other enemies?”
“Probably,” she said ruefully. “He has dabbled in politics, and he has not always lived well. He gambled away a large part of his fortune and then won it back by ruining someone else entirely. Or so the story goes.”
“Who did he ruin?”
“I have no idea. It was just a vague story. And one my mother was never terribly keen on discussing. In any case, this was years and years ago. It would be a very patient revenge.”
“The best vengeance always is. Or so I’m told.”
Juliet considered that until Mrs. Burton and the maid reappeared with coffee and toast.
“Bless you, Mrs. Burton,” Juliet said gratefully, and when the coffee was poured and they were alone again, she said, “I’ll talk to my family.” After a moment, she added, “I’m glad to have a friend in the neighborhood. Despite my family, I’m bound to be persona non grata, at least until we can prove this is lies.”
“Happy to help if I can, but I’m afraid I don’t really add to a lady’s good reputation.”
“I don’t believe I care,” she said stoutly. “Reputations can as easily lie one way as the other. People may call you a rakehell, although I’ve no idea if they do or not, but you have been a perfect gentleman and a good friend to me on this journey.”
There was a strange expression in his eyes before his lashes dropped down.
“There must have been a scandal,” she observed, “if your parents ran away together. How did your mother deal with it?”
He shrugged. “She didn’t really have to. She went abroad immediately with my father and followed the drum. It was only after he died that she began to flirt again with polite society.” He drained his coffee cup. “But that’s all a different matter.”
“Perhaps my scandal will just be a seven-day wonder,” she said with growing optimism, “and then everything will be as before.”
“Especially if your betrothed sees what an idiot he was and apologizes,” Daniel said.
Juliet glared. “I would not have him now if he begged on one knee, and my father commanded it.”
“Don’t blame you,” Daniel said, “but it would probably be the best way to squash rumor.”
She sighed. “Let us hope there are more palatable ways. After all, my father is not a nobody, and neither is—” She broke off with an apologetic glance. “I suppose I shouldn’t really mention the other ladies involved in this. I know you are safe to tell, but I must get out of the habit.”
“Actually, you know no such thing,” he said bluntly. “As it happens, you’re right, but you don’t know that.”
“You think I’m naïve.”
“Trusting,” he corrected.
“And I shouldn’t be,” she said bitterly. “I used to imagine I was such a good judge of character, but I can’t be if I liked Jeremy.”
Unexpectedly, he nudged her with his elbow, and she realized with a flutter of her heart how close he was. “Cheer up. You are quite right to like me.”
“Make up your mind,” she retorted. “You just told me not to trust you.”
“No, I didn’t, but no one ever listens to advice of that nature anyway. I certainly don’t.”
She regarded him with renewed curiosity. “You must have led an odd life by the standards of most young gentlemen.”
He shrugged. “Not so very odd. My grandfather parted with two years of fees for Harrow and then Cambridge, so I do have an education of sorts.”
She flushed. “Forgive me. I did not mean to imply otherwise.”
“I’m not offended,” he assured her. “I’m telling you the good bits before the bad.”
“Go on,” she urged.
“Since I did what he asked, and even graduated from Cambridge, he invited me to live with him, implying thereby that I would be his heir.”
“But that is good, not bad!”
“I refused. He didn’t include my mother in his invitation and refused to see her, so I politely declined. Which was foolish in some ways, but I couldn’t allow him to slight her.”
“Of course not!” Juliet agreed. “So, what did you do instead?”
“I tutored for a bit, but I didn’t earn much, so I supplemented it—and often lost it—gaming. And then there was a scandal, and I had to give up the tutoring. I suppose you could say I went to the devil. I ignored this summons from my grandfather for a week, and then I thought, why not? No point in bearing a grudge forever. I didn’t tell my mother, but I did come. As you see.”
“So, we’re both rather scandalous,” Juliet said ruefully.
“But you, at least, are innocent.”
There was a peculiar pleasure in hearing him say so, perhaps because he was clearly a somewhat scandalous person himself, and a cynic to boot. If he believed her, then surely the rest of the country would not think the worst of her.
Chapter Four
Her spirits improved by coffee and Daniel’s company, Juliet found the time flew until the chaise arrived with a clatter in the yard.
Mrs. Burton herded them outside and into the chaise, hastily dismissing the still sleepy ostlers who had come out to see what was afoot.
“Only a moment’s stop at Myerly,” she instructed the post-boy. “And then straight to Hornby Park.”
“I just told him that,” Daniel observed mildly, closing the door and squashing onto the seat beside Juliet. Gun lay on the floor in front of them. “Just rest your feet on him. He doesn’t mind.”
Juliet suspected the chaise had been designed to be spacious for one person because it was certainly cramped for two and a large dog. She was very aware of Daniel’s shoulder and arm, and even the occasional touch of his thigh, as the vehicle weaved around bends in the road and rolled over bumps. He had been such a kind friend to her that it came almost as a shock to remember that he was, in fact, a very good-looking young man.
The realization confused her for a few moments, and she gazed ahead out of the front window, trying to be glad she was in home country. She supposed the butterflies in her stomach were from nerves concerning her family’s welcome.
“He must be a total lunkhead, your betrothed,” Daniel said suddenly. “Why would he throw over a beautiful, charming girl like you? Just because of lies in a so-called newspaper everyone despises!”
“Well, he has ambitions to follow his father into politics and thinks he needs to be pure as the driven snow, even though Lord Alford won’t die for decades yet. I suppose he could stand for election to the House of C—” She broke off as the rest of his question penetrated her nervous brain. “Do you really think I’m beautiful and charming?”
“You must know you are. I can’t have said anything you haven’t heard a hundred times before.”
“People do say such things,” she admitted. “But I’ve always known it was more to do with who my father is than my own attractions.”
“You must have believed your betrothed, surely!”
“I believed in his devotion,” Juliet admitted. “He did say very sweet things, not about such nonsense as beauty but about his feelings for me. I felt very lucky, very honored to have won such a man. Only I hadn’t. His words were even less honest than the poetical rubbish about my eyes and lips and the way I turn my wrist in a beam of sunshine.”
“Your wrist?” Daniel repeated, apparently entertained. He lifted her hand from her lap, pushing back the glove with his thumb to reveal her wrist, which he examined with curiosity. “It’s very slender and elegant, certainly. As wrists go, it’s a very pretty example. But did someone truly write a whole poem about it?”
“Well, one verse. He wrote it out on parchment and sent it to me with a rose. I thanked him civilly, but I confess I laughed.” She smiled painfully. “However, he has the last laugh, since I promptly betrothed myself to Jeremy Catesby.”
“Do you regret your poet now?” Idly, his forefinger stroked her wrist beneath the glove. She rather liked the sensation, but her mind was more on his question.
She shook her head. “No. I just regret my own stupidity.”
His finger stilled. “It isn’t stupid to expect loyalty from friends or family or betrothed husbands.”
Tears prickled behind her eyes. “I had all the advantages birth and wealth could bring me. And still, I am not good enough.”
“Good enough for what?” he demanded, squeezing her hand in a comforting way. He even dragged it to his lips and dropped a kiss on the back of her wrist. “For some gutless little weasel? Trust me, you deserve much better than that.”
She let out a watery little laugh, hastily dashing her hand over her eyes.
Unexpectedly, his arm came around her in hug. “There, don’t cry,” he said comfortingly. “You’ve got home by yourself, and I’m sure your family will take care of everything. You are much better off without the weasel.”
Just for an instant, she let herself hug him back in gratitude. “You have been so kind to me, Daniel. Thank you.”
She was about to draw back, and his loosening arm was about to let her, when their eyes met, and she paused. A lock of black hair had fallen across his forehead. It came to her that his dark eyes, serious for once, were extraordinarily beautiful. As was the rest of him, in a careless, masculine kind of way. Her heart gave a funny little flutter.
A frown tugged at his brow. “Would you mind if I…? Oh, the devil.” He leaned closer and kissed her, a brief, sensual caress of his lips that parted hers the instant before ending.
Casually, he released her, dragging his arm back to his side. “A kiss of friendship,” he said, “so don’t get in a miff.”
She blinked to dispel the daze. From somewhere, laughter bubbled up. “A miff?”
