Abandoned to the Prodigal, page 7
She was tempted. “I would like to see Gun,” she said ruefully at last. “And I am definitely intrigued by your family, but I’m not supposed to leave the grounds. I should at least begin by being obedient.”
His eyes gleamed with amusement. “That doesn’t bode well for future conduct.”
“I will break out eventually,” she said with a sigh. “It’s pretty intolerable already, being excluded from everything and having nothing to do but brood on my own misfortunes and wonder who wrote that dreadful story in the paper. I won’t even be able to sneak out to meet you very often, or they will notice.” She brightened. “Unless you rise early?”
“Gun does. We could meet you in the same place at seven tomorrow.”
“Done,” she said promptly, and the day improved miraculously.
Chapter Six
Juliet was forbidden dinner with the family that night since Lawrence King was joining them. Although Juliet was able to accept her dismissal philosophically enough, Kitty cast her several anxious glances and followed her up to her bedchamber.
“I will bring him to meet you at some point,” Kitty assured her. “He will be happy to do so.”
“No, don’t,” Juliet said. “We shouldn’t give him anything to lie about. Merely pass on my good wishes.”
Kitty sat beside her in the window. “You are very good, Juliet. This must be so hard for you.”
She shrugged. “I expect it will get harder.” When Dan leaves Myerly, for one thing.
“Cheer up. Papa might yet manage some miracle with the Alfords. I know he wrote to Jeremy today.”
“I could not marry Jeremy now.”
“But if there had been some mistake…”
“The mistake was mine for believing in him,” Juliet declared. “He knew exactly what he was doing, and it cost him no more than a moment’s inconvenience, not even the twenty pounds he was prepared to give me to make me go away.”
All the same, she sat on the stairs to hear the chatter and merry laughter drifting out of the dining room and felt her exclusion like an unjust punishment.
*
The next morning, she rose with the dawn, washed, dressed, and slipped downstairs. She did have to step over the maid scrubbing the hall floor, but that didn’t matter. She was allowed to walk the grounds.
She found Daniel in almost the same place as yesterday. This time, he leaned his shoulder against a broad oak, his hat pushed to the back of his head as he raised his face to the rising sun. Gun, attached to his slightly bedraggled velvet leash, sat on his foot, gazing at her as she emerged from the trees, before jumping up in great excitement and tugging his master toward her.
“Good morning!” she said, laughing and bending to make a fuss of the dog before he jumped on her. “How delighted I am to see you, Mr. Gun.” She straightened, glancing up at Daniel, while the dog slobbered over her hand. “No carving today?”
“Oh, I finished it.” He fished inside his disreputable coat pocket and gave her something. The figure fitted inside her closed hand. It was, unmistakably, a dog with lots of hair.
“It’s Gun,” she exclaimed.
“I thought you could look at it when you miss him. It’s much more peaceful than the real thing.”
“You mean it’s for me?” She was touched. He did not even mention her inevitable loneliness, just a casual reference to missing the dog, which anyone might take as humorous.
“If you’d like it. If not, just give it to someone else.”
“Of course, I would not give it to anyone else. I love it. Thank you.”
He seemed almost embarrassed by her thanks, for his eyes dropped to the path before he set off with unnecessary speed. She caught up, and they half-walked, half-ran among the trees with Gun between them.
She took him to the river, which was regarded as the boundary of the home grounds. It was also the boundary between Hornby and Myerly. There, Dan took a napkin-wrapped parcel from his pocket before removing his coat and throwing it on the ground for her to sit.
“Breakfast,” Dan said, sprawling opposite her and opening the napkin to reveal bread, cheese, and two slices of ham. Gun gazed at it soulfully.
“I perceive you have made friends with your grandfather’s cook.”
“It seemed worth the risk. My aunts and cousin rise early so they can nab all the food before me. To be fair, my grandfather does not keep what you might regard as a generous table.”
“What do they do with themselves all day? What do you do?”
“My aunts doze and complain, respectively. My cousin reads worthy tomes and writes letters. I’ve been wandering around the estate with Gun, just looking. It’s pretty country. I didn’t recognize that when I was here before.”
“My father always said that Myerly was good land,” she recalled. “But that—” She broke off apologetically and reached for a piece of cheese.
“That my grandfather was neglecting it?” he suggested.
“Is he?”
“Probably. Or ruining it. I’m no farmer, but his tenants don’t look very prosperous. That isn’t right.”
“No,” she agreed. Then, frowning, she asked, “What will happen to the land when Lord Myerly dies? He only has daughters, does he not?”
“Yes, but he can will it where he likes. By some historical oddity, it is not Myerly but an estate in the south that is entailed with the title. Some distant cousin will get that. My aunts want Myerly and the rest for their sons.”
“Does your mother not want it for you?”
“Probably, but she’s a realist. He is more likely not to give it to me if she asks him to.”
“Is he really so unforgiving? Even now?”
Dan shrugged. Swallowing the last of his bread, he picked up a stone, smoothed his thumb over it, and threw it at the river where it bounced a gratifying three times. “He’s up to something. Probably just setting us all at each other’s throats for his own entertainment. But he’s a manipulative old devil, and I don’t like to have my strings pulled.”
He cast another, slightly larger stone straight into the water. For some reason, this one attracted Gun’s attention, and the dog shot after it, trailing his velvet leash behind him.
“Oh, dear, can he swim?” Juliet asked.
“Apparently,” Dan said, clearly entertained by Gun’s antics. Paddling dementedly, he vanished under the water and popped up again before Dan had made more than a slight movement in his direction. “He’s got a stone in his mouth!”
“The same one?” Juliet asked, impressed.
“Who knows?”
Gun was paddling furiously back to them, but it seemed he began to enjoy the water for its own sake, for he changed direction several times, splashing and barking, perhaps following the paths of fish he could see below.
“Oh, no,” Dan warned as Gunn eventually hauled himself out of the river and galumphed up to them, the stone still held firmly in his mouth, water streaming from his long hair. Reaching over, Dan dragged the hood of Juliet’s cloak over her head and threw one arm over her. “Take cover!”
Gun shook himself mightily. Water sprayed everywhere, which pleased him so much, he thrust his wet face between Dan and Juliet and licked them impartially until Dan hauled him off.
They were laughing so much they didn’t hear anything else until it was too late to hide.
A young couple, also laughing, were walking hand-in-hand along the opposite bank of the river. Inevitably, they gawped across the water at Dan, Juliet, and the dog. The man, a farmer of some kind, grinned and tugged his hat. Then, clearly recognizing Juliet, he dragged it off and bowed. The girl, who was nearest the water, sprang to the man’s other side in clear alarm, turning her face away until they had rounded the bend out of sight.
“Interesting,” Dan observed. “Why would she hide from you?”
“She wouldn’t,” Juliet said thoughtfully. “I think she was hiding from you.”
“How can you tell?”
“I grew up here. I’m the earl’s family. Most of the country people know who I am, like the farmer. He’s not one of our tenants, but he knew me. She didn’t, but she still hid.”
“Perhaps she hides from everyone. I just hope she doesn’t blab and get you in trouble.”
“I couldn’t really be in more trouble.”
“Then you’ll meet me again tomorrow?”
“We can meet here if you like. Just around the bend is a wooden bridge and a shortcut to Myerly over the fields. So, it’s a little bit closer for you.”
For a moment, a rare, troubled expression flickered in his eyes.
“You don’t need to pander to my boredom,” she said hastily. “I am happy to walk alone.”
“But it’s more fun with a friend,” he said lightly. He rose and stretched his hand down to help her to her feet. “For me, at least. I’ll walk with you back to the drive.”
“No, there will be more people around now, and you needn’t add another mile or so to your journey.” Suddenly, she was very aware that her hand still lay in his, that they stood close together, and that for some reason connected to those things, she could no longer breathe easily. In the chaise, he had kissed her.
Butterflies fluttered in her stomach. She whipped her hand free and stepped back with a bright smile. “Goodbye!”
*
Dan watched her go with another twinge of unease. She had seemed suddenly eager to be away from him, as though she had sensed his doubts about future meetings. Well, he did have doubts, which had nothing to do with his wishes but with a rare and inconvenient sense of responsibility. He liked her company—too much if the truth were told—and was glad to alleviate the boredom for them both, to give her a little cheer and happiness in the midst of her troubles.
But she truly did not need any further scandal in her life, and being discovered in clandestine meetings would bring just that. However innocent they were. After all, she was innocent too in the disgrace already surrounding her.
Gun thrust his head under Dan’s hand, and he turned away from the vital, determined figure hurrying through the trees. Since the velvet leash was soggy, he let Gun lope along beside him. He was too tired after his long walk and swim to run very far.
By the time they crossed the bridge, Dan knew he could not desert her, as even her family was doing, punishing her for another’s crime, for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and trying to do the right thing. In this situation, she needed him, which was a novelty for Dan. He would just have to take greater care that they were not discovered.
It was quite clear when he reached Myerly land. The fields looked different. The scattered cottages were neglected, as was the hamlet where he stopped at the tavern for a mug of small beer. He strolled outside and sat on the bench, Gun at his side. Being friendly by nature, he fell into conversation with a passing laborer and then walked most of the way to the house with a tenant farmer.
The conversations were enlightening, confirming his suspicions about his grandfather’s neglect of the land, but providing him with some actual knowledge. It was an interesting problem in its own way, and his mind alternated between farming and Juliet as he strolled up the drive, now holding onto the increasingly stringy, damp velvet. He really needed a length of leather.
Griffin opened the door, his eyes wide and almost popping.
“What’s the matter?” Dan asked, amused, brushing past him. “It’s only mud. The dog—” He broke off, his mouth falling open as he understood Griffin’s astonishment.
It had nothing to do with Dan, or even Gun, but with the lady drifting across the hall, smiling at him as if they had already met for breakfast this morning.
“Good morning, Dan,” she said cheerfully.
He closed his mouth and, giving in to Gun’s demented pulling at his leash, went forward to embrace her. “Mother.”
She clung to him for a moment, while Gun, whining with joy, pressed against her skirts. Behind her usual insouciance, it was not easy for her to be back here, with the old tyrant upstairs and her sisters…
Over his mother’s head, he saw his aunts in the doorway of the breakfast parlor. Hetty looked anxious, Tabetha, thin-lipped and grim. Behind them, Colin appeared, looking Dan up and down as though more pained by the state of his dress than by the presence of the scandalous Mrs. Stewart.
“Perhaps the drawing room?” Griffin murmured, and Dan saw that several servants had gathered outside the baize door, smiling hugely but goggle-eyed and avid to see the next quarrel.
“Excellent idea,” Dan said, releasing the leash into Griffin’s care and offering his arm to his mother. “Have you eaten?”
“Sadly, breakfast is over.”
Dan glanced behind him at Griffin, who, having hastily passed the dog to a footman, inclined his head. “Of course, sir.”
Colin looked outraged that Dan should give Griffin even silent orders. Aunt Tabetha narrowed her eyes. But they all trooped upstairs and into the drawing room.
“When did you arrive?” Dan asked his mother. “In fact, how did you arrive?”
“And why,” Tabetha added, not quite beneath her breath.
Dan handed his mother onto the sofa and sat beside her.
“A bare ten minutes ago,” she replied lightly. “I traveled post. And as to why,” she added, fixing Tabetha with her amiable gaze, “because, like the rest of you, I imagine, I was summoned.”
“He didn’t tell me that!” Tabetha exclaimed.
“He didn’t tell me, either,” Dan said, “and we were discussing the matter.”
“He always liked to play his cards close to his chest,” Jenny Stewart observed. She met Dan’s gaze. “I know what else you’re asking me. I chose to answer because when I went round to your rooms, I discovered you had gone. I guessed you’d come here. And for the rest, Mr. Pilney kindly provided the post chaise.”
Deliberately, Dan tried to keep every expression from his face, but it irked him that she had accepted Pilney’s generosity. He didn’t want the man owning her. He wanted her able to make a sensible choice. Which, to his mind, was showing Mr. Pilney the toe of her boot.
“Then you haven’t seen him yet?” Dan asked, casting his eyes upward toward the bedchambers.
“Lord, no. I don’t expect to be received for at least two days. If at all.”
“Then why did you come?” Tabetha asked bluntly. “You know it simply makes everything uncomfortable for all of us. And the servants and neighbors whom you are putting in an impossible position.”
“With respect, that’s rot,” Dan said bluntly. “The servants are paid to carry out their master’s orders, and the neighbors haven’t spoken to him in twenty-five years.”
“But they have spoken to me,” Tabetha said grandly. “I’ll have you know I am on very good terms with the Countess of Cosland, for one.”
“Are you, by God?” Jenny said, quite improperly. “What is she like?”
Hetty made a sound like a snigger and fell to blowing her nose.
“I’m surprised you can ask,” Tabetha said stiffly, “considering what you did to her poor husband.”
“I’m sure Lady Cosland is delighted I jilted her husband,” Jenny retorted. “She would not otherwise be his wife, would she?”
Dan grinned. Colin’s nostrils twitched with distaste.
Jenny gave her a conciliatory smile. “I’m sorry if my presence upsets you, Tabby, but the truth is, on the strength of the old gentleman’s summons, I have as much right to be here as you or Hetty.”
Tabetha sniffed. “Who is Mr. Pilney to be paying your expenses?”
Dan gazed out of the window.
“Mr. Geoffrey Pilney. He is a perfectly respectable gentleman who wants to marry me.”
Tabetha snorted. “Another so-called respectable—”
But unexpectedly, Colin interrupted her, staring at Jenny. “Mr. Pilney of Broome Hall?”
“You know him?” Jenny asked, apparently pleased.
“We are acquainted,” Colin said faintly.
“He’s rich as Croesus,” Jenny said frankly. “But quite charming for all that.”
Hetty emerged from her handkerchief, gazing at her sister in consternation. “Then what do you want with Myerly?”
“Nothing,” Jenny replied as the butler opened the door, and two aging footmen scuttled in with trays of food, which they set on small tables in front of Dan’s mother. “Oh, Griffin, thank you! This is wonderful!”
“His lordship,” Griffin pronounced, “has asked for you to join him at your earliest convenience.”
Everyone gaped, except Jenny, whose eyes twinkled at the butler. “Is that what he said?”
“More or less, ma’am.”
She ate a piece of toast with ham and cheese and swallowed. “I shall be up directly, Griffin. I still remember the way.”
Dan regarded her with some respect as the servants left the room. “Playing him at his own game, Mama?”
“By keeping him waiting?” his mother replied, reaching for another morsel. “Lord, no. I am starving.”
Under the somewhat outraged gaze of her sisters and nephew, much to Dan’s amusement, she continued to consume her breakfast with enthusiasm.
“Perhaps,” Tabetha suggested. “I should just step upstairs and explain to Papa what’s keeping you.”
“You could,” Jenny allowed. “But unless he’s changed hugely, I’d suggest you check first that he has nothing dangerous at hand to throw at you.”
“He’ll be saving that for you, Aunt, if you don’t hurry,” Colin observed. “I cannot like my grandfather’s temper, but it’s something we must all tolerate at this time.”
“If you ask me,” Jenny said, wiping her mouth on her napkin. “the problem is that you all tolerated it all your lives.”
“This from the one who was not here!” Tabetha exploded. “I have been the one to care for him, to put up with his foul moods and tantrums!”
Jenny rose to her feet. “Then more fool you, Tabby, for I’ll wager anything you like that he’s never thanked you for it.”
