Runaway Miss (15 page)

‘Very well, I shall pay no heed to you in future. Will that satisfy you?’

‘Yes,’ she said firmly, but she did not mean it. She liked his attention, if only because it proved she was not invisible. ‘Now the horses are rested, we had better make our way back.’

He did not try to detain her. What could he say? He knew something troubled her and it was more than the necessity of earning a living, and was hurt to think she did not trust him enough to tell him. One of these days she would try his patience to such an extent he would take her by the shoulders
and shake her until her teeth rattled. No one, man woman or child, had ever frustrated him as she did.

They rode back in silence. He helped her dismount and watched her go into the house, her back ramrod straight. He sighed and took the horses to the stables and spent the rest of the day planning the battle, interviewing men and making lists. Being occupied helped to keep his mind off Miss Fanny Draper.

T
he day of the picnic dawned warm and sunny, the first really warm day of the whole summer. Emma, remembering the humiliation she had endured when they went visiting, was reluctant to subject herself to more of the same. ‘I don’t think I should go,’ she said to Amelia at breakfast that morning. ‘After all, you do not need a companion on an outing like that, when there is plenty of company.’

‘Of course you must come. I would not dream of leaving you behind, especially as Miss Hurley made a point of inviting you.’

When Alex came in from ensuring the men knew what was expected of them while he was gone, he agreed with his aunt and Emma gave in. She dressed in the green spotted muslin with a light cape and a plain straw bonnet and took her place beside Mrs Summers in the carriage that was to convey them as far as the doctor’s house in Ambleside, where they would leave it to walk the rest of the way. Their destination, so she was told, was Scandale Beck.

The young people went on ahead, taking the road north out of the town. Emma contrived to drop back and walk with Mrs Summers, which was, after all, her proper place, but she could
not help looking at Alex’s broad back as he walked with Charlotte beside him. The girl was talking all the time and looking sideways up at him from under the brim of her flower-bedecked bonnet. She was most definitely trying to engage his attention and he seemed to be enjoying it, smiling and laughing. But Charlotte was not having him all to herself if the other young ladies could help it and they gathered round him until he looked as though he was being besieged.

‘Do you think one of them will manage to snare him?’ she asked Mrs Summers, pretending she did not care, but not quite succeeding.

‘I doubt any of them have what he’s looking for,’ Amelia said.

‘What is he looking for? Has he told you?’

‘He hasn’t said, but I should think he would expect the woman he married to have some intelligence and character.’

‘Miss Pettifer is very pretty and Miss Griggs is handsome, don’t you think?’

Amelia looked sideways at her and smiled. ‘Do you think he would be swayed by that? Handsome is as handsome does, you know.’

‘That may be so, but they come from respected families and no doubt have dowries. It might be enough to change his mind about not marrying.’

‘Change his mind?’

‘Yes, he told me he was not inclined to marry.’

‘Did he, now?’ Amelia said with a smile. ‘I am sure that one of these days he will find a lady who will change his mind for him, but she will have to be someone very special.’ The conversation was being conducted in an undertone so that no one else would hear. Amelia smiled and added, ‘Emma, are you no nearer telling him the truth?’

‘I don’t know how to.’

‘I said it would become more difficult as time passed, did
I not? And now I think you are in love with him; unless you are honest with him, you will lose him.’

‘In love with him!’ Emma exclaimed, but even as she spoke she realised that it was true. She had fallen in love with a man she had met only a few days before. Could it happen that suddenly? Could you love a man with whom you were constantly bickering, who teased and quizzed you as if he did not believe anything you said? She sighed heavily—he was right to doubt her, but would telling him the truth now put that right? ‘Lose him?’ she said, wondering if anyone else had noticed and hoping they had not. It was too humiliating to bear. ‘I never had him, nor can I expect anything from him. When I left home I forfeited my rank to become a nobody, a glorified servant, and that is what I must remain. I do not trust my stepfather or Lord Bentwater. I can never go back to being what I was, so there is no point in telling Lord Malvers the truth.’

‘Oh, my child, you are so wrong about that. Shall I tell him for you?’

‘No, I beg you not to. He will think me lacking in courage if I allowed you to do it and it will not make any difference. When I saw how unhappy my mother was in her second marriage, and nearly all because of Sir George’s gambling, I made up my mind never to risk anything like it. I mean to hold to that resolve.’ She had told herself that when she first set out and in the last few days had repeated it to herself over and over, as if repetition would convince her.

‘You will change your mind. When all your problems have been resolved, you will wonder why you were so foolish.’

Emma did not answer; she could not imagine a time when she would be free of her particular problem. It weighed her down, so that everything she said and did was coloured by it. A few minutes’ respite when she forgot it for a little while was soon followed by a poignant reminder and hours of pessimism, as if she had no right to happiness.

The road had petered out and become a cart track and Dr Hurley was looking back at them, urging them to keep up, so they stopped talking and hurried after him. The track led to an old packhorse bridge. It was a picturesque spot and it was here they set out their picnic. Doctor Hurley’s cook had provided a generous repast and they all sat on rugs to eat; afterwards, while the older people rested, the young ones strolled about. James, who had brought a sketching pad with him, sat with his back against a rock and busied himself with a stick of charcoal, drawing everyone. Charlotte attached herself like a limpet to Alex, flirting with him so obviously that Emma, who might have laughed if she had not been so unhappy, took herself off on her own.

She walked steadily until the ground began to rise steeply. Refusing to give up, she climbed on, sometimes having to put her hands down to help her to scramble over rocks. How long she had been going she did not know, but after a time she felt she was not alone, there was someone following her. Thinking it must be Lord Malvers and not wanting another brush with him, she toiled on until she stopped in the lee of an overhanging rock and sat down on a boulder, too breathless to continue. If he caught up with her, she would simply send him on his way again. Their constant sparring was exhausting her and she dare not risk letting him see how she felt about him.

However, the man coming round the side of the rock was not Lord Malvers, but Mr James Griggs. He grinned when he saw her. ‘Miss Draper, where are you off to in such a hurry?’

‘Nowhere. I was simply walking off that excellent picnic. What are you doing here?’

‘I thought you might like a little company.’

‘No, I am content to be alone.’

‘Oh, come now, Fanny, it cannot be much fun having no one to talk to but yourself.’

‘I am not in the habit of talking to myself, Mr Griggs. And
I did not give you permission to address me by my given name.’

‘Oh, top lofty, are we? What have you to be so haughty about, miss? You should think yourself lucky that Mrs Summers is soft hearted and took you in, or you would be scrubbing floors.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ Nevertheless, she was aware of the truth of what he said and supposed he had put his own interpretation on the tale Mrs Summers had told his mother.

‘I’m not, but that’s no matter. I’ve taken a fancy to you, Miss Fanny Draper, for all your uppity ways. You afford a challenge and I enjoy a challenge.’ He sat down beside her, so close she could feel his hot breath on her cheek. She tried to hitch herself further away from him, but she was pinned against the rock and there was nowhere to go. ‘I would like to see you unbend a little and smile more. Try it, just for me.’

‘Leave me alone. Go back to the others.’

‘All in good time when I’ve solved the mystery.’ He was leaning right into her, breathing into her face, one arm creeping around her back. ‘You are not what you seem, Miss Fanny Draper, I spotted that right away. Lady’s companions are dried-up old spinsters. You are far too beautiful and dignified for that, so tell me who you really are.’

‘I am what I say I am. Now go away.’ She tried to push him off her, but he simply laughed.

‘Where did you learn to be so proud? Was it from aping a previous mistress, or are you what London society calls a demi-rep, not quite respectable but ladylike enough to pass muster? I suspect it’s the latter. Or why would someone like Viscount Malvers trouble himself with you? His mistress, are you?’

She was furious, not only that he had insulted her, but that he had assumed there was something going on between her and Lord Malvers, though he had come to a very different con
clusion from Mrs Summers. Is that what everyone thought? She struggled against him, beating her hands on his chest. ‘How dare you say such a monstrous thing!’

He put his other arm round her and captured her arms. ‘What’s good enough for his lordship is good enough for me.’ Then he tried to kiss her. She twisted her head back and forth, struggling to free herself. She opened her mouth to scream, but he clapped a hand over it. She bit him. Hard. He swore. ‘That is certainly not the behaviour of a lady or anything like one. I think you’re from the gutter—’

He was given no opportunity to go on because he was seized from behind and literally thrown off her. She scrambled to her feet and flung herself into Alex’s arms. He held her close, relishing the feel of her body against his. ‘Did he hurt you?’

She shook her head.

He became aware that James was getting to his feet, rubbing his elbow where he had caught it on the edge of a rock. His coat sleeve was torn and his cravat awry. He was looking belligerent, coming forward as if to square up for a fight. ‘Get going, Griggs,’ Alex said coldly. ‘Unless you want more of the same.’

‘Don’t know what you’re making so much fuss about,’ James muttered. ‘Who does she think she is, aping her betters?’

‘Miss Draper is a lady and if you had an ounce of the gentleman in you, you would know that. Now, unless you want me to report your behaviour to your father, I suggest you make your way back to the picnic party.’

Knowing himself bested, the young man left them, muttering imprecations and trying to adjust his cravat as he went. Alex turned back to Emma. ‘Are you all right?’

‘Yes. Thank you for coming to my rescue.’

He laughed. ‘I seem to be making a habit of it.’ Always aware of her, even when he was being polite to other young ladies, he had seen her go off alone and later watched James
Griggs leave off his drawing and go in the same direction and had decided to follow him. It was as well he had.

‘He was horrible and said some dreadful things,’ she said with a shudder. ‘Do all lady’s companions have to put up with that kind of behaviour?’

‘Only the very beautiful ones.’ He looked down into her upturned face and stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. She shivered. ‘You are not afraid of me, are you?’

‘No, of course not.’ The shiver had been something else entirely, a kind of tremor of desire that she made herself stifle.

‘I’m glad. I would never do anything to hurt you, you know that, don’t you? Nor would I allow anyone else to harm you, believe me.’

His words warmed her briefly. ‘Do
you
think I’m a demi-rep?’

‘Good lord, no!’ He laughed suddenly. ‘One of those would have known how to deal with a man like James Griggs.’

‘How?’

‘Never mind. He won’t try it again.’

‘I am afraid you have made an enemy and that does not augur well for your regatta.’

‘Do you think I would consider that when your honour is at stake? In any case, what can he do? You forget, I am an old soldier, used to dealing with jackanapes like him. Do not worry about it.’ He paused to smile reassuringly at her, tempted to kiss her, but knowing such an action would be entirely inappropriate. ‘Now, we had better be going back before people begin to wonder where we’ve got to.’

He released her and without his support she felt suddenly bereft, as if something precious that was within her grasp had been suddenly snatched away. If she had been more experienced as a woman, she might have been able to use the situation to her advantage, but she was as green as a cabbage and
she knew he would see through any artfulness on her part. She followed him down the steep slope back to the bridge to find everyone packing up to return home. Amelia gave her a strange look and raised her eyebrows in a query. Emma simply shook her head.

When they arrived back at Highhead Hall, the ladies entered by the front door and Alex went round to the stables with the carriage. Leaving it to the care of the grooms, he made his way into the house by the kitchen door to find Joe Bland had returned in their absence and was wolfing down a meal Mrs Granger had set in front of him. The dinner gong sounded before he could talk to him at any length and he was obliged to go to his room to change.

‘Your man has arrived,’ Amelia told him when he joined her and Emma in the dining room.

‘Yes. I saw him in the kitchen when I came in.’ He turned to Emma. ‘He tells me Miss Turner is safe with her mother, who was very pleased to have her home.’

‘Thank you, my lord.’

‘Don’t thank me, thank Joe. I did nothing.’

‘You let him go when you might have said you could not spare him.’

‘Fustian! I am not incapable of looking after myself, you know.’

‘I do know,’ she said, thinking of the incident that afternoon when he had sent James Griggs on his way. It was not the action of a man unused to looking after himself, or to having his orders disobeyed. ‘What else did he say?’

‘Nothing. There wasn’t time. I’ll talk to him later. Why did you ask?’

‘No reason. I thought he might have gone to Norfolk or London.’

‘For what purpose?’

Emma felt her face grow hot and wished she had not spoken. Now he would quiz her, and though she longed to know if there had been a hue and cry over her disappearance she could not give that as her reason. ‘I collect you had business in London before you were called away to come here,’ she said lamely.

‘And if I did?’

‘I am sure it is nothing to do with me,’ she snapped. ‘I was only making conversation and you are using it as an excuse to quiz me.’

Her waspish answer was not at all called for and she mumbled an apology and bent to her meal, but suddenly found she had lost her appetite. She pushed the food around her plate and longed to escape. Fortunately Amelia came to her aid and engaged Alex in conversation, asking him about the regatta project and how his plans were progressing; while they talked, Emma was able to recover some semblance of dignity and the evening ended without further misunderstanding.