days later, whilst visiting the local market town, Beth was obliged silently to own that she might have been a trifle optimistic in her predictions, when she espied none other than her most influential neighbour sauntering along the main street towards her. In an instant she accepted that it was too late to avoid the chance encounter. Furthermore, she wasn’t so very sure she even wished to try, as he was accompanied by none other than Mr Charles Bathurst, a gentleman who had left a very favourable impression upon a certain discerning female, judging by the number of times his name had been raised in conversation since the evening of the dinner party at Staveley Court.
Beth chanced to glance sideways in time to catch a becoming hue rise in her companion’s cheeks the instance Ann observed precisely who it was approaching.
‘Here to replenish stocks?’ Beth asked, instantly drawing both gentlemen’s attention, thereby allowing her surprisingly flustered companion a little time in which to regain her poise. ‘Or merely enjoying the bustle and atmosphere of a Markham market day?’
‘Both,’ Sir Philip revealed, his gaze fixed on the young lady whom he considered appeared particularly becoming that fine morning in a dashing bonnet trimmed with blue ribbon. ‘Bathurst is here to cast an eye over a few beasts. I’m here, as you so rightly surmised, merely to soak up the atmosphere. I love market days…always have.’
Beth’s smile faded very slightly. ‘Yes, I remember. I frequently accompanied you here.’
It would have been at this juncture that she would have made some excuse to part company with the gentleman, had it not been for the fact that she was certain her dear companion felt no similar desire to go their separate ways. Consequently, Beth disregarded her own feelings, and asked the gentlemen if they would be so obliging as to escort them back to where their carriage awaited them at the town’s most popular inn.
Although she might have preferred it to be quite otherwise, Beth wasn’t unduly surprised to find herself squired by Sir Philip, leaving Mr Bathurst to engage, if her expression was any indication, a highly contented widow in conversation a few feet behind.
‘Without wishing to appear vulgarly curious,’ Philip began, determined, himself, not to walk along in stony silence, ‘might I be permitted to know what has brought you to town today?’
‘A surfeit of nerves, I’m ashamed to say.’
‘Now, that I simply cannot believe!’ he countered, totally unconvinced.
‘Well, let us say a desire to take some necessary precautions prompted the visit,’ Beth confessed. ‘I wanted half a dozen hens. So I thought to get a couple of geese at the same time. I’ve been reliably informed, you see, that there have been one or two burglaries taking place in the village in recent weeks,’ she added, staring across the street at where a small group of men just happened to be loitering by a low wall.
‘Very wise,’ he said, following the direction of her gaze, and frowning slightly as he focused his attention on one lean, unkempt man in particular. ‘But wouldn’t a dog serve the purpose better? You could keep it close by, in the house, if you chose.’
‘True. But I haven’t heard of any new litters being born in the neighbourhood. And I should want a pup,’ Beth answered, glancing up at him and catching his frowning scrutiny. ‘What is it, Philip? Do you recognise one of them?’
‘I’m not sure. But one does seem vaguely familiar, though I cannot for the life of me imagine why he should be. He certainly doesn’t work for me.’
‘Funny you should say that, because I thought I’d seen the short one, with the limp and mousy-coloured hair, somewhere before.’ Frowning, Beth shook her head. ‘If he’s a native of these parts I cannot imagine where I might have come across him. More than likely, though, he’s a survivor of the Peninsular Campaign. Trouble is, I nursed so many out there I have difficulty remembering each individual.’
‘You nursed the wounded? Good gad!’
Philip had been unable to keep both surprise and disapproval from creeping in to his voice, which instantly earned him a flashing look of mingled reproach and anger.
‘What did you suppose I did out there, Philip?’ she demanded to know, the perfect shape of her mouth marred by a contemptuous curl of the upper lip. ‘Did you imagine me just sitting there beneath the shading branches of some exotic tree, fanning myself like a simpering idiot, while ignoring the blood bath that was each and every battle? Do you suppose I remained oblivious to all those whom the surgeons considered too badly injured to warrant attention? Do you suppose I gave a damn about my reputation when a life might be saved…? How little you know me!’
He felt hurt, and not just a little annoyed as well, by the derision so clearly discernible in her voice. Yet before he could formulate a response, Beth’s attention had already been captured by another man, hailing her from the forecourt of the While Hart Inn. He then found himself on the receiving end of a prolonged stare that was no less insultingly assessing, though a deal less sinisterly threatening, than the one he’d received a few minutes earlier from the tallest of the loiterers in the street.
‘Ah, Rudge! Were you successful in your endeavours? Please tell me you were.’
‘Aye, Miss Beth,’ he answered, his expression softening noticeably. ‘Half-a-dozen prime layers, if I’m any judge. The farmer’s going to drop ’em off on ’is way ’ome from market later today, with a couple o’ geese. Not that I don’t think you’d be better off with a cur.’
Blue eyes began to twinkle with an impish gleam of bygone years. ‘It might surprise you to know, Rudge, that you and Sir Philip, here, are as one in that belief.’
‘Well, I never! Who’d ’ave thought I’d ever ’ave something in common with a nob,’ Rudge responded, appearing anything but gratified.
Neither, it had to be said, was Sir Philip, who considered the servant insolent in the extreme, and in urgent need of being reminded of his place. All the same, he was in no danger of losing his temper, and when in the next moment Charles Bathurst captured his attention by inviting him and the ladies to dine at his home the following week, his annoyance was quickly forgotten.
That evening, however, while mulling over what had turned out to be on the whole a most unsatisfactory day, Philip could only wonder at himself for becoming so irritated over such a trivial matter as a servant’s lack of deference. Finally, after quietly considering the matter, he was obliged to acknowledge what had truly annoyed him. It hadn’t been Rudge’s lack of respect so much as his mistress’s behaviour a matter of moments before that had really stirred his ire.
He sought solace in the contents of the glass by his elbow, finishing half of it before forcing himself to acknowledge, too, that Beth’s attitude towards him since her return was increasingly beginning to both hurt and annoy him in equal measures.
Yet how on earth did he expect her to behave? She was no longer the adoring little companion, willing to cling to his every word in the staunch belief that he could say and do no wrong. She was a young woman with a mind of her own. Moreover, unless he was much mistaken, she was a young woman who had witnessed, first hand, the very worst traits of mankind. Little wonder, then, that her time out in the Peninsula had changed her, made her perhaps a deal more cynical in her outlook, he reasoned.
But that still didn’t account for her attitude towards him now. He had already gained the distinct impression that she was determined to keep him at a distance whenever possible. What was worse, he could
