“Please understand, I’m not after him. I’d like nothing better than for you to assure me that he is old and fat and quite set in his ways, sworn never to wed.”
A muscle worked in his cheek as if he were fighting a smile. “He just reached his thirtieth year, and I believe some would consider him reasonably fit. However, I can promise you he is not actively seeking a bride.”
Relief coursed through her. All that worry, for nothing! But then, who’d sent the invitation? Oh! Not another prank! Far too many aristocrats of her acquaintance found juvenile amusement in reminding her and her father of their “place” in Society. She had learned to ignore their petty jokes, but her father still hoped for the best in them. When would he learn that interaction with the upper class led to nothing but heartache?
Her would-be rescuer was still regarding her as if not quite sure what to do with her. Ruby smiled at him.
“How rude of me,” she said, sticking out her hand. “Ruby Hollingsford. And you are?”
“Whitfield Calder,” he supplied, taking her hand and inclining his head over it as if he were honoring her. She liked that he was taller than she was. She was growing decidedly weary of looking down onto balding crowns when she danced.
Ruby beamed at him as he released her hand. “And apparently you and the earl have something in common. You like to fish, too. I’m very sorry to have interrupted you.”
He smiled. For some reason, she thought he was rusty at smiling. Perhaps it was how slowly his lips lifted. Perhaps it was the way his golden lashes veiled his eyes. Had he seen tragedy then?
“It was no trouble,” he assured her, bending to retrieve a tweed coat and shrugging in his broad shoulders. “Allow me to escort you back to the bridge. A lady should not be left alone.”
Ruby started to protest. For one, she wasn’t considered a lady by the standards of the upper class. She was merely the daughter of a cit, a merchant, if a happily wealthy one. For another, if she could protect herself on the streets of London as she’d been forced to do as a child, surely she could take care of herself on a remote road in Derby.
Yet he seemed so sincere, and so charming, as he offered her his arm, that she decided to let him think he was taking care of her. “How kind,” she said, linking her arm with his.
But as he walked slowly, carefully, putting his hand on her elbow and helping her over every little bump in the uneven ground, Ruby felt her charity with him slipping. Did he think her so frail that she couldn’t keep up if he walked his normal pace, or so clumsy that she’d trip over a stone? She might have been wearing a velvet pelisse with lace dripping at the cuffs, but her boots were sturdy black leather. Hadn’t he noticed that she’d already crossed the distance, at a run part of the way, with no need to lean on his manly arm?
As the ground rose sharply to the road, she broke away from him and lifted her skirts with both hands to complete the climb. Still, she felt him hovering, as if he expected her to take a tumble any second. When they reached the top, he positioned himself beside her, keeping her safely between him and the stone column of the bridge head. His deep blue gaze flickered from the road winding up the hill to the copse of trees across from them to the bridge, as if he expected a highwayman to leap from hiding. Concern radiated out of him like heat from a hearth.
What sort of man took such responsibility for a woman he’d known less than a quarter hour? What would he say if he knew she’d taken boxing lessons and could shoot the heart from an ace at fifty paces?
“Do you have sisters or a wife,” she asked, bemused, “that you’re so mindful of a lady’s safety?”
Again something crossed behind his watchful gaze. “Alas, no. I’m not married, and I’m an only child. My parents died many years ago now.”
An orphan. Instantly her heart went out to him.
The crunch of gravel and the jingle of tack told her a coach was approaching, and she could only hope it was her father’s. Sure enough, Davis brought the carriage around the bend and pulled the horses to a stop beside her and her handsome stranger, wrapping them in dust.
Her father lowered the window and scowled at them. “Leave you alone for ten minutes and look what you drag up,” he complained. “Are we hiring him or paying him off?”
Ruby’s cheeks heated as she waved her hand to clear the air. Though her father’s long face and sharp nose gave him a stern appearance, he was more bark than bite. The man beside her didn’t know that, of course, but he stepped closer to her instead of backing away in dismay.
“This man was very kind to wait with me,” Ruby explained. She turned to find her hero frowning as if he wasn’t sure he was leaving her in reliable hands. She could understand his concern. The coach was more serviceable than elegant, the team of horses unmatched except in strength. Even the two servants sitting behind looked common in their travel dirt. Nothing said that the master was one of the richest merchants in London. Her father was careful where he spent his money.
He was equally careful of her. “Well, wasn’t that nice of him?” he said. “And what did you expect in return, fellow?”
Mr. Calder inclined his head. “Merely the opportunity to be of service to a lady. If you have no further need of me, Miss Hollingsford, I wish you good day.”
“I’ll be fine, Mr. Calder,” Ruby replied, suddenly loath to see the last of him. “Know that I appreciate your kindness.”
He took her hand and bowed over it, and Ruby was surprised to find herself a bit unsteady as he released her.
Her father must have noticed a change in her, for he leaned out the window. “Calder, did you say? And your first name?”
“Whitfield, sir,” he said with a polite nod.
Her father’s narrow face broke into a grin. “Whitfield, eh? Very good to meet you, my lord.”
“My lord?” Ruby stared at him, heart sinking.
Mr. Calder, who had seemed so nice until that moment, inclined his golden head again. “Forgive me. I neglected to offer my title. I’m Whitfield Calder, Earl of Danning.”
* * *
In Whit’s experience, when a marriageable young lady was introduced to an eligible member of the aristocracy, she simpered or fawned or blushed in a ridiculously cloying fashion. Miss Hollingsford did none of those things. Her green eyes, tilted up at the corners, sparked fire, and her rosy lips tightened into a determined line. If anything, she looked thoroughly annoyed.
“Lord Danning?” she demanded as if certain he was teasing.
He spread his hands. “To my sorrow, some days.”
She turned her glare on her father. “Did you arrange this encounter?”
Her father raised his craggy gray brows. “Not me, my girl. Seems the good Lord has other plans for you.”
She did not look comforted by the fact.
Whit offered her a bow. “Forgive me for not being more forthcoming, Miss Hollingsford. I enjoy my privacy while I’m at Fern Lodge. I hope we’ll meet again under more congenial circumstances.”
“Over
