beg you to look after her,’ he had said. ‘Take her to her uncle, the Duke of Belfont, and try to smooth her way, for I fear his Grace will be very angry.’ An irresponsible stripling, a self-willed young madam and an angry Duke—what had he done to deserve being saddled with their problems?
He turned a little in his seat so that he could see her properly. She had taken off that monstrous hat and was trying unsuccessfully to put her hair up with combs. It was beautiful hair, thick and dark and gleaming with good health. Her eyes, beneath winged brows, were a deep amber and her mouth was full and generous with a chin that was jutting proudly. Considering her dishevelled state and the strange garb she wore, that was quite a feat.
‘Shall we start again?’ he queried. He had a lop-sided kind of smile, she noticed, which made her want to smile back, but she was determined not to do so. It would make him think she approved of his high-handed abduction of her. ‘Let me introduce myself. My name is Andrew Melhurst. I have lately returned to England after some years abroad.’
Oh, so he was a nabob, a nobody grown rich in the subcontinent and come home to flaunt his wealth. The chests and boxes she had seen being loaded on to the wagon, the sumptuous coach and the expensive diamond that glittered in his cravat, bore that out. ‘Mr Kendall told you my name, but what else did he tell you?’
‘Very little, Miss Harley, there was no time. But he did make it clear he had not asked you to come and he would deem it a favour if I would see you safely home.’
‘You think I ran away to go with him, don’t you?’
‘It matters little what I think. Perhaps you should be more concerned by what the rest of the world thinks. If this little escapade becomes known, you would find your reputation in tatters. Mine too, I fear.’
‘Oh.’ She knew she had made a dreadful mess of everything. What had made her think her disguise was good enough to deceive? Oh, Toby was always laughing and saying she was more boy than girl and her mother had said how startled she had been when she first saw her in her father’s breeches, but that was not enough to pass muster with the man who sat opposite her, regarding her with his bright intelligent eyes. And not only him, the passengers in the coach from Sudbury had looked at her strangely and she was sure those rough sailors had realised she was not a boy. She was lucky to have come this far without being molested and the prospect of returning home in the same way was more than a little frightening. The fact that this stranger had seen fit to point it out to her did not help. ‘It is your own fault, you did not need to intervene at all.’
‘You know, you are right, I wonder why I did.’
‘Because Toby asked you to, I suppose.’
‘There is that, but I am not accustomed to doing the bidding of strangers, so it must be that I am a gentleman and gentlemen do not leave ladies in dangerous predicaments when it is their power to help. Now, what about my suggestion that we start again in a more civilised fashion? I know your name, I know you are the niece of the Duke of Belfont, but nothing more.’ He smiled suddenly and, in spite of herself, she found herself breathing a sigh of relief and smiling back. ‘Suppose you tell me why you set out on this adventure. I cannot believe you meant to worry your family to death.’
‘No, I did not. And I was not running away or trying to elope or anything foolish like that. I simply wanted to say goodbye to Toby, to find out—’ She stopped suddenly, knowing her reasons would sound foolish.
‘To find out what?’
‘Oh, it is too complicated…’
‘We have plenty of time. I am not letting you out of this coach until we reach Belfont House.’
‘Oh, you are never taking me to Uncle James, he will be furious.’
‘With good cause, I imagine. But where else should I take you? Is that not your home?’
‘No. I live with my mother and sister just outside Sudbury.’
‘Sudbury! How did you get from there to here?’
‘By stagecoach and cab, how else?’
She was not lacking in courage, he decided. ‘I think you had better tell me everything from the beginning.’
She sighed. ‘I suppose I had or you will dump me on his Grace’s doorstep and leave me to his wrath.’
He did not bother to tell her he would not ‘dump’ her anywhere, but as for taking her as far as Sudbury, he hadn’t bargained on doing that, even though it was not far out of his way. ‘Go on,’ he said quietly.
So she told him everything: her love of botany, instilled in her by Joshua, and Toby who had been her friend and playmate since childhood, her longing to go plant hunting, to have adventures, though after today she was not so sure she was as intrepid as she had thought she was. And the unfeeling way that Toby had been sent away, simply because her uncle wanted to stop her dreaming and turn her into a conventional débutante.
He smiled. ‘I do not think you will ever be that,’ he said, doing his best not to laugh. He looked at her, wondering if she was too proud to laugh at herself, and was relieved when her efforts to remain stern failed and a broad smile creased her face and showed him perfect white teeth. In a moment they were both laughing aloud.
‘It is not funny,’ she said, fishing for a handkerchief in her coat pocket to dab her streaming eyes.
‘Then why are you laughing?’
‘I do not know. To stop myself crying, perhaps.’
‘Do you want to cry?’
‘I think I was very near to it.’
‘Oh, how thankful I am that you desisted. I cannot abide weeping women.’
Suddenly embarrassed, she turned from him and looked out of the window. It was beginning to grow dusk and she could not see more than dark buildings lining the road and the light shining from some of their windows. This part of the great metropolis had no street lighting. Once again she became aware of her predicament. She did not like being beholden to him, but there was no doubt that, if she had been left on the docks, she would have had to make her way back to town through these unlit streets. ‘Much as I would like to deny it, I am in your hands, so what do you propose to do with me?’
‘Take you to your uncle, the Duke.’
‘Oh, no! He will give me a roasting.’
‘And do you not think you deserve it?’
‘Perhaps.’
‘There is no perhaps about it. But I cannot take you all the way to Sudbury. That would mean being in each other’s company throughout the night and even you must agree that would not be the thing. It would only need someone to see you, someone to ask questions about your absence from home, someone to recognise the Melhurst carriage, for the tattlers to start work on your reputation and my good name.’
‘You could put me on a coach.’
‘I have told you no.’ His answer was almost snapped. He would be every sort of bounder if he did that. His conscience would not allow it.
‘Supposing I insist?’
‘Insist
