“Lady Yolten invited me.”
That was only half an answer, and they both knew it. “Because the two of you are such great friends?”
“We are.”
Since when? Ottersby would know. He had done anything and everything to try to wed Miss Morgan before Patience came into his life. Getting to know her close friends would have been high on his list of tasks. Did Miss Morgan know secrets about Lady Yolten she was trying to leverage into damaging Lady Mercy?
Miss Morgan’s lips made a perfect pout. “Don’t you want me here? You don’t think I would tell the Driarwoods about Patience, do you?”
Nicholas gritted his teeth. “She is Lady Ottersby.”
Miss Morgan laughed, and the sound echoed through the zoo. If Lady Mercy was nearby, she would find them laughing and talking instead of looking for her. He strode down the path in the same direction he’d been going. Perhaps there was a turnoff Miss Morgan had missed.
Miss Morgan quickly caught up to him. “I’ve always thought that Ottersby is a silly name. I have a hard time using it. Especially with someone I thought was a maid.”
Nicholas had nearly grown used to it. It was one thing for him to think it silly, but a completely different matter for Miss Morgan to say so. He didn’t slow his pace but turned his head toward her. “It’s not really silly.”
Another laugh escaped her lips and this one sounded false, as if she were performing in a home production of one of Shakespeare’s comedies. “It is almost as if you were upset with the man when you helped him get the title.”
Hehadbeen upset with Ottersby. He had spent the better part of a few months receiving long, detailed apologies and proposals about courting Patience nearly every day. “Your point is?”
“My point is...” Miss Morgan softened her tone, and her hand went to his elbow. She tugged on it slightly, as if inviting him toslow down so she could keep up with him, but he ignored the gesture. “I would never tell them. Lady Yolten is a friend of mine. You, I hope, are still a friend of mine. I would never want to hurt you or anyone around you. I’m happy our circles of friends are joining together. Perhaps we will be able to see more of each other.”
He grunted in response, and they walked another few feet in silence.
“She doesn’t want to marry you, you know.”
“What?”
“Lady Mercy. She doesn’t want to marry you.”
He was not about to discuss his relationship with Lady Mercy with Miss Morgan. “Then it is a good thing I have not proposed to her. I’d appreciate you not becoming involved in my courtship.” His jaw clenched tighter, and a pain emerged behind his right ear.
“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of becoming involved. I simply thought you should know. I’d had no idea Lord Ottersby no longer wanted to marry me, and the shock when he found another woman—”
“Be careful, Miss Morgan.” His voice was nearly a growl. “Thatother womanis my sister.”
Miss Morgan made a sound like a puff of air blowing out of a fireplace bellows. “I simply thought you should know. That’s all.”
He doubted there was anything simple about her thinking. Miss Morgan was a master manipulator. Someone whose word meant little to nothing. A walkway opened to their right. “Did you check down this path?”
“No. I assumed she would go the direction of the giraffe house. But she must be down that path. Where else could she have gone?”
Nicholas was inclined to agree with her, but the narrow track led deep into the trees, the farther the two of them went, themore isolated and secluded they would become. Was it better to split up and find Lady Mercy on his own or search with a female companion? He had half a mind to return to the giraffe house and beg Lord and Lady Driarwood to join them in the search. But if they did that, they might miss Lady Mercy.
No part of him wanted to move away from where Lady Mercy could be, so he pressed forward without suggesting they should find more people to accompany them on their search. They stomped ahead, both looking around corners and behind bushes.
“What if she climbed a tree?” Miss Morgan asked, looking up at the canopied oak trees above them.
“I highly doubt Lady Mercy would have climbed a tree.”
“It was only a thought,” Miss Morgan said.
Nicholas shook his head, but he wasn’t going to argue with her. He continued to look for Lady Mercy in some of the animal exhibits and small alcoves that cropped up along their path.
“Oh, what is—”
Miss Morgan was looking up and pointing at something hiding in the branches of an ancient-looking pine. He narrowed his eyes but couldn’t spot anything in the dark canopy of needles.
