There were no extra chairs, nor cups for that matter. Daisy noted Bellamy looking at her as if to be sent to make arrangements for the lady. She did not send him for anything and left the lady standing.
“Lady Montague,” Daisy said.
The others repeated her name in the same fashion, nobody sounding as if it were a pleasure to encounter her. Even Miss Minkerton, so prone to pleasant cheerfulness, said her name as if it were a chore. None of them had bothered to rise at her approach and Daisy felt it was the boldest bit of discourtesy she had ever dared.
Lady Montague looked around for a chair, then said, “I see I am to be left standing.”
“I am certain you will not be here long enough for it to become a burden,” Lord Dalton said, stretching his legs out as if to communicate his own comfort in being seated.
Lady Montague sniffed and looked disapprovingly at the cat, who’d decided to make a sudden appearance by way of front paws on the table and peering at her.
Daisy thought of how exactly disapproving the lady would be if she knew that she just now looked upon the feline murderess of her cousin. As it was, the only three people who knew of the cat’s involvement in the lieutenant’s demise were herself, Lord Dalton, and Lord Burke.
“Miss Danworth, I am sure you are acquainted with the circumstances of my cousin’s unfortunate actions on the night he…expired,” Lady Montague said. “Though Sir Matthew has explained it all to me, I find I am more mystified than ever. Why should the lieutenant come here for a paltry amount of silver when he was already in possession of my very costly jewels?”
“I have no idea, Lady Montague,” Daisy said. “How is one to understand what goes through a criminal’s mind?”
“It does not make sense, though,” Lady Montague plowed on. “Why bring a boat here, only for some silver? Hearing of Lord Childress the things that I have, I cannot even imagine it beinggoodsilver. No, I am sure he was after something else and am equally sure you know what it was. I feel, that in some way, the answer to that may absolve my cousin somehow.”
Daisy suppressed a shiver, as Lady Montague was drifting far too close to the truth.
Lord Dalton stood and said, “I can clear up a few things for you, Lady Montague. I will inform you to cease your wondering. For, I can assure you if you continue to delve into this matter, it will not excuse your cousin at all. What it will result in, should the matter become fully and publicly understood, is you and your lord being stripped of your title by the regent for harboring a treasonous individual. That is, assuming you knew what he was all along, which I would be happy to claim that you did.”
Lady Montague had paled. “I hardly think—”
“You think too much,” Lord Dalton said. “My advice is you slink back to Yorkshire and explain to your husband that your no-good cousin has stolen your jewels. This is unlikely to come as a surprise to poor Lord Montague, as I am sure he is entirely inured to your near-constant missteps. If I hear that you have placed one foot out of line, I will go to the regent myself. And that, Lady Montague, will really be the end of you.”
“I will back Lord Dalton, if it becomes necessary,” Lord Burke said. “I do not think I would tell any tales either. I think you certainly did know what your cousin was capable of and kept him around for your own convenient purposes.”
Lady Montague staggered a bit on the uneven grass. Regaining her footing, she said, “I certainly did not know he was capable of stealing!”
“So saysyou, I say otherwise,” Lord Dalton said, beginning to look bored with the conversation. “Pack up and be gone and do not trouble us again or it will be at your peril.”
Lady Montague huffed and seemed as if she would say more, but no words came out.
Bellamy, who had remained standing behind the lady, said, “May I show you the way out, Mrs. Montague?”
She turned on him and screeched, “It isLadyMontague!”
Bellamy had already started his walk back to the house and Daisy heard him say quietly, “So it is. For now.”
Lady Montague clutched her ridiculous bonnet against the breeze and hurried after the butler, pink ribbons flapping behind her.
Chapter Fifteen
Daisy watched Lady Montague storm out of the garden, refusing Bellamy’s arm to be helped up the steps and staggering up them herself. The back doors slammed behind her.
“That went well, I thought,” Lord Dalton said.
Daisy nodded, with a great sigh of relief. She did not know if that would be the end of trouble coming from Lady Montague, but she at least had hope for it. She could not imagine what would threaten the lady more than losing her rank. The prince had already warned her against stirring pots all over his realm and were she to delve more deeply into this circumstance, she would stir a very large pot indeed. Daisy had faced down the dragon and come out relatively unscathed.
Daisy blushed, as was becoming a common occurrence, as it dawned on her that she’d not faced down the dragon at all. Lord Dalton had done it.
She was becoming more and more reliant on him. On his protection. Really, on his company. What was she to do when he was gone? He would not stay forever, hanging about in the garden and chasing off her enemies.
Daisy was not at all certain of her feelings. It was very strange, as whatever she felt for him, it was not anything that had happened to her before. She looked forward to seeing him, was not at all put off by his frequently dour temperament, and often regretful that she’d declared in the beginning that he ought not to eat his dinner in the house.
She was not at all afraid of him. Perhaps that was the feeling that affected her so much. He was a man, and she was not afraid of him. He was a man who often frightened people, but she was not afraid of him. She felt she knew that underneath his grumpiness and hard-edged exterior, he would never hurt her. How odd, to think that of a man.
