She dashed to some early daffodils and broke the stems close to the ground to account for her being there.
Then she waited to be found.
*
George kicked atthe carpet in his library. What a completely ridiculous morning. He’d gone to his aunt’s house to apprise her of the plan he wished her to adopt and then discovered Miss Yardley missing. He’d raced out of the house to find out what the watchman had seen, ready to throttle the fellow if he’d noted Miss Yardley’s departure without raising the alarm.
He’d found the fellow curled up under a bush, fast asleep.
After he’d fired Melberry, he’d mounted his horse and gone galloping to the stables to interrogate the stablemaster about whetherhe’dseen Miss Yardley. The fellow had looked at him as if he’d gone mad. She’d evidently not ordered either a horse or Lady Heathway’s carriage.
His next thought was that she’d hired a carriage and he raced back to the house to interrogate the footmen. They’d not seen hide nor hair of her. His aunt reported that Miss Yardley’s lady’s maid had not attended her, as she had not been rung for.
He’d been at his wit’s end. Where had she gone?Howhad she gone? Where was that mad, lovely girl?
Just as he had resolved to get back on his horse and ride for Kent, as surely that was where she was headed, Mrs. Redwiggin had marched in and said, “She’s in the back garden. I just spied her through a window, she’s picking daffodils.”
Picking daffodils. He was at once relieved and ready to throttle her. What had she been thinking, to be out picking daffodils while they were searching for her?
He and his aunt had run to the back doors to confirm the truth of the report. There she was, strolling around with a fistful of flowers.
It was all very odd. For one, it was very early to be walking the garden. For another, she’d not even brought a cutting instrument with her—the stems were ragged as she’d evidently just wrestled them from the ground.
Still, it could not be denied that she’d been out picking daffodils and not racing off to her mother’s side. She really was very confounding. Just when he was sure she would go one way, he discovered her going the other way.
He supposed he could not be dissatisfied with everything that had happened. Miss Yardley had not run off, he was not just now galloping to Kent to catch her, and he was confident that he’d convinced his aunt to fall in with his plan. Miss Yardley was to have a second season.
Now, all he’d have to do was drive Ryland and the rest of them away to a safe distance. Especially Ryland, as Lady Heathway thought so highly of him and he was a marquess. Every mama in Town thought him a good catch and it would be very difficult for his aunt to wish him away if he made any decided approaches.
Ryland’s mystery ball was on the morrow. As it seemed that his aunt would not stay away, he would need to be prepared to charge in as the vanguard, pushing back any and all unwanted suitors.
Chapter Eleven
Grace had creditablygot through her discovery in the garden. Her heart pounded for quite a long time afterward, but she did not think anybody suspected she’d been anywherebutthe back garden.
Lord Gresham had taken himself off shortly after she’d been discovered there, and as well he should. What a vengeful creature he was! What a situation she found herself in.
The one man she felt pulled toward not only had no interest in her but was now bent on ruining her chances. She had finally straightened out her thoughts and got serious about her prospects and her duty to her mother.Thathad seemed the hurdle. Now, a new hurdle had sprung up by way of Lord Gresham. She had of course realized that he was most unhappy about the talk she’d caused regarding her adventure on the drainpipe. It irked him to have his family connected to such gossip. Though, she supposed she had not realized precisely how much he had been affected.
It seemed he wished her away from his society so that London might forget there ever was a Grace Yardley. She was all but certain that once she’d been sent home to Kent, he would work on his aunt to drop her project of a girl. Lady Heathway might think a second season was in the offingnow, but over time he would convince the lady that it was too much trouble.
What else could be his purpose? If he wished her ill, as it seemed he did, he would not wish her back next year. No, this current proposal was meant only to get Lady Heathway started on the path to his preferred destination.
She was both hurt and angry. She was both furious and dejected.
She wanted to both cry into her pillow and push his face into horse manure.
She would do neither of those things, of course.
Grace took in a long and slow breath, that being her father’s recommended strategy when one found composure had placed itself on a rather distant horizon.
What did Lady Heathway think? Did the lady really believe her nephew’s motivations? She had not seemed very moved regarding Grace’s supposed naivete.
If the lord were to be successful in his machinations, Grace might find herself and her mother living forever in the dower house. Then, she would find that her only chance had slipped through her fingers. She would have let down her mother, and she would have let down herself.
Grace stabbed at the embroidery work in her hands. She really ought to stop working on it—it was a lovely piece and she was ruining it with her current impatience.
She must find her composure. Grace Yardley had a future to plan and she would not be defeated by anybody’s spiteful nephew. Lord Gresham may have made every effort to keep her locked in the house, but he had so far been unsuccessful.
