Page 20 of No Ordinary Lady

“That is none of your business, young man,” she snapped.

When Danny started to turn to look in Marian’s direction, the old lady’s hand shot out to keep his attention on her. But she resumed gesturing Marian out of the room with her finger. She then pointed up, and Marian understood her message, or thought she did. There was a better way to escape upstairs.

What was Marian to do? Obey the old woman?

She might have to, because there seemed to be no other choice right now, since she could hear dozens of footsteps rushing toward this room.

Marian rushed into the dark hall and shut the door softly behind her. She could not afford to be seen or get caught up in any concern over the old woman’s health. It was not her business to know why the lady had fainted.

It would be best now if she left the ring on Danny’s pillow and simply vanished into the night without speaking with him at all. He knew she had come, and it shouldn’t be too hard for Danny to discover she’d returned his possession.

His chamber was probably the largest and should be easy enough to find.

Marian found the main staircase and climbed it silently, encountering no one. They were all too busy rushing to the drawing room. She checked room after room, discovering untold riches in each, until she finally found the only masculine bedchamber and the half-empty trunks she recognized from the prior night.

Marian shut the door behind her and leaned against it, catching her breath for a moment. She glanced around at the chamber, astonished by the mess. Danny must have been searching for the ring everywhere, and still had been until he had seen her.

She went to his bed and placed it upon his pillow.

The ring glinted in the fire’s light, and she steeled herself to leave it there. The bauble was never meant to be hers. It would belong to someone called Amy. A perfectly proper young woman who would become Danny’s bride one day soon.

But for a few hours, Marian had pretended it might have been her ring. She’d indulged more than once in the foolish fantasy on the road that her handsome gentleman from the inn had fallen madly in love with her and swept her off her feet with a grand promise to marry her. He’d, of course, offered her a world beyond anything she’d ever known, too, and safety in his arms. She’d even taken an hour to consider her answer, but of course it had been a resounding yes.

If such a proposal had ever been real, she would have lived in this grand house with a family of women about her and with more wealth at her disposal than she could ever hope to spend. But it was not the money or power that appealed to her—it was the family.

If she was part of this family, she would always have someone to talk to when she was scared or uncertain. There had been many times when she’d needed someone of her own sex for advice, and there would be more in the years to come. She’d love to have a granny who mocked those full of their own self-importance, and a mother who told her how she must behave in proper society.

She stood up abruptly from the bed with no idea she’d even dared to sit down upon it. She’d done what she came to do, although it seemed harder than she’d expected to leave the jewel and Danny behind.

Danny had seen her with the ring in her hand, and though she probably owed him an apology about having it, what could it matter if she never apologized? He was with his family now and the woman he’d intended to make his wife.

There was no chance for them to know each other beyond their one night together.

She gulped. In all her years, she’d never once felt any compulsion to linger near one of their victims or regret her misdeeds this much, or at all.

Marian did not want to leave a man who had been nothing but kind to her, but she must. She twirled the ring on her finger—and then stared at her hand in horror. What was she doing, putting the blasted ring back on her finger, and when had she even done so?

She took it off again, threw it back at the pillow, but she missed, and the ring sailed onto the floor instead to disappear under the headboard.

Marian raised her eyes to the ceiling, annoyed by her dreadfully poor aim.

But then the door handle rattled behind her and, not knowing who it might be, Marian dived under the bed before she was spotted again. Her hand, as if by magic, grabbed hold of the ring, and she slid it onto her finger for safekeeping once more.

Chapter Six

Marian was in his house and had his ring on her finger. The woman who’d shared his bed last night had followed him home. He was shocked by her audacity and glad about it, too. He wouldn’t have to chase her half-way cross the countryside now.

If the house wasn’t swarming with guests tonight, he’d have chased after her, caught her in his arms, and kissed her witless in gratitude. If Granny had not fainted when she had, he might already have the ring back in his possession.

But he could not leave Granny to the servants' care while she was feeling poorly or abandon all the guests Mother had unexpectedly invited to join them for dinner.

When he glanced over his shoulder, Marian seemed no longer in the drawing room behind the curtains, though he could hardly go over there to check. If she had gone, she could be anywhere in the house by now, or perhaps she had fled outside again.

She had better not have gone away, and if she’d stayed, she’d better not have touched one thing that didn’t belong to her—which amounted to everything.

Granny moaned, and Daniel glanced down at her in alarm. This wasn’t the first night Granny had taken a turn in front of him, but she’d sworn she was no longer afflicted by her mysterious malady. The last time was a year ago, in London. He’d thought her wholly well again.

He eased granny up to stand and put his arm around her back to support her.