Page 74 of No Ordinary Lady

Daniel gave the garden one last inspection and turned for the manor house, taking Granny with him.

They walked slowly back. “If Marian doesn’t want to be your paid companion, we can’t force her to remain.”

“She liked her new life here with us more than any money she stole,” Granny insisted, patting at her eyes with a scrap of linen she called a handkerchief. “She could have taken my jewels, but they’re untouched. It must be your fault she never said goodbye.”

“Mine?”

“You should have asked her to stay,” Granny said, sniffing back tears. “Does she even know you changed your mind about marrying that awful girl your mother favors? I can’t imagine the distress she must have endured, watching you fawning over another woman instead of her.”

“I hardly ever fawn,” Daniel promised. He’d done nothing so obvious or in any way improper in front of or behind Marian’s back while trying to get to know Amy Wilson again. Conversation and a walk in the gardens were as much as that pursuit had ever amounted to.

He’d done so much more with Marian in secret, it was laughable to feel any guilt or ashamed. He and Marian had kissed and embraced, held hands, and exchanged more than a dozen heated looks in this last week. “I’m not the reason Marian has taken herself away.”

But he might just have been a reason she’d stayed as long as she had. If he had told her of his doubts about Amy sooner, would she have remained to talk to him? Kiss him?

“You better be the reason she comes back, young man,” Granny warned, pushing him away impatiently. “Get on your horse and go after her.”

“I can’t do that,” Daniel complained. “I don’t have the first idea where to look for her.”

“You can start in the village. She would have to go there to find a carriage. Find out where one is headed and go after it.” She pushed at him twice more, sending him stumbling backward. “Your horse is saddled. Go.”

Daniel turned to see that his horse, led by his valet Sunday, was almost upon him.

“Granny, you go too far,” he warned.

“You had better go as far as it takes to bring that sweet girl back home to us. After all the fun we had together and the plans I was making for her future, her first season would have been a wild success. I will never speak to either of you again if you shatter my dreams.”

Since his horse was already called for, and Granny was now almost shouting at him in her panic and distress, he had little choice but to humor the old lady and seek out Marian.

He took the reins from Sunday and mounted the impatient beast, ignoring Sunday’s propensity to ask questions.

But he was mounted now and ought to at least find out for his own peace of mind and Granny’s that she had truly gone. He kicked his horse to a gallop almost immediately, and Sunday quickly followed him down the long drive.

When the estate gateway loomed, Daniel slowed his mount to a walk and Sunday fell into step beside him. “Where are we headed, my lord?”

“Don’t you know?”

“You’re really chasing after the paid companion?”

“Perhaps I am.” Indeed, he was. Marian’s happiness or unhappiness was uppermost in his mind right now, a stark contrast to the fact he hadn’t cared at all if Amy was disappointed that he had not proposed to her yet and never would.

“Well, that’s grand, if you don’t mind me saying so.”

Daniel glanced at his valet in surprise. “What makes you happy about my interest in Miss Trill?”

“Well, it’s clear to see your family is taken with her,” Sunday enthused. “The servants all like her, too. My mother, especially, and she told me your mother rarely takes an interest in young ladies the way she has with Miss Trill.”

“I’m not sure how Mother feels about Miss Trill.”

“Well, she must approve, because she was with your mother last night. Better her than me,” Sunday said, and then winced. “No offense, but I wouldn’t want to be alone with your mother. She’s terrifying.”

“Wait. What?” Daniel pulled his horse to an immediate stop. “When was Marian with mother?”

“Last night,” Sunday frowned. “Is Lady Scarsdale not speaking to you again? What did you do this time?”

“Yes, Mother is speaking to me. But she did not mention seeing Miss Trill when I spoke to her.” Daniel wiped a hand over his mouth, utterly confused.

“Well, she did. They were arm in arm. Very cozy indeed.”