Page 78 of No Ordinary Lady

The countess’ eyes narrowed and then she nodded. “I’d like that.”

“Good,” Marian said, smiling. “Perhaps we ought to leave this chamber before your son returns. He’s gone to look for an axe, and I would hate to see the manor damaged on my account.”

“So would I,” Lady Scarsdale agreed as she walked to the door and opened it.

She gestured Marian from the room ahead of her. Marian slipped out into the countess’ bedchamber and waited for the woman to join her. “May I have some paper and ink to write those aliases and addresses my uncle uses most often so you can finally catch him?”

“I hadn’t thought you were serious about that,” the countess admitted, appearing taken aback by her keeping her word.

“I will never lie to you again, my lady. If I’m quick, I can get it written out and slip away before Danny comes back. He’ll never hear a bad word against you from me, I swear.”

“Well, if that’s the case, you’d better get to writing,” the countess said briskly, opening a beautiful writing desk for Marian and placing a quill and a single sheet of parchment on its surface.

Marian scratched out all she could remember about her uncle and handed it to the countess, wincing slightly that in her eagerness to detail everything she knew, she had made rather a mess of her handwriting. “I hope that helps you.”

“Excellent. But I don’t believe your leaving is required now.”

“I should go,” Marian promised. “I can’t stay if Daniel is engaged.”

“He’s not engaged as far as I am aware,” the countess admitted, brow rising. “Nor likely to be if you leave, I now suspect.”

Marian shook her head, confused. “I thought he’d gone to see Miss Wilson this morning. He rode home in such a rush that I suspected he had good news to share with you.”

“My son rode out in search of you at my mother’s urging, dear, and came back directly to my chamber.”

“Oh,” Marian said. “Why would he imagine I was here?”

“Probably those loose lips of his valet. Never tell that boy a secret you want kept from my son.”

“Sunday is very loyal to your family.”

“As are you, it seems,” the countess observed, nodding her head slightly, and folding the paper she’d been handed. “I had not expected you to be loyal to anything but your own family. I think you should go in search of my mother now. She’s had a fretful night worrying about how you fared with me. Tell her she was right.”

“Of course…but about what?” Marian asked as then dipped the countess a properly deep curtsy.

“About everything. Oh, and Marian, you will join me for tea at four o’clock in the conservatory each day from now on. Is that understood? We can discuss those knots you were talking about, and other matters.”

“Yes, milady,” she said, agreeing to the tea and all that would entail. It would also be an hour each day listening to Miss Wilson prattle on, while Marian pondered what Daniel saw in the woman he meant to marry.

She headed out into the hall and headed directly to Mrs. Nolan’s chambers, so she could avoid Daniel when he came back.

The old lady’s face was wreathed in smiles as soon as she saw Marian poke her head around the door. She extended both her hands, and Marian rushed to the woman to be pulled into a fierce embrace.

“I see you passed my daughter’s little test.”

Marian closed her eyes and then shook her head. These women would certainly keep her on her toes. “She said to tell you that you were correct.”

“Hates to admit she was wrong, and still hasn’t, since she had you tell me rather than admit it herself,” Granny said and then chuckled. “My daughter is a delight, isn’t she?”

“You knew she had me the entire night?” Marian laughed. “Is there nothing that escapes your notice?”

“Not much. Not much that happens here, really. But that valet Sunday was almost no help in the end. I sent him off on horseback with Danny so he’d have another chance to remember to mention he’d seen you and my daughter together last night.”

“Why didn’t you just tell Danny where I was, and that I was perfectly safe with your daughter? She had every right to be angry about what I did.”

“Were you really safe?” Granny asked, raising one brow. “My daughter has dealt with thieves before and detests them on principal. I assure you, you were in considerable danger from her initial temper. I had to promise a great many things for her to go along with my little play. The first promise she extracted from me for leniency was to be nicer to her little protégé.” The older lady pulled an unhappy face about that.

“Miss Wilson,” Marian said. “The woman destined to take Lady Scarsdale’s place here.”