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She laughed and said, trying to sound very adult and reasonable, “I confess that I would much rather make the trip home on my own Missy when she is recovered.” She turned to her friend. “What say you, Donna—will you stay as well?” Her eyes penetrated her friends’ with her plea.
“Of course they are staying,” the earl answered for them as he took control of the situation. It occurred to Bess that he was a man who would always take control and manage matters to everyone’s satisfaction. She liked that about him. He didn’t just emit self-assurance. He was self-assurance.
As her father still hesitated, the earl regarded him and said quietly, “Your daughter will come to no harm while she is at Se
arington.”
“Of that I never had a doubt,” Bess’s father returned promptly. He put up his hands. “Very well then, I shall of course return as quickly as I may.” He turned to Bess. “Well then, it is decided. I shall leave in the morning and probably won’t see you before I go, as I will leave quite early, but I should be back within a day or two. I will send your Maddy, and, please, Bess, don’t plague the poor dear, as she is getting on in years, and although you are, I know—” He put up his hands to stall her obvious objection. “—too old for your nanny, she will maintain the proprieties in my absence, and it will be pleasant for her, I believe.” He turned to her friends. “Shall I have my coach stop by and request your maid to put up another portmanteau for you two, as I will send along some additional clothes for Bess?”
“Oh, yes, that would be wonderful,” Donna answered thankfully.
“But, Papa, I am, as you say yourself, too old for my nanny. It is most humiliating, for while I adore her, I certainly don’t need a nanny to look after me.”
“I am not certain of that,” he teased, but his hands were up. “However, you should have a proper chaperone whilst I am not here, and it will do her some good to get out and about for a bit.”
Donna and Bess immediately put their heads together as though they were children planning an adventure, and a great deal of amiable conversation ensued.
It wasn’t until later, when everyone bade each other good night, that Bess’s father leaned into the earl and said, “Don’t let my daughter run you ragged.”
Bess turned away from the grand staircase and, hands on hips, objected, “Papa, I heard that!”
“Heard it, did you?” Robby remarked. “Good then, tell m’sweet wife as well, and mayhap the earl and I will survive the two of you in the same house!”
Laughter filled the hall and stairs as they continued to jest at one another, and Bess thought she couldn’t be happier.
Oh, but, yes, she could—she could be happier if she were hand in hand with the big Scottish earl and headed for the same bedroom. The notion made her body burn.
~ Eight ~
DONNA PLAYED WITH the pretty embroidered pillow she held in her lap and did not quite look at Bess as she said, “I am not sure how I feel about what I am going to say, but I am going to say it anyway. I think the earl fancies you, Bess. And what is more to the point, I think your father is as taken with him as you are. I cannot think of any other reason he would allow you to remain under the earl’s roof, even with Maddy and us as chaperones.” She shrugged and then did look Bess in the eye to add, “Stands to reason. After all, he can’t think the earl a libertine, can he? He would never have left you here.”
Bess frowned. “Well there, that is what I said from the start. The earl is very good and kind, and as to his reputation with women, well, people say the most outrageous things and then expound upon them till they are quite blown out of proportion. Papa does not give credence to gossip. But why you should think the earl fancies me? ’Tis nonsense.”
“Is it?” Donna shrugged but said nothing more.
“Indeed. And why you should say such a thing is quite perplexing. You are the one that warned me against him. You told me he was a rogue and I should not think of him, not flirt with him, not do anything with him because he had a reputation of breaking hearts.”
“Here is the thing,” Donna said thoughtfully. “The earl would not, but I rather think you fancy him as well, and I am just wondering what it is you have in that naughty brain of yours.”
Bess laughed. “You are outrageous.”
“Yes, I said those things, and I believed those things, but watching him, seeing the two of you together—I am not so sure. Bess, the look on his face when he is watching you … well, it is remarkable. I am not saying he is the sort to follow through. I still think he is not, and yet he does fancy you. There I have said it again.” She paused and considered Bess. “You see, I think he has a reputation for a reason. I think he has behaved like a rogue and a rake, but I’m not sure he is one at bottom.” Donna waved it off and said, “Never mind, for it probably doesn’t change a thing.”
“Meaning?” Bess puzzled up at her.
“Meaning, playing games with him won’t do the job,” Donna answered flatly.
“Playing games? I am not playing games. The fact is, I think I am losing my heart to him,” Bess said softly.
“Oh dear, I am not sure about all of this. Something tells me he rather more than likes you, but I think at the first sign that you are too attached to him, he will bolt.”
“I quite agree. I am not playing games, but neither am I stupid,” Bess said on a heavy sigh. “I know he is intrigued by me, and I also know he is not in earnest—not yet. I am not his type, or so he thinks. He believes he isn’t really ready for a love match. No doubt, he thinks a connection—a marriage of convenience with Lady Sonhurst—will give him the heir he needs and allow him to be free as well.”
“You are quite right in that way of thinking, and yet, Bess, I have seen him looking at you when he did not know I was watching, and I must say, as I already have, he is certainly taken with you.”
“Perhaps for the moment, but I know it means nothing to him.”
Donna got up and paced before she went to the morning room window, obviously troubled.
