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“My ward evidently is upstairs with her friend Scott.”
“How?” Daffy was flabbergasted.
“Never mind how, how shall we right this?”
His sister took to pacing, and he could see her formulating a plan. “How else. She and young Scott were with me the entire time. We came here, and now all of us shall travel to London together.”
“Nonsense,” he snapped.
“Why? There is nothing toward in that. No one is to know otherwise, and scandal is averted.” She plopped into a chair and said, “Now, you shall tell me how those two wayward youths happen to be here!”
He did this, interrupted by her questions, but at length she had the entire tale and sat back with a heavy sigh. “Oh my, honestly … I suppose you are not as evil as I thought. You had to see to the lad, didn’t you … and then, you couldn’t leave them in the lurch. I quite see that.”
He frowned. “I am a devil, and this is a bloody mess.”
“A devil? Ah, you began a flirtation with the child? Well, she is a beauty, so that, too, is understandable. Never mind that now. We are all here together, and we shall travel together, and scandal will be very neatly averted for us and your ward. Thank goodness, I had the f
oresight to track down your direction. I have arrived just in the nick of time.”
He eyed her doubtfully and then turned away. His life had suddenly gone to hell. He heard his sister rise, felt her hand on his back as she asked, “Glen … what is it? What is wrong?”
“Daffy, you don’t understand. I have been … well, as you said, she is beautiful, and I didn’t know she was my ward … and I have, well … I kissed her … many times and …”
“Ah, yes,” she said, her eyes narrowing as she looked into his. “Tell me, though, did you not find it all a coincidence?”
“What?”
“A young woman and this young man traveling about the countryside unattended? After all, Felicia is not a common name. How odd that you did not immediately realize she was your ward.”
Astonishment crept through his body, and he slapped his head. “I did not know my ward’s name. Oh, I knew she was Easton, but she never gave me her last name, and of course, I knew nothing of a Scott Hanover. It is all clear now, after the fact, but … how could I know?”
“Have you seduced the child beyond kisses?” she asked pointedly, for Daffy was well acquainted with his style.
“I was most taken with her, if that is what you mean,” was all he answered.
“Of course you were, but she is not in your usual style, is she?” his sister mused as she gave him an intense scrutiny.
He snorted. “And what is my usual style?”
“Well, certainly not an innocent,” offered his sister, scoffing at his reply. “Right then, so you have unashamedly been trying to make love to this girl, who has no doubt fallen for your insidious charms,” she said and then clucked her tongue.
“She is an innocent, and I am a blackguard,” he answered remorsefully.
“Well, no more. You will not think of her or flirt with her or be anything but her guardian. You will present her to the world in an effort to attain the best marriage prize out there for her. Are we clear?”
“We are clear,” he said darkly.
“Now, the time for formal introductions has come,” his sister pronounced as she walked towards the doorway. “Glen?”
“Yes, yes, I am coming,” he said, sick at heart.
~ Twenty ~
BECKY HAD INSISTED on hearing the whole of the story twice and finally sat back to burst out laughing and wagged a finger. “If I wasn’t acquainted with you two, I would say it was all a hum!”
“I wish it were, but so it has always been.” Scott grinned. “She is, as you say, a madcap, forever running about without thinking and dragging me into her schemes.”
“Dragging you?” Felicia took offense. “And who made you rush off after highwaymen? I tried to stop you.”
