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“He has a sister,” Ursula gasped and shared a look with Trenton.
Trenton thought about that and nodded. “It would explain why you were able to throw your attacker off. The sister isn’t much different in build to you.” He looked at Ursula. “She is definitely a bit taller than her brother.”
“It was her who accosted me in my bedroom, wasn’t it?” she asked, turning to scour the park for her only to find both Sinnerton women had vanished completely.
“I think it may have been. They are certainly an odd family,” Trenton replied.
“Why do you think they followed us here?” She shivered at the thought of being so close to the woman who meant to physically hurt her.
“Heaven only knows. She made a point of mentioning that we were breaking with convention by being out alone without a chaperone. I can’t help but ask why she would mention it. Why risk ruining your reputation if she wants to be friends?” Trenton lapsed into silence as he thought about that. He felt as though he was missing something only couldn’t decide what it was.
“She was certainly interested in whether we intend to go to the Humphrey’s ball or not, wasn’t she?” Ursula asked with a frown. “How could she intend to follow us there if she doesn’t know the Humphrey’s? She wouldn’t get an invitation, would she?”
“That woman turns up anywhere she wants to go. I ha
ve no doubt that she will turn up at the Humphrey’s ball too, even without an invitation,” Trenton replied dourly.
“I am not going though. I thought you said you weren’t?”
Trenton looked at her knowingly. “We aren’t, but it will give her something to do.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that you had seen him?” she asked quietly.
She suspected that was the cause for his earlier concern and was a little hurt that he hadn’t felt the need to take her into his confidence until forced to. She wondered if he would have mentioned it at all if they hadn’t run into Mrs Sinnerton, and somehow doubted it. “This does involve me, you know.”
“I just don’t want you to worry,” he sighed. “You have enough to contend with given what has happened of late. I don’t want you to feel scared to step outside of the front door. He didn’t approach me, or the house. He was just - there.”
“You should have told me,” she chided. “He poses a risk to me. If he is waiting outside of my house, I deserve to know about it. I won’t be cossetted like some addle-brained female, Trenton.”
“I am not cossetting you. I just don’t want you worrying unnecessarily. He posed no risk; he didn’t approach or speak to me. Whenever you go out, you always go to public places and have Adelaide with you. Sinnerton is hardly likely to accost you in the middle of the street, now is he?”
“One of them did on the towpath the other week, and you were with me,” she replied pointedly.
Trenton looked at her and had to agree.
“Don’t keep secrets from me, Trenton. If you want me to trust you then you need to confide in me too. Trust is a two-way street.”
She knew from the way he looked at her then looked away that there was more he wasn’t telling her, but when he didn’t speak she realised he wasn’t going to take her into his confidence.
“This is why I won’t consider marriage,” she said quietly when the silence had lengthened between them a little too much.
Trenton’s head jerked around. “Why?”
She could feel him studying her but didn’t look at him. “I am sick and tired of having everyone making decisions for me. I thought coming here might give me some freedom, but I have just exchanged my father’s orders for Adelaide’s. It turns out that I have even less freedom here than I did back in Yorkshire. Even Adelaide decides where we go and what we do. I am a grown woman, perfectly capable of making decision about where I want to go by myself, yet I cannot even choose to spend an evening in front of the fire if I want to. I absolutely refuse to marry and have a husband make decisions for me for the rest of my life. It’s not a marriage; it’s an ownership.” She turned a look on him that was almost harsh. “I won’t be traded like a piece of meat.”
Trenton stared at her in horror, and realised then just how badly he had misjudged her. He had also made a colossal mistake in not being entirely honest with her from the very start of their relationship.
“Please don’t keep things like this from me, Trenton. I need to know if he is around so I can keep an eye out for him. Not telling me puts me even more at risk. I could have engaged him in conversation without realising just how dangerous he is.”
“I know, I am sorry,” Trenton sighed. He had to concede she had a point. “It’s the Neanderthal in me wanting to protect you, I suppose.”
Ursula nodded but was aware of the stilted silence that lay between them throughout the rest of the journey home.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Ursula looked over the top of her book when her aunt sighed deeply.
“Alright?” she asked, knowing Adelaide most certainly wasn’t.
