AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The others were finishing their meals. They all started to rise and head back to the coach. Delia was about to do the same when Mr Hartfield turned to her, smiling.
“The coach isn’t due to leave for another ten minutes,” he said. “Why don’t you sit with me for a little while longer? We will be in that carriage for long enough this afternoon.”
Delia froze. She couldn’t think of a single reason to refuse him without seeming pointedly rude, but every fibre in her body was screaming that it wasn’t a good idea. They would be alone at the table, after all. It was mortifying the way that her body was always reacting to him. Apart from the fact that she didn’t want to get involved in a conversation that might turn to details of her life.
“I suppose so,” she said, trying to smile. He made her nervous.
There was an awkward silence for a moment.
“So,” he said, fixing those dark eyes upon her. “Where did you say you were from again, Miss Parker?”
“Surrey,” she said, feeling her cheeks turn pink.
“You have family there?” he asked. “A mother and father?”
Delia shook her head, thinking quickly. “Not any longer,” she said, trying to look sorrowful, which wasn’t too hard in the circumstances. “I am an orphan, sir. The only family I have left is my grandmother in Bradford, which is why I am so eager to go to her.”
“The grandmother suffering from the world’s worst bunions,” he said in a sardonic voice.
Her eyes flashed. “You are making fun of me. But my grandmother’s exhaustion is real, sir. She is getting older and the only family I have left in the world.”
I should have been an actress, she thought, raising her chin. She was almost starting to enjoy this.
“I am sorry,” he said, his brown eyes twinkling. “I did not mean to make fun of your grandmother and her ailing feet.” He paused. “And what did you do for a living in Surrey, Miss Parker?”
Delia’s heart started thumping hard. She just knew he was going to do this to her. She was starting to feel like she was being interrogated. She should get up and walk back to the coach right now. But that might make her look even more suspicious. She had to give him an answer.
Her mind flew. She had said that she might seek work as a governess in Bradford but had intimated that she hadn’t any experience in that type of work. More was the pity. She could hardly claim she was a maid—she was very well aware he probably wouldn’t believe her. She didn’t have the work-roughened hands that all maids possessed.
What other type of work could I have done? Seamstress? Lady’s companion?
She knew how to embroider but not sew garments. She didn’t want him asking any technical questions about the occupation. For all she knew, his mother or sister could be a seamstress. But being a lady’s companion was foolproof—it required very little skill, and she looked the part. It was another job that ladies down on their luck or middle-class women who had been lucky enough to be taught to read could pursue.
She took a deep breath. “I was a lady’s companion, Mr Hartfield,” she said, in a voice prim enough to satisfy Miss Tilney. “On a very nice estate. I chaperoned the daughter of a local aristocrat.” She hesitated. “My family lived near the estate, and it was the lady’s mother who kindly funded my education. I have been blessed.”
“I see,” he said, looking thoughtful. “How very lucky you were. And who was the family you worked for?”
Delia scowled at him. “If I didn’t know any better, Mr Hartfield, I would think you are interrogating me. Did your mother never teach you it is rude to ask so many personal questions?”
He laughed. “I am sorry, Miss Parker. I didn’t mean to be rude.” He paused. “It is just that you intrigue me. You are so refined and genteel. I haven’t met many women like you in this world beyond the confines of a grand ballroom, and yet you are clearly not a wealthy woman.”
Delia stared at him. “You go to balls in Bradford? With theton?”
He laughed again, but it was a harsh sound. “I have been to society events in Bradford over the years. Thetonare the most uninteresting bunch of people I have ever encountered.” He paused. “I have discovered that being cultured doesn’t make a person fascinating, clever,orkind. In fact, it makes them very pompous and arrogant.”
Delia felt her cheeks turn pink again. She was a member of theton. She had noble blood running in her veins. Her pedigree was impeccable. And she didn’t like him saying this about the world that she was born into. It was the world she had been destined to stay within forever…if she hadn’t become a runaway.
“That is a very condescending thing to say,” she said in a tart voice. “You are behaving in just as prejudicial a manner as those you claim are arrogant. Thetonare just people, Mr Hartfield. We all bleed if we are pricked by a needle.”
He gaped at her. “You are very sympathetic to that class.”
“I have seen that world as a lady’s companion,” she said, her colour deepening. “I grew very fond of the family I worked for. They were not arrogant nor pompous, and it offends me that you are so sweeping in your judgement.”
She stared him straight in the eye in a challenging way. He didn’t look away. She felt a frisson run between them.
But the next moment, Mr Giles was there, urging them back to the carriage. She didn’t look at Mr Hartfield as they walked out. Her heart was thumping hard. That had been a close call, but she was proud of the way she had handled herself. She raised her chin. Perhaps she might survive in this harsh world after all.
Chapter 13
