Helena lifted her chin. “I fell in the forest. A gentleman appeared in a most timely way and insisted upon my riding his horse as he escorted me home.”
“Becky said the two of you rode together,” Aunt Fanny said. “If so, Helena, that was most inappropriate.” Eliza watched the younger woman’s eyes flash.
“What was this gentleman’s name?” Nicholas asked.
“He did not introduce himself.” Helena spoke with confidence but Eliza was certain there was some detail she was not sharing.
“Can you describe him?” Nicholas asked, but his sister shook her head.
“I was quite overcome with pain, and he wore a hood. I could not see him clearly.”
Helena exchanged a glance with Nicholas who then eyed his sister thoughtfully. When he changed the subject, complimenting his aunt on the meal, she followed his lead, much to Helena’s evident relief.
This girl. Eliza would have to discover whether there were other eligible men in the vicinity and see Helena wed soon.
CHAPTER 6
“She has a scheme,” Eliza said when she and Nicholas were in the carriage together. The rain was pelting against the roof of the carriage but the horse made a good pace. Nicholas had enjoyed the meal, was glad to see his aunt content with the cottage, and was anticipating an active night with his beloved.
He could not suppress his smile at Eliza’s assessment, for she was right. He claimed his wife’s hand and planted a kiss upon her palm. “I do not know whether to be satisfied or troubled that you have learned to read my sister so readily.”
Eliza smiled briefly. “If only we could see her securely wed.”
“I wish she had not declined Hargood.”
“Nor I, though I have not met him.”
“He would have suited her well, I think, though I can understand why she believed him too staid. He truly became the echo of his father after his reform.”
“Did you know him well?”
Nicholas shook his head. “The brothers were both younger than Haynesdale and me. We would see them but we had our own schemes and adventures. I’ve always liked Joshua Hargood, though. Even at his most rebellious, he was honorable.” Heshrugged. “His brother, though, caused trouble wherever he went. He had little conscience and was utterly untrustworthy. He and Helena would have been two of a kind.”
“It might be unseemly to be glad of a man’s demise, but I confess myself relieved then that he is no longer present. Who can say what mischief they might have made together?”
Nicholas said nothing. He was inclined to think the mischief Helena would have found with a rogue like Gerald Hargood was entirely predictable.
He watched Eliza frown.
“Do you sense an untruth in her claim that she does not know the name of the man who aided her?”
“No, but there is some detail she is not disclosing.”
“She is intrigued by him, to be sure.” Eliza’s gaze collided with his own. “You do not think she has compromised herself?”
“Already? No, even she is not so impetuous as that.”
“Might she have a plan to meet him again?”
“Alone? Without a chaperone?” Even as Nicholas protested, he knew his sister would do as much in a moment, if she so desired. Had he not pursued her half the length of England for that very reason? It was not unreasonable, in his view, to have hoped she might have learned a lesson from that adventure, or at least a measure of caution, but this evening’s discussion implied otherwise. “But I cannot watch her all of the time,” he said.
“Of course not! But who might he be?”
“I cannot say. I have been away from the region too long to have any accurate notion of who yet lives nearby.”
“I am in the same situation. My mother will not know, for she pays no heed to gossip, even if she hears it, which is seldom.”
Nicholas smiled. “That may change with Aunt Fanny nearby.”
