“Yecan do that.”
Aden sent his brother a grim smile. “Aye, but I’ve nae a good heart.”
“Och,bràthair, I do hope I’m about when ye realize just how wrong ye are about that.”
Considering he’d lacked the self-control to keep from ruining a lass who needed his help and that he was now having deadly serious thoughts about killing a man who planned to marry her, Aden wasn’t so certain he had any heart at all, much less a good one. All hedidknow was that he meant to rescue Miranda Harris, that he wanted her for himself, and that he didn’t care about the cost.
Captain Vale knew which fork went with which dish. He knew how to chat politely about the weather and the attractions of London, as well, but to Miranda’s eyes it all sounded rehearsed, as if someone—George or Matthew, no doubt—had told him which topics to pursue and which to avoid, and so he’d perused the newspapers to find as much banality as he could.
She wouldn’t say her parents had been charmed, but they certainly hadn’t been alarmed—which was undoubtedly all he’d aimed for. At the same timeshe’dseen a few moments where he clenched his jaw or gripped his proper fork too tightly, because she’d been looking for them. Aden might as well have been seated at the dinner table last night as well, because the Highlander had seen to it that he was very much a topic of conversation.
In fact, if Aden’s goal had been to infuriate Robert Vale, he’d thus far been doing quite well. Whether angering a heartless villain and blackmailer would accomplish anything useful, Miranda had no idea. All shedidhave, actually, was a rather alarming amount of trust in—and infatuation with—Aden MacTaggert.
She rose early, half expecting him to climb through her window before dawn, whatever mysterious wagering task he’d assigned to himself overnight. When no one but a blackbird came knocking at her windowsill, she summonedMillie and dressed, and then decided Aden would come calling by breakfast so she could tell him how her evening had gone. Or rather, to select a new book from the library. As she stirred her soft-boiled eggs into mush, he continued his absence, and she resentfully tried to ignore the chiming of the clock in the foyer—which nevertheless insisted on sounding off nine times.
“What are you doing up so early?” her father asked, strolling into the breakfast room to select a stack of sliced ham and toast before he sat at the head of the table where the ironed morning newspaper awaited his perusal.
“I thought I would risk calling on Eloise and Amy unannounced,” she improvised. “I need to go to the milliners, and hoped we might make a morning of it.”
“Calling without first making an appointment?” Her father put a hand to his chest. “That’s deuced daring of you.” He glanced toward the doorway. “Don’t tell your mother I said ‘deuced.’”
Miranda grinned. “Your secret is safe with me, Papa.”
She adored the way her parents adored each other, and once she’d reached marriageable age, she’d determined that she would have that for herself, or nothing at all. But now, when under other circumstances she might think she’d found that very thing, people owed people debts, and one man demanded her hand while the other declined to ask for it. Perhaps Aden meant to be honorable, to not make her choose when she was trapped, but she wanted to hear the words, to have him say aloud what she thought she saw in his eyes.
Or was that just what shewantedto see in his eyes? Eloise had called her middle brother “elusive” back before she’d even met him. Did that mean he would never declare himself? He’d promised he would free her from Vale, and thus far, nothing else. Could that be enough for her? Miranda frowned. What if that had to be enough?
“Well, you look very serious, suddenly,” Albert Harris commented around his cup of tea. “But then you’ve got two men pursuing you. That’s a subject for some serious thought, I would imagine.”
“I have been pursued before,” she quipped, trying to look amused rather than horrified at the conversation. After all, one of the men was blackmailing her, and the other had ruined her.
“That, you have, and more times than I can count. This is the first time you’ve allowed it to be known that two men are pursuing you, however. And it’s also the first time I can recall that one of them managed to make it as far as a private dinner with the family.” He slathered butter on his bread. “Is it to be him, then? Captain Robert Vale? Your mother swears that you prefer the Highlander, but Mr. MacTaggert doesn’t seem to have received a dinner invitation. He did send some delightful strawberries, though. Those must have cost him a pretty penny.”
She wanted to shut her eyes for just a moment and think. Eventually, if Aden’s plans didn’t succeed, she would have to agree to Vale’s terms. Therefore, she couldn’t simply dismiss his so-called suit out of hand, however much she wanted to do so. But neither was she ready, yet, to let her parents think she’d made her choice. Not until all hope was gone. “I haven’t decided anything yet, Papa. Andyou’rethe one who wanted the captain to call for dinner, if you’ll recall.”
He smiled. “I do recall. Very well, my dear. Keep your own counsel, then. Just know that if you ever do want my opinion, I have several of them.”
Now she didn’t know what would be worse—if her father approved more highly of Vale, or of Aden. For heaven’s sake, what if her preference for Aden disappointed her father? Or what if he disliked Vale, told herso, and then she had to marry the man without telling her father the true reason why?
Oh, she needed someone with whom she could talk. Someone she could trust. Not a parent, or a maid, or a lover. She needed a friend, one who would not repeat any of the secrets she carried, and who wouldn’t judge her for them. One who could help her untangle the mess of her thoughts and hopes and fears.
“I hope I haven’t distressed you, my sweet. You know your mother and I will support whatever choice you make—including spinsterhood. I’m not so very anxious to see your smile gone from my table.” He sighed. “Alas, I know not even my silly doting can come between you and a new hat. I’m off to meet Tom Blaisdale and look at a steer he fancies. I’ll drop you at Oswell House if you’ll give me but a moment.”
“Of course I will.” And now her imaginary destination had just become real. Hopefully her prayer for a friend—or a pair of them—had, as well.
Once she’d disembarked from her father’s phaeton at Oswell House and waved goodbye to him, she took a deep breath. She hadn’t decided yet. She could still make this about nothing more than hats—if Lady Eloise and Mrs. MacTaggert were even home and available for an outing this morning. That in itself would be something of a surprise with the Season now in full swing.
“I shall inquire,” Smythe the butler said when she conveyed her request and he’d shown her into the morning room to wait.
Inquiring meant that at least one of the young ladies was still home, but not that either of them didn’t have previous plans. It would no doubt be better if their timewasalready spoken for this morning. How could she tell her friends something she hadn’t even dared tell her own parents? How could she tell Eloise that one of her adoredolder brothers had ruined her—even if it had been at her own request? She couldn’t. Silence was better. Silence and perhaps some hat shopping.
The morning room door swung open. “What very good timing you have, Miranda,” Eloise exclaimed, sweeping into the room and arm in arm with her new sister-in-law, pretty, blond-haired Amy. “We were just debating whether to go shop for hats, or take a morning stroll in the park to show off Amy’s lovely new walking dress. It’s embroidered with hummingbirds!”
Miranda stood and tried to add her vote for shopping, but instead only managed a strangled sob. Then tears began running down her face willy-nilly, so she plunked back down onto the couch and covered her face with her hands. All the tired, frightened bits of her broke loose at the same time.Wonderful.Now she was a weepy, soggy lump.
“My goodness!” Arms went around her shoulders. “Whatever is the matter, Mia?”
“Nothing,” she wailed, her voice broken now, too.
