“I can’t say that I’d do any different if you were my niece,” he said, barely restraining his anger. “You’ve been an absolute idiot.”
She turned and, without another word, marched down the stairs, down the path, and to the street. He thought she was going to the carriage, but she disregarded it and kept walking.
Shewasan idiot.
He caught up with her finally, grabbed her arm, and twirled her around to face him. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Leaving.”
“Do you have a friend to stay with? Or another relative?”
“I don’t know anyone else in London,” she said, her curious accent making the words sound almost lyrical.
“Then where did you think you were going?”
“Away,” she said, looking up at him. “Anywhere. It’s quite evident that neither you nor my uncle wants me around.”
The fog was lifting, the lamplight glowing like a yellow moon.
He speared his hand through his hair, offered her the unadorned truth. “I haven’t the slightest idea what I’m going to do.”
“Neither do I,” she said primly.
“Get in the carriage,” he said.
She shook her head.
“Why not?”
“Because it wouldn’t be proper.”
He began to laugh. Probably not the right time for amusement, but her comment caught him off guard.
“After tonight? You worried about propriety while you’re walking down the street nearly naked? Get in the carriage, Veronica.”
“You should address me as Miss McLeod,” she said, then evidently realized the foolishness of that request because a fleeting smile graced her lips for a second before disappearing.
She turned and began to walk back to the carriage, with him following slowly behind. He couldn’t leave her there, especially since he was certain her uncle wasn’t going to allow her into the house. Nor could he take her home. That would make the scandal worse.
Although standards had relaxed in the last five years because of the war, if he’d been caught with a Virginia girl in his carriage, attired in nothing more than a robe, he’d have been given the immediate option of marrying her or deciding where he’d like to be buried.
If he’d known anyone else in London, if he’d made any friends close enough to drop Veronica on their doorstep, he’d have done so. Unfortunately, he’d only been in the city a few weeks, and during that time, he’d deliberately kept himself aloof. He didn’t like London, and he wasn’t certain he liked the English. No, after that night, he was dead certain of it.
Now what?
He couldn’t drive around London for hours.
Do the right thing.He’d heard Caroline’s words as if she’d whispered in his mind. Damn it, he’d done the right thing, only to be punished for it now.
Veronica turned at the door of the carriage.
“Where are we going?”
There was no other answer, was there?
“To my home,” he said, feeling the noose of responsibility tighten around his neck.
Veronica did not have a good feeling about this. Not a good feeling at all. She’d been banished from her uncle’s home. What on earth was to happen to her?
