“Shush.” Erina opened the bedroom door wider and slipped inside. “I have something I must tell you.”
He reached for his robe. “Couldn’t it wait until breakfast?”
“Impossible. We won’t be alone.” She perched on the end of the bed and arranged her pale-green silk dressing gown over her legs. “And I need to explain about our journey.”
Harry slipped from the bed, tightened the belt of his dressing gown, and sat on the sofa near the fireplace. “Dare I hope you’vechanged your mind and wish to return home? Our fathers could be persuaded not to make this public and keep your reputation intact.”
She eyed him for a minute. His tawny-brown hair was all tousled, rather endearingly. “I want to explain my reasons for going to Ireland. And if you prefer not to take me, Harry, you can help me get a seat on the stagecoach, if you will.”
He smoothed his hair back with both hands. “You expect me to put you on a stagecoach and go off home to confess all to my father and yours?”
“Well, yes. I admit that might be difficult.”
“‘Difficult’?! Not quite the right word, is it? Shall we sayimpossible?”
Erina was getting a crick in her neck. She left the bed and came to sit beside him on the chaise longue. “Don’t shout. Someone might hear.”
He made a strangled noise in his throat and moved to a chair. “You woke me up to make this appallingly foolish suggestion?”
She glanced at bare thighs through the gap in his dressing gown.Men are so hairy, she thought, feeling unsettled. “Don’t you wear a nightshirt like my father?”
He sighed. “That is none of your business.”
“There is no need to be so cross. You weren’t asleep. Your candle was alight.”
“Maybe I like to leave a candle burning while I sleep. Maybe I’m frightened of the dark.”
She giggled nervously. “I don’t believe that, Harry. Now listen while I tell you about the letter.”
He folded his arms. “What letter?”
“Please just listen.”
Erina explained about Cathleen’s predicament. How after her mother had died, and her father had begun to gamble and drink heavily. And how the neighbor had taken advantage of him. When they had lost everything, her father had shot himself. This neighbor,who now claimed to own their property, insisted she marry him or be cast out into the street.
Harry listened without comment.
“So, will you still agree to take me?” she asked, a plea in her voice.
“That’s a very sad story. I am deeply sorry for your cousin, Lady Erina, but I fail to see how you arriving at their home unescorted and with little money can be of help to her.”
“We won’t stay there for more than one night. I’ll just fetch her and bring her home. I’ve brought a select number of pieces of jewelry with me. I can take them to a pawnbroker in Dublin to pay for our fare.”
He paused. “What happens when you arrive home with Miss…?”
“Sullivan.”
“Miss Sullivan. Just suppose you do make it home safely? Will all be forgiven? Do you intend to spend your days caring for your disgruntled father with Miss Sullivan as your companion?”
She shook her head, eased off her slippers, and tucked her cooling, bare feet beneath her dressing gown. “No one will know how we fetched her. My father won’t put it about. My cousin will attend balls and dances with me.”
“And fall in love with a handsome prince and live happily ever after?”
She narrowed her eyes. “You are making fun of me. I’m certain I can do this.”
He leaned over, took her hand, and squeezed it. “If our fathers hadn’t forced this engagement on us, would you have attempted this?”
“I would still have tried.” She frowned. “I must. Cathleen is my mother’s niece. Mama would expect me to do something to help her. The trouble is that my father dislikes my mother’s family. He believes the Irish are beneath us. I suspect Grandfather forced Papa to marry Mama, although she didn’t come with a big dowry.” She brightened. “What about Captain Ryder? Doesn’t he intend to go to Ireland whenhe leaves here? He would be a strong and capable escort, and then you needn’t worry about me.”
