Page 10
“Miss Haverden?”
She glanced at Lord Sterling, sitting but inches from her.
He wasn’t looking at her, but instead gazed at the road before them.
Mr. Wiggle’s torso and snout lay across his lordship’s lap.
“My mother is Miss Haverden. I’m simply Miss Eden.”
He acknowledged this with a slight nod.
“I would hope that the quarrel between my father and your brother doesn’t prohibit us from furthering our acquaintance.”
The apologetic smile he sent Eden reminded her of Simon’s sons: eight-year-old Timothy and six-year-old Prentice. Such sweetly disposed boys, and polite. A true wonder, given their haughty and difficult parents. Every chance they could, her nephews sneaked to Briar Knoll for hot chocolate, Mattie’s Shrewsbury biscuits, and to play with Mr. Wiggles and Eden’s pet squirrel, Acorn.
When next they came, there’d be newly hatched chicks too.
Mayhap, she’d let them each choose one for a pet, since neither Simon nor his wife Candace permitted the boys that rite of passage.
As they approached the small-planked bridge spanning Black Beck’s swollen banks, she adjusted her rump, braced her feet, and slowed Peony.
“My lord, the squabble aside, why would you want to further our association? You’re the next Duke of DeCourcy. I’m the by-blow of landed gentry. The daughter of a governess. And in case you hadn’t noticed,” she waffled her hand at Peony, Mr. Wiggles, and finally her streaming hair, “I’m a bit unconventional. Such association would only incite gossip, something I’d rather avoid. I’m certain you can appreciate why.”
“May I speak plainly?”
The breeze teased the slightly curly hair skimming his collar.
“I’d prefer that you do. I cannot abide hedging.”
She nodded, and her hood slid off. They’d made the old stone-sided bridge, so she didn’t dare take a hand off the reins. Neither Simon nor the duke would pay for a new overpass, and every time she crossed the rickety planks during flood season, her nerves tightened taut as harp strings. The stream wasn’t more than four or five feet deep, but the rushing water frightened her nevertheless.
She couldn’t swim. Not a stroke.
After falling from the dock and nearly drowning as a six-year-old, she’d acquired a tremendous fear of water.
That was why she usually took the other, newer bridge. This track was much closer to Perygrim Park however, and with the weather about to express her displeasure, and considering Mama’s episode this morning, Eden couldn’t take the time to detour to the other crossing.
“My lord, perhaps your first duty could be to replace, or at the very least, repair this bridge? Simon refuses to pay for it, as does the duke, and passage becomes more unstable with each crossing. I fear the worst for an unsuspecting traveler.”
A stiff draught whipped several strands of hair around her shoulders, and she shook her head to fling them from her face.
While at school, she’d endured people’s unkind staring and pointing, other girls whispering and some even calling the brownish red patch on her neck a devil’s mark or witch’s kiss. She’d rather deal with the unruly tresses than the unkindness and curious stares.
“Consider it done, Miss Haverden. Now as to that other matter.” Lord Sterling laid one arm across the back of the seat and presented his noble profile. “I’ve been away for a decade and wouldn’t be here now except my sire is gravely ill. Plainly put, I’m an outsider now, and I could use a friend.”
A friend?
So could she, truth to tell.
Though Newbury’s citizens treated her kindly, she fit neither with the commoners nor with the local gentry. Not outwardly shunned, neither was she included in social gatherings or assemblies. Except for those hosted by Vicar Jedidiah Wright.
Six weeks ago, he’d proposed for the fourth time.
He was to be commended for his persistence, even if she never intended to accept his offer.
Caring, gentle, and attractive in his quiet reserved way, and a widower with two small children, Vicar Wright couldn’t fathom why anyone should mind if he took a bastard to wife. His love for humanity and his non-judgmental soul were blind to the censured looks parishioners cast him whenever he spoke with Eden.
She truly feared if she accepted, he might well lose his position.
