
Check out Dunford in How To Marry a Marquis.
He's got a minor (but fun!) part. Even though How To Marry a Marquis was written after Minx,
it takes place several years earlier, so Dunford is still very
much a rakish bachelor. It was kind of fun to write his scene,
all the while thinking, "Heh heh, you have NO idea what I've
got in store for you!"
Charles Wycombe, the hero of Brighter Than the Sun , is a very minor character
in Minx.
Note on p. 269 how he makes reference to his need to rush into
marriage. At the time I wrote Minx,
I had no idea what his desperate
situation was, but I figured it would be a great set-up for
another book.
Rufus the bunny was inspired by my own houserabbit, Rutherford
(Rufie for short.) Unlike Rufus, my sweet bunny has never chewed
up important documents. (He did, however, take a big chunk out
of a Lisa Kleypas novel.)
I
get more requests for Ned Blydon's story than any of my other
characters. He's the hero of a novella called "A Tale
of Two Sisters," included in the Where's My Hero? anthology.
Minx is third in a trilogy. #1
is Splendid and
#2 is Dancing at Midnight.
top

Finalist, Romantic Times Reviewer Choice Award: Best British
Isles Historical Romance.
Also available as an e-book.
top

Prologue
William Dunford snorted with disgust as he watched
his friends gaze longingly into each other's eyes. Lady Arabella
Blydon, one of his best friends these past two years, had just
gotten herself married to Lord John Blackwood, and now they
were looking at each other as if they wanted to eat each other
up. It was revoltingly cute.
Dunford tapped his foot and rolled his eyes, hoping
that they would be able to tear themselves apart. The three
of them, along with Dunford's best friend Alex, the Duke of
Ashbourne, and his wife Emma, who happened to be Belle's cousin,
were on their way to a ball. Their carriage had met with a mishap,
and they were presently waiting for a fresh one to be brought
around.
At the sound of wheels
rolling along the cobbles, Dunford turned. The new carriage
pulled up to a halt in front
of them, but Belle and John didn't appear to notice. In fact,
they almost looked as if they were ready to throw themselves
into each other's arms and make love on the spot. Dunford
decided
that he had had enough. "Yoo-hoo!" he called out in a nauseatingly
sweet voice. "Young lovers!"
John and Belle finally tore their eyes off one
another and turned, blinking, to Dunford, who was making his
way toward them.
"If the two of you can
stop making verbal love to each other, we can be on our way.
In case you hadn't noticed,
the fresh carriage is here."
John took a deep and ragged
breath before turning to Dunford and saying, "Tact, I take
it, was not emphasized in your upbringing."
Dunford smiled merrily. "Not
at all. Shall we be off?"
John turned to Belle and
offered her his arm. "My dear?"
Belle accepted his gesture
with a smile, but as they passed Dunford, she turned and
hissed, "I'm going to kill
you for this."
"I'm sure you'll try." The
quintet was soon settled into the new carriage. After a few
moments, however, John and
Belle were gazing rapturously at each other again. John laid
his hand on hers and tapped his fingers against her knuckles.
Belle let out a little mewl of contentment.
"Oh, for God's sake!" Dunford exclaimed, turning
to Alex and Emma. "Will you look at them? Even the two of you
weren't this nauseating."
"Someday," Belle said in a low voice, her finger
jabbing at him, "you're going to meet the woman of your dreams,
and then I'm going to make your life miserable."
"Afraid not, my dear Arabella.
The woman of my dreams is such a paragon she couldn't possibly
exist."
"Oh, please," Belle snorted. "I bet that within
a year you'll be tied up, leg-shacked, and loving it." She
sat back with a satisfied smile. Beside her John was shaking
with
mirth.
Dunford leaned forward,
resting his elbows on his knees. "I'll take that bet. How
much are you willing to lose?"
"How much are you willing
to lose?"
Emma turned to John. "You
seem to have married a gambling woman."
"Had I known, you can
be sure I would have weighed my actions more carefully."
Belle gave her new husband
a playful jab in the ribs as she leveled a quelling stare
at Dunford and asked, "Well?"
"A thousand pounds."
"Done."
"Are you crazy?" John
exclaimed.
"Am I to assume that only
men can gamble?"
"Nobody makes such a fool's bet, Belle," John
said. "You've just made a wager with the man who controls the
outcome. You can only lose."
"Don't underestimate the
power of love, my dear. Although in Dunford's case, perhaps
only lust will do."
"You wound me," Dunford replied, placing his hand
dramatically over his heart for emphasis. "Assuming I am incapable
of the higher emotions."
"Aren't you?"
Dunford's lips clamped together in a thin line.
Was she right? He really had no idea. Either way, in a year's
time he'd be a thousand pounds richer. Easy money.

Chapter One
A few months later, Dunford was sitting in his
salon, taking tea with Belle. She had just stopped by to chat;
he was glad for this unexpected visit since they didn't see
quite as much of each other now that she was married.
"Are you certain that John isn't going to come
barging over here with a gun and call me out?" Dunford teased.
"He's too busy for that sort of nonsense," she
said with a smile.
"Too busy to indulge his
possessive nature? How odd."
Belle shrugged. "He trusts
you, and more importantly, he trusts me."
"A veritable paragon of virtue," Dunford said
dryly, telling himself that he was not in the least bit jealous
of his friend's marital bliss. "And how-"
A knock sounded on the
door. They looked up to see Whatmough, Dunford's unflappable
butler, standing in the
doorway. "A solicitor has arrived, sir."
Dunford raised a brow. "A
solicitor, you say. I cannot fathom why."
"He is most insistent,
sir."
"Show him in, then." Dunford
turned to Belle and gave her a what-do-you-suppose-this-could-be
shrug.
She smiled mischievously. "Intriguing."
"I'll say."
Whatmough ushered the
solicitor in. A graying man of medium stature, he looked
very excited to see Dunford. "Mr. Dunford?"
Dunford nodded.
"I cannot tell you how glad I am to have finally
located you," the solicitor said enthusiastically. He looked
at Belle with a puzzled expression. "And is this Mrs. Dunford?
I was led to believe that you were not married, sir. Oh, this
is odd. Most odd."
"I'm not married. This
is Lady Blackwood. A friend. And you are?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. Most sorry." The solicitor took
out a handkerchief and patted his brow. "I am Mr. Percival Leverett,
of Cragmont, Hopkins, Topkins, and Leverett." He leaned forward,
adding extra emphasis when he said his name. "I have very important
news for you. Most important indeed."
Dunford waved his arms
expansively. "Let's hear
it, then."
Leverett glanced over
at Belle and then back at Dunford. "Perhaps we should speak
privately, sir? Since she is not a relation."
"Of course." Dunford turned to Belle. "You
don't mind, do you?"
"Oh, not at all," she assured him, her smile saying
that she would have a thousand questions ready when they were
through. "I'll wait."
Dunford motioned toward
a door leading to his study. "Right through here, Mr. Leverett."
They left the room, and Belle was delighted to
note that they did not shut the door properly. She immediately
stood up and moved to the chair closest to the slightly open
door. She craned her neck, her ears pricking up immediately.
A mumble of voices.
More mumble.
And then, from Dunford
- "My cousin who?"
Mumble, mumble.
"From where?"
Mumble, mumble, something that sounded like Cornwall.
"How many times removed?"
No, that couldn't have been eight that she heard.
"And he left me what?"
Belle clapped her hands together. How delightful.
Dunford had just come into an unexpected inheritance. She rather
hoped it was something good. One of her friends had just unwillingly
inherited thirty-seven cats.
The rest of the conversation
was impossible to decipher. After a few minutes the two men
emerged and shook
each other's hands. Leverett shoved a few papers into his case
and said, "I'll have the rest of the documents sent over
as soon as possible. We'll need your signature, of course."
"Of course."
Leverett nodded and exited the room.
"Well?" Belle demanded.
Dunford blinked a few
times, as if he still couldn't quite believe what he'd just
heard. "I seem to have inherited
a barony."
"A barony! Goodness, I'm
not going to have to call you Lord Dunford now, am I?"
He rolled his eyes. "When
was the last time I called you Lady Blackwood?"
"Not ten minutes ago," she pointed out pertly.
"When you introduced me to Mr. Leverett."
"Touche, Belle." He sank down onto the sofa, not
even waiting for her to seat herself first. "I suppose you
may call me Lord Stannage."
"Lord Stannage," she murmured. "How perfectly
distinguished. William Dunford, Lord Stannage." She smiled devilishly.
"It is William, isn't it?"
Dunford snorted. He was
so rarely called by his first name that they had a long-running
joke that she couldn't
remember it. "I asked my mother," he finally replied. "She
said she thinks it's William."
"Who died?" Belle asked
baldly.
"Ever brimming with tact
and refinement, my dear Arabella."
"Well, you obviously cannot
be grieving overmuch over the loss of your, er, distant relative,
since you didn't
even know of his existence until now."
"A cousin. An eighth cousin,
to be exact."
"And they couldn't find anyone more closely related?"
she asked disbelievingly. "Not that I begrudge you your good
fortune, of course, but it is quite a stretch."
"We seem to be a family
of fillies."
"Nicely put," she muttered
sarcastically.
"Metaphors aside," he said, ignoring her jibe,
"I am now in possession of a title and a small estate in Cornwall."
So she had heard correctly. "Have
you ever been to Cornwall?"
"Never. Have you?"
She shook her head. "I
hear it's quite dramatic. Cliffs and crashing waves and all
that. Very uncivilized."
"How uncivilized could
it be, Belle? This is England, after all."
She shrugged. "Are you
going to go down for a visit?"
"I suppose I must." He tapped his finger against
his thigh. "Uncivilized, you say? I'll probably adore it."

"I hope he hates it here," Henrietta Barrett
said, taking a vicious bite of her apple. "I hope he really
hates it."
"Now, now, Henry," Mrs. Simpson, the housekeeper
of Stannage Park, said with a cluck. "That isn't very charitable
of you."
"I'm not feeling terribly charitable at the moment.
I've put a lot of work into Stannage Park." Henry's eyes glowed
wistfully. She had lived here in Cornwall since the age of eight,
when her parents had been killed in a carriage accident in their
home town of Manchester, leaving her orphaned and penniless.
Viola, the late baron's late wife, had been her grandmother's
cousin and graciously agreed to take her in. Henry had immediately
fallen in love with Stannage Park, from the pale stone of the
building to the shimmering windows to every last tenant who
lived on the property. The servants had even found her polishing
the silver one day. "I want everything to sparkle," she had
said. "It has to be perfect, for this is truly a perfect place."
And so Cornwall had become her home, more so
than Manchester had ever been. Viola had doted on her, and Carlyle,
her husband, became a sort of distant father figure. He didn't
spend a lot of time with her, but he always had a friendly pat
on the head ready when she passed him in the hall. When she
was fourteen, however, Viola died, and Carlyle was desolate.
He retreated into himself, letting the details of running the
estate flounder.
Henry had immediately stepped in. She loved Stannage
Park as much as anybody and had firm ideas as to how it should
be run. For the last six years she had been not only the lady
of the manor but the lord as well, universally accepted as the
person in charge. And she liked her life just fine.
But Carlyle had died, and the estate and title
had passed on to some distant cousin in London who was probably
a fop and a dandy. He'd never been to Cornwall before, she'd
heard, conveniently forgetting that she'd never been here either,
before she'd arrived twelve years ago.
"What was his name again?" Mrs. Simpson asked,
her capable hands kneading dough for bread. "Dunford. Something-or-other
Dunford," Henry said in a disgusted voice. "They didn't see
fit to inform me of his first name. Although I suppose it doesn't
matter now that he is Lord Stannage. He'll probably insist
that
we use the title. Newcomers to the aristocracy usually do."
"You talk as if you're
a member of it yourself, Henry. Don't be turning your nose
up at the gentleman."
Henry sighed and took
another bite of her apple. "He'll probably call me Henrietta."
"As well he should. You're
getting too old for Henry now."
"You call me Henry."
"I'm too old to change.
But you're not. And it's high time you lost your hoydenish
ways and found yourself a
husband."
"And do what? Move off
to England? I don't want to leave Cornwall."
Mrs. Simpson smiled and
forebore to point out that Cornwall was indeed a part of
England. Henry was so devoted
to the region that she could not think of it as belonging to
any greater whole. "There are gentlemen here in Cornwall, you
know," she pointed out. "Quite a few in the nearby villages.
You could marry one of them."
Henry scoffed. "There
is no one here worth his salt and you know it, Simpy. Besides,
no one would have me.
I haven't a shilling now that Stannage Park has gone off to
this stranger, and they all think I'm a freak."
"Of course they don't!" Mrs. Simpson replied quickly.
"Everyone looks up to you."
"I know that," Henry replied, rolling her silver-gray
eyes. "They look up to me as if I were a man, and for that
I'm grateful. But men don't want to marry other men, you know."
"Perhaps if you'd wear
a dress..."
Henry looked down at her
well-worn breeches. "I
do wear a dress. When appropriate."
"I can't imagine when that is," Mrs. Simpson snorted.
"Since I've never seen you in one. Not even at church."
"How fortunate for me
that the vicar is a most open-minded gentleman."
Simpy leveled a shrewd
gaze at the younger woman. "How fortunate for you that the
vicar is overfond of the French brandy you send over once
a month.
" Henry pretended not to hear. "I
wore a dress to Carlyle's funeral, if you recall. And to
the county ball
last year. And whenever we receive guests. I have at least
five in my closet, thank you very much. Oh, and I also wear
them
to town."
"You do not."
"Well, perhaps not to our little village, but
I do whenever I go to any other town. But anyone would agree
that they are most impractical when I'm out and about overseeing
the estate." Not to mention, Henry thought wryly, that they
all looked dreadful on her.
"Well, you'd better get
one on when Mr. Dunford arrives."
"I'm not completely daft, Simpy." Henry chucked
the apple across the kitchen into a bucket of scraps. It fell
squarely in, and she let out a whoop of pride. "Haven't missed
that bucket in months."
Mrs. Simpson shook her
head. "If only someone
would teach you how to be a girl."
"Viola tried," Henry replied cheekily. "And she
might have succeeded if she'd lived longer. But the truth is,
I like myself just fine." Most of the time, at least, she thought.
Every now and then she'd see a fine lady in a gorgeous gown
that fit her to perfection. Such women didn't have feet, Henry
decided. They had rollers - virtually gliding along. And wherever
they went, a dozen besotted men followed. Henry would wistfully
stare at this entourage, imagining them mooning after her.
Then
she laughed. That particular dream wasn't likely to come true,
and besides, she liked her life just fine, didn't she?
"Henry?" Mrs. Simpson said, leaning forward. "Henry,
I was talking to you."
"Hmmm?" Henry blinked herself out of her reverie.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I was just thinking about what to do about the
cows," she lied. "I'm not sure we've got enough room for all
of them."
"You should be thinking
about what to do when Mr. Dunford arrives. He did send word
that it would be this
afternoon, didn't he?"
"Yes, blast him."
"Henry!" Mrs. Simpson
said reprovingly.
Henry shook her head and
sighed. "If ever there
was a time for cursing, it's now, Simpy. What if he wants to
take an interest in Stannage Park? Or worse - what if he
wants
to take charge?"
"If he does, it will
be his right. He does own it, you know."
"I know, I know. More's
the pity."
Mrs. Simpson shaped the
dough into a loaf and then set it aside to rise. Wiping off
her hands, she said, "Maybe
he'll sell it. If he sold it to a local you wouldn't have anything
to worry about. Everyone knows there's nobody better to manage
Stannage Park than you."
Henry hopped down from
her perch on the counter, planted her hands on her hips,
and began to pace across the
kitchen. "He can't sell. It's entailed. If it weren't, I daresay
Carlyle would have left it to me."
"Oh. Well, then you're
just going to have to do your best to get along with Mr.
Dunford, then."
"That's Lord Stannage now," Henry groaned. "Lord
Stannage - owner of my home and decider of my future."
"Just what does that mean?"
"It means that he's my
guardian."
"What?" Mrs. Simpson dropped
her rolling pin.
"I'm his ward."
"But... but that's impossible.
You don't even know the man."
Henry shrugged. "It's
the way of the world, Simpy. Women haven't brains, you know.
We need guardians to guide us."
"I can't believe you didn't
tell me."
"I don't tell you everything,
you know."
"Just about," Mrs. Simpson
snorted.
Henry smiled sheepishly. It was true that she
and the housekeeper were much closer than one would expect.
She absently twirled her fingers around a lock of her long brown
hair, one of her few concessions to vanity. It would have been
more sensible to cut it short, but it was thick and soft, and
Henry just couldn't bear to part with it. Besides, it was her
habit to wind it around her fingers while she was thinking hard
about a problem, as she was doing now.
"Wait a minute!" she exclaimed.
"What?"
"He can't sell the place,
but that doesn't mean he has to live here."
Mrs. Simpson narrowed
her eyes. "I'm not certain
I understand your meaning, Henry."
"We just have to make
sure that he absolutely, positively doesn't want to live
here. Chances are it won't be
difficult. He's probably one of those soft London sorts. But
it certainly couldn't hurt to make him slightly, er, uncomfortable."
"What on earth are you
thinking of, Henrietta Barrett? Putting rocks in the poor
man's mattress?"
"Nothing so crude, I assure you," Henry scoffed.
"We shall show him every kindness. We shall be politeness personified.
But we shall endeavor to point out that he is not suited for
country life. He could learn to love the role of absentee landlord.
Especially if I send him quarterly profits."
"I thought you poured
the profits back into the estate."
"I do. But I'll just have
to split them in half. I'll send half to the new Lord Stannage
and reinvest half here.
I won't like doing it, but it will be better than having him
in residence."
Mrs. Simpson shook her
head. "Just what exactly
are you planning to do to him?"
Henry twirled her finger
in her hair. "I'm not
certain. I'll have to give it some thought."
Mrs. Simpson looked over
at a clock. "You'd better
think fast, because he'll be here within the hour."
Henry walked over to the
door. "I'd better wash."
"If you don't want to meet him smelling like the
great outdoors," Mrs. Simpson retorted. "And not the part with
flowers and honey, if you know what I mean."
Henry shot her a cheeky
grin. "Will you have someone
fill a bath for me?" At the housekeeper's nod, she dashed up
the back stairs. Mrs. Simpson was right. She smelled rather
unsavory. But then, what could one expect after a morning overseeing
the construction of a new pigpen? It had been messy work, but
Henry had been glad to do it. Or rather, she admitted to herself,
to supervise it. Getting knee deep in muck was not exactly
her
thing.
She stopped suddenly on the stairs, her eyes lighting
up. It was not her thing, but it was just the thing for the
new Lord Stannage. She could even bring herself to get more
actively involved in the project if it meant convincing this
Dunford fellow that this was what country lords did all the
time.
Feeling much enthused, she bounded up the rest
of the stairs to her bedroom. It would be several minutes before
the tub was filled, so she picked up her hairbrush and walked
over to the window to look out. Her hair had been pulled back
like a pony's tail, but the wind had whipped it into snarls.
She untied the ribbon; it would be easier to wash detangled.
As she pulled the brush through her hair, she
stared out over the green fields surrounding the house. The
sun was just beginning to set, tinting the sky like a peach.
Henry sighed with love. Nothing had the power to move her like
these lands.
Then, as if timed just
to spoil her perfect moment, something glinted on the horizon.
Oh, God, it wasn't-- It was
glass. Glass from a carriage window. Damn and blast - he was
early. "Stupid wretch," she muttered. "Deuced inconsiderate
of him." She glanced back over her shoulder. Her bath wasn't
ready.
Pressing closer to the window, she peered down
at the carriage that was now rolling down the drive. It was
quite elegant. Mr. Dunford must have been a man of some means
even before inheriting Stannage Park. Either that or he had
wealthy friends willing to loan him a conveyance. Henry stared
at the scene quite unabashedly, brushing her hair all the while.
Two footmen dashed out
to unload the trunks. She smiled proudly. She had this house
running like clockwork. Then
the carriage door opened. Without realizing it, she moved even
closer to the glass of her window. A booted foot emerged.
A
rather nice, manly boot, Henry observed, and she knew her boots.
Then it became apparent that the boot was attached to a leg
that was every bit as manly as its footwear. "Oh, dear," she
muttered. He wasn't going to be a weakling. Then the owner
of
the leg hopped out, and she saw him in his entirety.
She dropped her hairbrush.
"Oh, my God," she breathed.
He was beautiful. No, not beautiful, she corrected, for that
would imply some
sort of effeminate quality, and this man certainly had none
of that. He was tall, with a firmly muscled body and broad
shoulders.
His hair was thick and brown, slightly longer than was fashionable.
And his face... Henry may have been looking down at him from
fourteen feet up, but even she could see that his face was
everything
a face ought to be. His cheekbones were high, his nose straight
and strong, and his mouth finely molded with a slight wry
quality
to it. She couldn't see what color his eyes were, but she had
a sinking feeling that they would be filled with shrewd intelligence.
And he was much, much younger than she'd expected. She'd
been
hoping for someone in his fifties. This man couldn't be a day
over thirty.
Henry groaned. This was going to be much harder
than she'd anticipated. She was going to have to be very crafty
indeed to fool this one. With a sigh, she reached down for her
hairbrush and walked back to her bath.

As Dunford was quietly inspecting the front of
his new home, a movement in an upstairs window caught his eye.
The sun was glinting off the glass, but it appeared to be a
girl with long, brown hair. Before he could get a better look,
however, she'd turned and disappeared into the room. That was
odd. No servant would be standing idle by a window at this time
of day, especially with her hair unbound. He wondered briefly
who she was, then let the thought drift from his mind. He'd
have time enough to find out about her. Right now he had more
important things to attend to.
The entire staff of Stannage Park had assembled
in front of the house for his inspection. There were about two
dozen altogether - a small number by ton standards, but then
again Stannage Park was a fairly modest home for a peer of the
realm. The butler, a thin man named Yates, was taking great
pains to make the process as formal as possible. Dunford tried
to humor him by adopting a slightly austere manner; it seemed
to be what the servants expected of the new lord of the manor.
It was hard to suppress a smile, however, as maid after maid
bobbed a curtsy in his honor. He had never expected a title,
never expected lands of his own or a household to go with it.
His father had been a younger son of a younger son; God only
knew how many Dunfords had had to die to put him in line for
this inheritance.
After the last maid had
bobbed up and down, Dunford returned his attention to the
butler. "You run an excellent
house, Yates, if this introduction is any indication."
Yates, who had never acquired
the stone-faced facade that was a prerequisite among London
butlers, flushed
with pleasure. "Thank you, my lord. We do try as hard as we
can, but it's Henry we'd have to thank."
Dunford raised a brow. "Henry?"
Yates gulped. He should
have called her Miss Barrett. That's what the new Lord Stannage
would expect, him being from
London and all that. And he was Henry's new guardian, wasn't
he? Mrs. Simpson had pulled him aside and whispered that
particular
tidbit in his ear not ten minutes ago. "Umm, Henry is..." His
voice trailed off. It was so hard to think of her as anything
but Henry. "That is to say..."
But Dunford's attention had already been captured
by Mrs. Simpson, who was assuring him that she had been at Stannage
Park for over twenty years and knew everything about the estate,
well, at least about the house, and if he needed anything...
Dunford blinked as he tried to focus on the housekeeper's
words. Dimly he sensed that she was nervous. That was probably
why she was rattling on like a... like a something. What exactly
he didn't know, and what was she saying? A flash of movement
in the stables caught his eye and he allowed his gaze to wander
in that direction. He waited a moment. Oh, well, he must have
imagined it. He turned back to the housekeeper. She was saying
something about Henry. Who was Henry? The question formed on
his tongue and would have rolled off his lips if a giant pig
hadn't suddenly exploded out through the partially open door
of the stables.
"Holy, bloody..." Dunford
breathed, unable to complete his curse. He was mesmerized
by the sheer ludicrousness
of the situation. The creature was hurtling across the lawn
moving faster than any pig had a right to. It was an enormous
porcine beast - surely that was all one could call it - this
was no ordinary swine. Dunford had no doubt it would feed
half
the ton if taken to a proper butcher.
The pig reached the assembly of servants, and
the maids shrieked, running in every possible direction. The
pig, stunned by the sudden movement, stopped, raised its snout,
and let out a hellish squeal. And then another, and another,
and...
"Will you shut up!" Dunford
commanded.
The pig, sensing authority, didn't just shut up
- it actually laid down.
Henry did a double-take, impressed in spite of
herself. She had dashed downstairs the minute she saw the pig
emerge from the stables and had arrived in the front drive just
as the new Lord Stannage was trying out his new lordly imperiousness
on barnyard animals.
She ran forward, forgetting that she hadn't managed
to take that bath she knew she needed, forgetting that she was
still garbed in boys' clothes. Dirty boys' clothes.
"So sorry, my lord," she
muttered, offering him a tight smile before leaning down
and grabbing the pig's collar.
She probably shouldn't have interfered, should have let the
pig get bored of sitting on the ground, should have laughed
when it came forward and did unspeakable things to the new
Lord
Stannage's boots. But she took far too much pride in Stannage
Park not to try to salvage the disaster in some way. There
was
nothing in the world that meant as much to her as this smoothly
running estate, and she couldn't bear that someone might
think
that free-roaming pigs were a common occurrence, even if that
someone was a London lord of whom she heartily wanted to
be
rid.
A farmhand ran up, took
the pig from her, and led it back to the stables. Henry straightened,
suddenly aware
of the way every last servant was gaping at her, and wiped
her hands on her breeches. She glanced over at the darklyhandsome
man standing across from her. "How do you do, Lord Stannage?" she
said, curving her lips into a welcoming smile. After all,
there was no need for him to realize that she was trying
to
scare him away.
"How do you do, Miss,
er..."
Henry's eyes narrowed.
He didn't realize who she was? No doubt he'd been expecting
his ward to be a trifle younger,
a pampered and spoiled young miss who never ventured out of
doors, much less ran an entire estate. "Miss Henrietta Barrett,"
she said in a tone that said that she expected him to recognize
the name. "But you can just call me Henry. Everybody does."