Read Online Breaking the Rules by Sandra Heath - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Sandra Heath
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you,” he replied.
The retort angered her. “The woods happen to belong to Elcester Manor,” she reminded him.
“I know, Miss Elcester, but I thought you had more sense than to come here when it’s so dangerous. It’s as well I saw you, for who knows what might have happened,”
“There was a lantern ...” she began, then glanced back along the path where she had seen the gentleman.
“Yousaw it too? I wondered if someone in the village was helping the escaped prisoner. I came down to investigate, and then saw you. You really shouldn’t be here, miss, a young lady alone ... ”
She didn’t believe him; in fact she was sure he had been the person with the lantern. She couldn’t prove it, of course, but his use of the phrase ‘I am your Master’ was surely too great a coincidence. Nor could he be alone, for there had been a number of voices chanting. She wanted to challenge him, to confront him with her suspicions, but that would hardly be wise. No one at the manor knew she was anywhere but in her bed, and as he had pointed out, she was a young woman alone.
He gave her another of his facile smiles. “I will escort you safely home. Miss Elcester.”
“I am quite capable of finding my own way back.”
“I do not doubt it, but I feel it is my duty as a man of honor to see that you return unharmed.”
“Mr. Taynton—
“I insist, Miss Elcester,” he broke in, quietly but firmly.
She did not argue further, and without a word began to retrace her steps toward the manor. She hurried, obliging him to quicken his gait to keep up with her, and she was very glad indeed when they emerged from the woods. The eastern sky was lightening by the minute now, and the mist was beginning to lift. All the birds began to sing, and then a cockerel crowed at the Green Man; normal enough sounds, but this morning they unsettled her more than ever. Taynton’s close proximity made it worse. How Vera could have gone to live with him Ursula still could not imagine. Young, handsome, and eligible he might be, but he was also very strange, and not a little frightening.
They reached the door in the rose garden wall, and she hoped he would leave her there, but to her dismay he insisted on accompanying her right up to the house, where her disappearance had somehow been discovered.
Her father was in a great alarm, and a search party was being formed to look for her, so her sudden return with the innkeeper caused much relief all around. Relieved or not, Mr. Elcester wasn’t at all pleased with his disobedient daughter, whom he banished to her room without further ado. He didn’t care how many lanterns she had seen; she should have informed him, not gone to the woods on her own, especially when she had been expressly forbidden to do so. Taynton, on the other hand, was a grand fellow who received warm thanks for finding her and bringing her home. As Ursula left to go upstairs, she heard her father repeat his invitation to Taynton to assist in the locating of the lost villa.
She paused to look back, a dark expression in her eyes. Bellamy Taynton was up to no good, and after this she regarded it as her bounden duly to find out what it was. And she was going to seize the first opportunity to release his imprisoned squirrel from its cage!
* * * *
Earlier, as Ursula first entered the woods at Elcester, Conan was asleep in his London town house. His blue-and-white bedroom was furnished in classical style, and the curtains were tightly drawn to shut out the lamps of Bruton Street. The bells of the capital struck the hour, but he didn’t hear them. He was dreaming of being lost in a strange misty wood, his senses were stirred by the scent of flowers. He was holding the mysterious ribbon in his hand while he searched for the young woman, so beloved to him, who had left it on the St. James’s Square railing. He could see her on the path ahead, and went forward gladly to return the ribbon, but she didn’t take it. Hurt, he turned to walk
The retort angered her. “The woods happen to belong to Elcester Manor,” she reminded him.
“I know, Miss Elcester, but I thought you had more sense than to come here when it’s so dangerous. It’s as well I saw you, for who knows what might have happened,”
“There was a lantern ...” she began, then glanced back along the path where she had seen the gentleman.
“Yousaw it too? I wondered if someone in the village was helping the escaped prisoner. I came down to investigate, and then saw you. You really shouldn’t be here, miss, a young lady alone ... ”
She didn’t believe him; in fact she was sure he had been the person with the lantern. She couldn’t prove it, of course, but his use of the phrase ‘I am your Master’ was surely too great a coincidence. Nor could he be alone, for there had been a number of voices chanting. She wanted to challenge him, to confront him with her suspicions, but that would hardly be wise. No one at the manor knew she was anywhere but in her bed, and as he had pointed out, she was a young woman alone.
He gave her another of his facile smiles. “I will escort you safely home. Miss Elcester.”
“I am quite capable of finding my own way back.”
“I do not doubt it, but I feel it is my duty as a man of honor to see that you return unharmed.”
“Mr. Taynton—
“I insist, Miss Elcester,” he broke in, quietly but firmly.
She did not argue further, and without a word began to retrace her steps toward the manor. She hurried, obliging him to quicken his gait to keep up with her, and she was very glad indeed when they emerged from the woods. The eastern sky was lightening by the minute now, and the mist was beginning to lift. All the birds began to sing, and then a cockerel crowed at the Green Man; normal enough sounds, but this morning they unsettled her more than ever. Taynton’s close proximity made it worse. How Vera could have gone to live with him Ursula still could not imagine. Young, handsome, and eligible he might be, but he was also very strange, and not a little frightening.
They reached the door in the rose garden wall, and she hoped he would leave her there, but to her dismay he insisted on accompanying her right up to the house, where her disappearance had somehow been discovered.
Her father was in a great alarm, and a search party was being formed to look for her, so her sudden return with the innkeeper caused much relief all around. Relieved or not, Mr. Elcester wasn’t at all pleased with his disobedient daughter, whom he banished to her room without further ado. He didn’t care how many lanterns she had seen; she should have informed him, not gone to the woods on her own, especially when she had been expressly forbidden to do so. Taynton, on the other hand, was a grand fellow who received warm thanks for finding her and bringing her home. As Ursula left to go upstairs, she heard her father repeat his invitation to Taynton to assist in the locating of the lost villa.
She paused to look back, a dark expression in her eyes. Bellamy Taynton was up to no good, and after this she regarded it as her bounden duly to find out what it was. And she was going to seize the first opportunity to release his imprisoned squirrel from its cage!
* * * *
Earlier, as Ursula first entered the woods at Elcester, Conan was asleep in his London town house. His blue-and-white bedroom was furnished in classical style, and the curtains were tightly drawn to shut out the lamps of Bruton Street. The bells of the capital struck the hour, but he didn’t hear them. He was dreaming of being lost in a strange misty wood, his senses were stirred by the scent of flowers. He was holding the mysterious ribbon in his hand while he searched for the young woman, so beloved to him, who had left it on the St. James’s Square railing. He could see her on the path ahead, and went forward gladly to return the ribbon, but she didn’t take it. Hurt, he turned to walk
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