Read Online Courting Lord Dorney by Sally James - Free Book Online Page B

demanded.
    ‘I should have told you before that I was in the yard at that inn and saw your very successful routing of those louts.’
    Bella felt her cheeks grow warm. ‘Oh, did you?’ was all she could manage. ‘But why do you need to apologize?’
    ‘I’m not sure. I suppose I feel I ought to have told you that I’d seen you before, even though we had not met. That was one reason I had for asking Mrs Eversley to introduce us. I wanted to meet a young lady who owned a pistol and could face down those rogues.’
    ‘I don’t normally use it to threaten people,’ Bella said in a small, hesitant voice.
    He laughed. ‘I’m sure you don’t! You have other weapons for routing people who offend you.’
    She frowned. ‘What do you mean? I don’t understand.’
    ‘Taking action to save a stray dog? Dandy Ledsham and his poodle. Not many young ladies would have acted with such promptness and decision.’
    ‘Well, could you have watched this poor little dog being savaged by that ugly, overfed beast? I’m sure if you’d been nearer you’d have done the same.’
    She stooped to stroke the dog, and Rags licked her hand with enthusiasm, then turned his attention towards a much larger dog which had approached within sniffing distance. He growled, and Bella spoke calmly to him. Rags looked up at her as if to ask permission to attack, then seemed to shrug and turn his shoulder to the intruder, who was called away by his owner.
    Lord Dorney grinned. First Ledsham and his poodle, then Mr Kershaw and his manufactories.’
    Bella blushed. ‘You must think me very quarrelsome. But I know how badly those children are treated! I could not endure him saying such things, believing that the people were adequately housed, better off than before!’
    ‘Perhaps you are a little impetuous, but always in good causes. I admire you for it. What did you do with the child?’
    ‘What child?’
    ‘The mill boy you rescued. How did you become involved with him?’
    Guiltily Bella recalled what she had said the previous night.
    ‘I just found him, he was running away,’ she said briefly.
    ‘What did you do with him?’
    ‘I took him to - to Preston,’ she said. ‘He’s being looked after by - by a kind couple, some people I know.’
    How nearly she’d given the game away, mentioning her home, and the house she’d bought in Preston, she thought in horror. Deception was not easy.
    Lord Dorney didn’t appear to have noticed her evasiveness.
    ‘Do you mean to ride while you’re in Bath?’ he asked, and Bella explained they intended to buy or hire suitable mounts as soon as they could find the time to do so.
    ‘I ride a great deal at home,’ she said enthusiastically. ‘But here I suppose we mayn’t ride out without a groom.’
    ‘I would be happy to escort you both,’ he offered, and Bella hugged herself secretly. It really did look as though he was interested in her.
    * * * *
    Within a week the rest of Bath began to think the same, and wonder volubly at the number of times Lord Dorney could be seen at Lady Hodder’s house, riding or driving with the ladies, escorting them to balls and concerts, and behaving like an infatuated youth.
    Jane was equally incredulous.
    ‘I simply don’t understand it,’ she said one morning as they drank tea and ate wafer-thin slices of bread and butter, before preparing for yet another ride accompanied by Lord Dorney. ‘Mrs Vaughan was saying last night he has somewhat of a reputation as a reserved man, never more than ordinarily friendly towards girls. I can’t imagine what Mrs Eversley could have meant by saying he had a reputation. It certainly can’t be for trifling with their affections. She says the girls, and their Mamas, pursue him relentlessly, but the moment it appears a girl is becoming fond of him he behaves with cold reserve and virtually ignores her in order to deter them. Not that it does, of course,’ she added with a grin.
    ‘Do you listen to gossip?’ Bella asked