The Fleeing Heiress: A funny flight into love. (3 page)

“No, I imagine it is rather difficult to manage an abduction and elopement even without the addition of the lady’s maid,” said Cardiff dryly.

Thea’s eyes twinkled. “Oh, indeed, my lord. Mr. Quarles
had never heard such blistering denouncements as my good
Hitchins laid upon him. And I was not behind in my own re
criminations.”

Cardiff laughed, easily imagining the scene. “I have little
doubt that he began to feel regret for his scheme from that
moment.

The door opened and the innkeeper entered, followed by
a waiter carrying a tray. “My compliments to the lady,
m’lord, and I have brought just what I thought might appeal.
A fresh pot of tea with a bit of cold mutton and bread, a bowl
of barley soup and one of the missus’s dried-apple tarts.”

Cardiff glanced inquiringly at his companion. “Miss Stafford?”

She nodded, saying with a smile, “It sounds heavenly.
Thank you!”

The innkeeper directed the waiter to set out Miss
Stafford’s supper, but himself poured the tea, stirring in the
amounts of cream and sugar requested by the lady.

“Is that little matter concerning a certain unpleasant
gentleman taken care of, mine host?” asked Cardiff idly. He
swirled the wine in his glass as though his query was of a
matter of only the most casual interest to him.

The innkeeper gave a grim smile. “Indeed, m’lord. We’ve
a few bruises amongst us, for the gentleman did not take kindly to the notion of travel this late in the day. How
somever, he was persuaded that the inn in the next village
would be more to his liking.”

“Well done. Miss Stafford will naturally require a decent
girl to see to her needs and stay with her tonight in her bed
chamber,” said Cardiff, nodding in the direction of the
rooms across the hall.

Comprehension lit the innkeeper’s expression. He bowed
deeply, approving of his lordship’s foresight. “Aye, m’lord. I shall see to it.”

When the innkeeper and waiter had withdrawn, Thea
calmly set about consuming her dinner and drinking her tea.
She felt no nervousness at partaking of an unchaperoned
dinner. Thea had not the least apprehension that Lord
Cardiff would suddenly materialize into a ravening beast in
the privacy of the parlor. His lordship had already proven
himself to her to be the perfect gentleman. After all, he had
rescued her from just such fearsome company less than an hour past.

“I do not wish to pry, but I am still a bit curious, Miss Stafford,” said Cardiff. “If Mr. Quarles is betrothed to your sister, how comes it that he eloped with you? Has he
tendre
for you, perhaps?”

“Certainly not!” Miss Stafford spoke quickly, emphati
cally. She gave a doleful sigh. “It is really most lowering,
my lord. Mr. Quarles informed me that he has financial em
barrassments that are becoming pressing. He seized upon marriage to me as a way to stave off immediate disaster.”

“I do not perfectly understand,” said Cardiff, his brows
contracting slightly. “Does not your sister have a dowry?”

“Oh, yes, as do I. But now circumstances are somewhat
changed,” said Thea with another sigh. “You see, my god
mother died eleven months ago and left me a small fortune.
I am in the melancholy position of being an heiress, Lord Cardiff.”

“Are you? Well, I can certainly understand how depressing it would be to find oneself in such a deplorable circum
stance,” said Cardiff, tongue in cheek but speaking perfectly gravely. “But one must accustom oneself to the disagreeable
reality, after all.”

Thea burst out laughing. Her eyes danced. “Oh, I did not
mean it
that
way! Of course I am glad that my godmother
left me an heiress. But it has made it all very awkward, has
it not? After all, Mr. Quarles would never have conceived of
such a ridiculous plot otherwise.” A sobering thought oc
curred to her, and she caught her underlip between her white teeth in a worried fashion. “Whatever am I to say to my sister Tabitha?”

“I scarcely think that you shall be blamed for this con
tretemps, Miss Stafford,” said Cardiff, rather amused.

Thea solemnly regarded him for a moment. Then, with a
small laugh, she said, “Perhaps you are right, my lord. I shall
hope so, at all events.”

The parlor door opened and Lord Cardiff’s valet entered,
soft-footed as always. Not for the first time, Cardiff mar
veled at his manservant’s capability to enter or leave a room so unobtrusively.

“Ah, Potter! Allow me to present Miss Stafford. I was
able to render her a small service, and in return she con
sented to take her supper with me,” said Cardiff mildly. His
gleaming eyes quizzed his manservant.

The valet made a respectful bow to the lady, but ad
dressed his lordship. “So I was given to understand below-stairs, my lord,” he said with a small smile. “The innkeeper
sends a message by me that a suitable abigail has been found
for Miss Stafford and has been sent up to the lady’s bed
chamber.”

“Then I should say good night and retire now, my lord,”
said Thea, laying aside her napkin and rising at once from
the table. She held out her hand. Very seriously, she said, “I
must thank you again, my lord.”

Lord Cardiff rose with her. He stepped around the corner
of the table to clasp her extended hand. “I was only too
happy to exert myself on your behalf, Miss Stafford. In the
morning, we shall put our heads together over breakfast and
decide what is best to be done. I assume that your absence
will have been some cause for alarm by now?”

“Undoubtedly, my lord. My good Hitchins would have made her way back home before nightfall, and my father is
not one to let things arrange themselves through indecision,”
said Thea with an odd smile.

“I trust that your mother will not be thrown into too much
anxiety before you reach home again,” said Cardiff politely.

“My mother died some years ago, my lord.”

“I am sorry.”

“It was a long time ago, my lord. I do not regard it any
longer.”

As they were talking, Cardiff had escorted her to the parlor door and opened it for her. “Then we must rely upon Mr.
Stafford. Perhaps all that will be required will be a short
wait for your parent to arrive.”

Thea realized what his lordship was proposing and in
stantly she demurred. “Oh, there is not the least need for you
to set out late on your own journey tomorrow on my ac
count!”

“I would consider it strange, indeed, if I should leave you
alone and without protection in this hostel, Miss Stafford.
What if Mr. Quarles should take it into his head to double
back here in the morning, in hopes of discovering you still
here and without protection?” said Cardiff.

It was apparent that Miss Stafford had not considered that
possibility. She glanced up and down the hallway in faint
alarm, almost as though she expected the unwanted gentle
man to suddenly materialize out of the shadows.

Thea looked up at Lord Cardiff and nodded. “Very well,
my lord. I admit that I should be grateful for your continued
protection until my father catches up with me.”

Satisfied, Cardiff lifted her slender hand to his lips.
“Good night, Miss Stafford.”

“Good night, my lord.”

He watched her safely enter her own door before turning
back into his own apartment. As Cardiff closed the door, the
valet, who had silently effaced himself after delivering the innkeeper’s message, reappeared from the bedroom.

“I heard a tale belowstairs that the gentleman who ab
ducted the young lady was laid out senseless on the carpet, my lord,” said the valet, wooden-faced. “I trust you took no
hurt, my lord?”

Cardiff made a pretense of covering a yawn. The effect
was somewhat spoiled when he flinched slightly from the sharp stab of pain in his shoulder as he lifted his arm. With
a resigned sigh, he said, “All right, Potter. I admit it. I shall
need you to help me out of my coat, after all.”

Immediately the valet came forward, eyeing his lordship somewhat anxiously. “The shoulder, my lord?”

“It hurts like hell,” said Cardiff frankly, grimacing. “But it was a beautiful body blow, Potter. I don’t in the least re
gret it.”

“No, my lord, of course not.” The valet solicitously eased
off the well-cut, tight-fitting coat.

Cardiff turned and narrowed a hard stare on his man
servant. “And I do not need to be coddled, Potter.”

“Of course not, my lord.”

The next morning Miss Stafford joined Lord Cardiff in his private parlor for breakfast. She had made the best she
could of her appearance, having put back on her walking dress after some of the wrinkles had been shaken out. The
chambermaid provided by the innkeeper was not an experi
enced lady’s maid, but she had found a comb and drawn it
through Miss Stafford’s hair before pinning it up very cred
ibly.

Despite all of her intentions otherwise, Thea greeted
Lord Cardiff with some restraint. They had come to be on
rather easy terms the evening before, due to the unusual cir
cumstances of their meeting, but a night’s reflection had
pointed up to her all the embarrassment of her present situation. She was naturally grateful for Lord Cardiff’s intervention in what had been a very ugly and frightening scene. However, Thea’s original realization that he was obviously
someone of importance had begun to loom large in her
thoughts, and she was persuaded that her affairs were a nui
sance to him. Despite his polite demeanor, Lord Cardiff
could not be pleased that she was still hanging on his sleeve,
as it were.

Something of the disturbance of her thoughts must have
been reflected in Thea’s manner because once the waiter had
retired, Cardiff smiled at her across the table and said, “You
need not be anxious, Miss Stafford. I shall endeavor to see
you properly restored to the bosom of your family.”

“That is not precisely the root of my anxiety, my lord,”
said Thea with characteristic frankness. “While I do appre
ciate your intention, as well as your protection, I do not wish to burden you any longer with my troubles. I realize that you
must have pressing appointments and—“

“My appointments will keep for a day or
two,” said Cardiff cheerfully. “As I told you, I am enjoying wounded leave.”

“But what of your business in London?” asked Thea.

“Ah, there is that, of course.” A curious glint came into his lordship’s eyes, accompanied by a slight smile.

Thea suddenly gathered the impression that he was look
ing beyond her, recalling something of the recent past with
satisfaction. The expression was as quickly gone, as Lord Cardiff focused his full attention on her again.

“Before I left my friends, I had the presence of mind to
send a note ahead to London of my arrival. It will suffice to
satisfy for a short time, so therefore I do not think a few
hours’ delay of my journey will matter overmuch. There is
no one who will greatly miss me,” said Cardiff in an easy
voice.

Thea busied herself with putting marmalade on a piece of
toast so that she did not have to meet his lordship’s eyes.
Thea did not quite believe that a gentleman of Lord
Cardiff’s obvious quality would not be missed, but she hes
itated to say so. It was an awkward assertion to make, after
all. She did not believe she was well enough acquainted with
Lord Cardiff to make such a personal observation. It would
almost make her sound as though she was toadeating him
and that was repugnant to her. She did not know why, but it was of importance to her that Lord Cardiff think well of her.

“However, I assume it is quite otherwise with you, Miss
Stafford. You indicated that your maid would have returned
at once to your home. We may be confident, then, that your
father must even now be on his way,” suggested Cardiff.

“Indeed, that is quite true, my lord. I only hope Hitchins
was able to convince my father earlier rather than later of the
truth of her story,” said Thea calmly.

“Is your maid given to odd flights of fancy, Miss
Stafford?” asked Cardiff curiously.

“Of course not. It is just that—” Miss Stafford raised a
suddenly rueful gaze. “My father is unimaginative, my lord.
It is difficult at times to persuade him to accept an opinion
or notion that is foreign to him.”

“I see! Then you are anxious that your father may have
been reluctant to believe what your maid had to relate to
him,” said Cardiff.

“My father’s skull is hard enough to withstand a hammer blow,” said Thea frankly.

Cardiff cocked an intelligent eyebrow. “Pigheaded, is
he? I have served with an officer or two who were afflicted
with the same complaint. They were very difficult to deal
with.”

Thea laughed, even as color rose into her face. “I
shouldn’t like to go so far as to call Papa
pigheaded.
He is difficult, of course, and—and obstinate. But he loves us all
dearly and I know he would do anything in his power for
us.”

Cardiff tactfully left off teasing Miss Stafford about her father’s intractable personality. “You are naturally referring
to yourself and your sister?”

“And my two brothers,” said Thea, nodding. She hesi
tated as though just struck by a thought, before adding, “My
brothers favor my father in their—their mannerisms. They are also ... obstinate. Quite truthfully, it has occurred to me
to wonder at times whether they were dropped on their
heads at birth.”

Miss Stafford’s pensive expression was such that Cardiff
started to laugh. He covered his lapse in good manners at
once with a feigned cough. “Indeed?” he asked politely.

Thea chortled, unable to keep back her own amusement.
She regarded her companion with mock severity. “Lord
Cardiff, I have the most lowering presentiment that it would be best if you did not meet any member of my family. I have
painted you the worst possible picture of them.”

Cardiff laughed in earnest then. “Never fear, Miss
Stafford! I am not one to form prejudices based on another’s
spleen.”

“That was remarkably unhandsome of you, my lord,”
said Thea with complete cordiality.

“I know it, but I could scarce resist when you had set the
stage so beautifully,” said Cardiff apologetically.

“Quite true! I have maligned my poor relations most
shamefully. And what of you, my lord? Have you also rela
tions who cause you frustration and lead you to mortify yourself before complete strangers?” asked Thea brightly.

Cardiff laughed again.

His lordship’s mirth was cut short when the parlor door
was thrust open with such force that it slammed against the
wall behind it,

Cardiff leaped to his feet, surprised and angered by the
rude intrusion. In an instant it flashed across his mind that
Mr. Quarles had returned with blood in his eyes, as the saying went, but it was a stranger who stood on the threshold
with his stolid feet planted wide.

“Well! This is a pretty state of affairs, upon my word! A private tête-à-tête!” exclaimed the stocky gentleman, his ex
pression wrathful. His high-colored countenance and his
dress proclaimed him to be an aging country squire. Behind
him, glaring over his broad shoulders, were two ruddy-
faced, burly young gentlemen.

With Miss Stafford’s colorful descriptions of her family
so fresh to memory, Cardiff’s facile mind at once discerned the identity of the intruders. He tossed aside his napkin and in a leisurely fashion stepped away from the table. “Good
morning, sir,” he said affably. “I assume that I address Mr.
Stafford?”

“You do!” Mr. Stafford eyed him warily. “And who
might you be, sirruh?”

Thea had jumped nearly out of her skin with the slam
ming open of the door. Now she also leaped up from her
chair. “Papa!” she gasped, her face lighting up.

“Yes, it is I! You need not look so amazed, my girl. Did
you think I would not follow after you to save your honor?”
asked Mr. Stafford, stalking into the parlor. He was followed
by the two young men, both of whom wore identical ex
pressions of belligerence.

“Let me have him, Papa. I shall know what to do with
him,” said one young man, doubling up an impressive fist.

“No! I am the eldest. By rights, I should have him first,” exclaimed the other swiftly.

The two young men glared at one another.

“The two brothers who favor their sire,” murmured
Cardiff in a wicked aside to Miss Stafford.

Thea threw Lord Cardiff a glance of mingled ruefulness
and reproach. She whispered, “That is ungallant of you, my
lord!”

Cardiff sketched a bow, his eyes gleaming at her. “I am
abashed, ma’am.”

“That I very much doubt,” retorted Thea. She had in
stinctively responded to Lord Cardiff’s laughing gaze and
she marveled at herself. She was not so used to male com
pany that such repartee should have been comfortable to her,
but so it was in Lord Cardiff’s presence.

Mr. Stafford had been listening with but half an ear to the badinage between his daughter and the unknown gentleman.
He looked purposefully around the empty parlor before settling his gaze on his daughter’s companion. His frown deep
ened.

“But this is not Quarles! I was given to understand that it was Quarles who had made off with you, Thea,” said Mr.
Stafford, looking Lord Cardiff up and down with a great
deal of suspicion and affront.

“So it was, Papa,” said Thea equitably. She gestured to
wards Lord Cardiff with a quick smile. “This is Lord
Cardiff, who most kindly rescued me from Mr. Quarles’s un
welcome attentions. My lord, may I present to you my fa
ther.”

Cardiff nodded in a polite fashion. “I am glad to make your acquaintance, Mr. Stafford.”

Mr. Stafford returned an automatic bow and grunted acknowledgement of the introduction. However, it was appar
ent his mind was preoccupied by other matters than the
social niceties. “But where is Quarles? I do not understand, Thea. Your maid Hitchins insisted that it was Quarles who abducted you.”

“Indeed, it was Mr. Quarles who abducted me, Papa,”
said Thea with admirable patience. “I just told you what
happened. Lord Cardiff saved me from Mr. Quarles. His
lordship hit Mr. Quarles and— ”

“Where is the blackguard? Come out, Quarles! I know
you must be here! Come out, I say!” bellowed Mr. Stafford,
glaring red-faced around the parlor. He turned on his sons.
“Search for him, dolts!”

“But Papa, Mr. Quarles is not here,” said Thea. “If you would only listen to me for a moment—”

“Of course he is here! And we shall find him! Never
fear!” snapped Mr. Stafford.

One of the two young men bent to peer under the table. The other twitched aside the long curtains and leaped back,
fists raised, only to look disappointed when no cringing ab
ductor was revealed.

“Quarles is not here, Papa,” reported one young man, and
the other nodded.

“I don’t understand. Where is he, then?” asked Mr.
Stafford irascibly.

“Papa, pray attend to me! Lord Cardiff saved me.”

“Am I not to be presented to the brothers?” asked Cardiff,
enjoying the ludicrousness of the situation. He had already taken measure of the outraged father and that, coupled with
Miss Stafford’s precious description of her relations, had aroused his sense of humor, which was never far from the
surface.

Thea shot a glance of reproach at Lord Cardiff. It was re
ally too bad of his lordship to interject when she was in the midst of an explanation to her parent. However, she saw at once that his lordship was deriving huge amusement at her
expense and supposed that she had only herself to blame.
After all, she had just moments before blithely characterized
her father and brothers for Lord Cardiff.

“Philip and Thomas, Lord Cardiff,” said Thea rapidly. She took note that Lord Cardiff made a solemn bow to her
brothers, who just as solemnly returned the courtesy. A bub
ble of laughter threatened to overcome her, but she sternly repressed it as she turned back to her father. “As I was say
ing, Papa –”

Mr. Stafford forestalled her by throwing up a wide palm.
“You’ve said nothing to the purpose,” he said irascibly. “Ei
ther Quarles abducted you or he didn’t. And if he did, he should be here.”