Free Intriguing Lady by Leonora Blythe

let myself be persuaded to help him, and feel that I cannot apologize to you sufficiently for not heeding your initial advice.”
    “But what happened? You both seemed at ease with each other over dinner last night. Indeed, I was quite charmed by his exceedingly gracious manner myself, and revised my earlier opinion of him, despite the circumstances that necessitated his escape from France.”
    “I have nothing further to say on that particular topic, Ashley, until I have spoken to my uncle,” Roberta replied firmly. “Unfortunately, Perkins, Uncle’s new secretary, has informed me he will be out of town until next week.”
    Mrs. Ashley sighed unhappily. She knew better than to argue. Roberta sighed as well, but hers was one of frustration. She had simply not expected that Lord Bromley would be anywhere but London, and when she had learned he was in the north of England, she had vented the exasperation she had felt on the unfortunate Mr. Perkins. Now there was nothing left for her to do but while away the days until he returned, and hope that Sir Nicholas would not vanish in the meantime.
    She paid scant attention to Mrs. Ashley as she sipped the hot tea, for she was caught up in forming a plan that would enable her to keep an eye on Sir Nicholas. There had to be a way that would not arouse his suspicions.
    “Dear Ashley, what a bore I am,” she exclaimed when she realized her companion had been talking. “Here I am, rapt in my own maudlin reflections and not paying the slightest heed to what you are saying. Forgive me, please.”
    “Think nothing of it, Roberta. I was merely reproaching myself for not showing a greater understanding of your mood. You must be in a turmoil about meeting Mr. Davenport again.” She broke off, as if afraid she had said too much.
    Roberta, startled by this deduction, averted her gaze. Two days ago she would have agreed, but now she had something far more worrisome with which to concern herself. She looked out of the window and absentmindedly watched the wind ripple the leaves of the weeping pear tree.
    “It will not be easy,” she conceded. “People are bound to gossip, but… ” She paused as the final solution to her dilemma, how to keep Sir Nicholas at her side, came to her.
    “Yes?” Mrs. Ashley asked impatiently.
    “I don’t want to shock you by the forwardness of my suggestion, but I thought to enlist Sir Nicholas’s aid. In a way, you could say I would be asking him to repay the debt he owes us.”
    “Whatever do you have in mind?”
    “I’m going to ask him if he will squire me about Town. Just until I’m settled in Society, you understand. But you must see that if it appears I have a beau dangling after me, any gossip attendant to my past association with Stephen will be short-lived.” Roberta could see that her idea both appalled and intrigued Mrs. Ashley, and she pressed her advantage. “I didn’t tell you before, for fear of upsetting you, but I met the comte on the boat, and he was the man at the inn last night. He intimated then that he would try to see me in London.”
    “Oh, Lordy me!” Mrs. Ashley moaned. “How perfectly horrendous. Why on earth did Lord Bromley have to choose this week to absent himself?”
    “Then do you agree with me that if Sir Nicholas will consent to my scheme, he will provide the perfect, double-edged protection we need until my uncle returns?”
    Mrs. Ashley nodded. “I will send him a card immediately, asking him to call on me first thing in the morning. Do we know where he is staying? No matter,” she continued, all aflutter in the wake of Roberta’s disclosure. “Williams will know, for he took him home after he delivered us safely.”
    Roberta smiled sweetly. She was happy to let Mrs. Ashley take charge. Somehow she knew her preposterous suggestion would not seem so outrageous to Sir Nicholas if it were put forward by someone else. Also, she was of the opinion that Sir Nicholas would find a way to refuse her request,