Free By Love Undone by Suzanne Enoch

more overly formal black attire, and even had a comment ready for it. She had not expecteda simple gray day jacket and buckskin breeches tucked into his mud-dimmed Hessian boots, nor the amused smile that warmed his face as he took the seat next to her.
    “‘Faith in….’” he prompted.
    “The nobility,” she finished.
    He lifted an eyebrow as he accepted the reins from Walter. “That surprises me.”
    “And why is that?”
    He snapped the reins, and the matching bays took off at a smart trot. “I have sensed a slight criticism in your tone from time to time.”
    “You are quite mistaken, my lord,” she returned quickly, putting a shocked expression on her face. “I would never dream of such a thing, my lord, I assure you! Who am I to criticize the Marquis of Warefield?”
    “Yes, Miss Willits, who are you?”
    At first she thought he was agreeing with her faux humility, and opened her mouth to make an equally cutting remark. When she glared at him, though, his expression showed nothing but curiosity. “I am your uncle’s companion,” she said, amending the extremely insulting comment she’d been about to make.
    “Yes, for four years, because you applied for the position. But what did you do before that?”
    Maddie could only stare at him, disconcerted. “You remembered….”
    “You do make something of an impression, you know,” he returned dryly.
    She swallowed, all of the insinuations and insults she’d planned for the ride vanishing in an instant. Blast him and his compliments. She neither needed nor wanted them. Maddie shook herself. She did know what to do with them: counterattack—immediately, before he realized he’d scored a hit. “Why do you bother with flattering me?”
    “Is it flattery to ask a question?”
    “It is flattery to feign interest for the sake of politeness, my lord.”
    “Ah,” he nodded. “Then I am merely being polite?”
    “Yes, of course.”
    “I see.”
    He made no other comment, and she dared to hope that she’d completely confused him with her dazzling logic. Pointedly ignoring him, she made a show of admiring the various wildflowers coming into bloom along the side of the road, and the robins and swallows building nests in the budding trees.
    “You didn’t answer my question.”
    Maddie shut her eyes for a moment. “Which question, my lord?”
    “What did you do before you applied for the position with my uncle?”
    “I…worked as a governess in several households,” she answered slowly, wondering why she was so reluctant to lie to him. She owed him nothing. Yet she supposed she had no wish to be seen in the same light in which she saw him and his kind.
    “Where?”
    “Do you intend to check my references, my lord?”
    He looked over at her again. “No. Of course not.”
    Maddie pointed down a rutted dirt track to the west. “Over there, my lord. About half a mile down.”
    Warefield turned the carriage in that direction. “You know,” he said quietly, “I admire the job you’ve done here at Langley. I’m here only because my father wished it. I don’t intend to turn you away.”
    She’d heard promises of integrity before. “Thank you for your assurances, my lord,” Maddie said stiffly, “but they are completely unnecessary.”
    “And why is that?”
    She turned to look directly at him. “ You did not hire me, my lord.”
    He met her eyes, then pursed his lips and faced the road again. “True enough. Thank you for putting me in my place, Miss Willits.”
    Maddie pressed her advantage.” You are quite wel—”
    “Oh, good God,” he muttered.
    “What is it?”
    As they came around the bordering hedge, she saw what had prompted his curse. The entire Fowler household, nearly as substantial as Langley’s, stood lined up at full attention along the curving drive leading all the way up the steps to the front door. A chuckle tickled up Maddie’s chest and burst out of her throat before she could stop it.
    “Are you laughing, Miss