Free The Unwilling Earl by Audrey Harrison Page A

agree?” Mrs. Hall responded.
    “You are not being disrespectful, I deserv e far worse,” Daniel replied, “But I disagree, much more needs to be said, I need to apologise, or at least to try and apologise. Please tell me when Miss Hall will be home.”
    “Do you think my whole family is prone to lying my Lord?” came the tart response. “I do not know when my daughter will return, she has gone for a long visit to her sister.”
    “Her sister? But she lives in a different county!” Daniel exclaimed, all his well thought out speeches crumbling around him.
    “Yes , she does,” came the non-committal reply.
    “Mrs. Hall, you obviously know how abominably I behaved at the assembly. I sincerely wish to try and put right what I did wrong. I hate to think that I have caused Miss Hall upset,” Daniel explained. There was little point in skirting around the issue now.
    “I have never seen my daughter more distressed in all of her twenty years, my Lord. It stemmed mainly from the fact that you did not trust or believe what she had told you and instead believed what can only be considered as malicious gossip.” Mrs. Hall had spoken quietly, but there was steel in her tone.
    Daniel sighed. “I was totally in the wrong, it was foolish of me. I do believe what Miss Hall told me and I am ashamed that my own insecurities led me to give credibility to unfounded stories.”
    “Let me tell you a little about my daughter,” Mrs. Hall said. “She has been under almost constant pressure from her father since the age of fourteen to marry the Earl of Rivington. At each step she stood up to my husband and refused to agree to a marriage. She was determined she was only going to marry for love, not wealth or a title. The arguments that sentiment have caused in this household are too numerous to count, but she never faltered, no-matter what her father tried to threaten and he did threaten believe me.”
    Daniel flushed a little with embarrassment. “She told me a little of Mr. Hall’s wishes.”
    “And yet you doubted her word against another?” Mrs. Hall queried, but continued before Daniel had chance to respond. “Against the odds a real friendship developed between Richard and Penelope. A friendship, my Lord, nothing else. Richard tried his best to be clear to my husband that he would not marry Penelope, but my husband never gave up hope while Richard remained single.”
    “I am sorry for Miss Hall’s sake that your husband did not listen to my cousin.”
    “What I am going to say next my daughter is not aware of and if you ever meet her again I would be grateful for your discretion.” Mrs. Hall paused until the gentleman nodded their agreement. “Penelope has received three offers of marriage of which she is not aware.”
    “Three offers?” Daniel queried a sick feeling in his stomach at the thought of Penelope with another man.
    “Yes, a c ousin of my son-in-law, a friend of Richard’s and the Vicar, Mr. Clark,” Mrs. Hall explained.
    “The Vicar?” Fred interjected.
    “Yes, Mr. Wiseman, our Vicar. Oh, it was before he met Emily, of course, but my husband rejected all three offers and did not inform Penelope. I have often been thankful he rejected one of the suitors, but have wondered about the other two.”
    “That explains a lot,” Fred muttered.
    “I don’t need to ask who was the helpful citizen who poisoned your mind, but some would say you are equally to blame for believing even for a moment what he said.”
    “Yes, I feel even more ashamed that I was so easily swayed by someone who was motivated by bitterness,” Daniel said. There was no point trying to hide from the fact, he had been a complete fool.
    “At least you feel some remorse, that is something, but I want you to leave my daughter alone,” Mrs. Hall said firmly.
    “I need to apologise, to make things right,” Daniel insisted.
    “She has been hurt by you. I want her to stay with her sister for some time, to expand her social circle. I