Free Scandalous Innocent by Juliet Landon Page A

signs. Why would he have sought a discussion in the first place? Why would he have accepted that particular method of settling your dispute? It was very unorthodox, I agree, but it brought matters to a head, didn’t it? I can see all kinds of signs that he cares more than you think.’
    ‘I don’t know,’ Phoebe said, shaking her head. ‘I doubt it.’
    ‘See how you feel after a night in your own bed, love. You did well to recover so quickly. That must have been difficult.’
    Phoebe reached for the hand that moved across the polished table, taking it to her cheek to hold it there. ‘I had to,’ she said. ‘They were all watching. What I want to know is how Elizabeth discovered about my fencing lessons when I thought to keep it to myself.’
    ‘Perhaps you should ask Signor Luigi in the morning.’
    ‘No, there’ll be no more lessons, Molly. I think it’s a waste of time. I shall have dancing lessons instead. Or perhaps the lute. I still have Tim’s, you know.’
    But despite the negative tone of her conversation with Mrs Overshott, who seemed to have little difficulty in seeing through the problem, the small signs Phoebe had perversely overlooked now took on an importance worth another viewing. His kiss, for one thing. His intimate caresses, for another, which, while they had led nowhere, were not the kind of thing a man of his calibre would bestow on an honoured guest in his master’s house without a very good reason. Molly was right about that. So why had he gone so far before telling her she was free? Well, he had provided her with the answer to that in no uncertain terms. I’m two steps ahead of ye, and my second name is not Martyr, he had told her before going on to deny that his potent kisses had anything to do with mere curiosity.
    The mists began to clear. He was aware of her ploy. He was not to be duped in the way she’d intended. He would dictate his own terms and she would follow, not the other way round. She had misjudged him, for he must have known what effect his brief lovemaking would have upon her, how she was, even then, ready to give herself to him, how she would be both humiliated and left wanting more. He would call her to heel once she’d had time to simmer down, for he was not a man to be manipulated by a woman. How could she ever had believed otherwise?
    Did that mean that he wanted her, after all?
    This was what she must find out while there was still time, for who could tell when the Duke would demand his presence on the next journey north? She could hardly return to Ham House so soon after the disastrous visit, but a chance meeting somewhere might just provide her with an indication that all was not lost or, conversely, that she had better forget him altogether. Still smarting, still unsure, of one thing she was more certain: if she did not seek him out, he would certainly not seek her.

    The aristocrats with the prestigious title of Keepers of Richmond Park were no other than the Lauderdales themselves, so it was not exactly by chance that Phoebe and Mrs Overshott decided at breakfast next morning that a ride in the park would be good for their health. The possibility that certain others might also be of the same mind was not spoken out loud, but the two women knew each other’s thoughts well enough to make it unnecessary. So, dressed in fashionable velvet habits and wide plumed hats, they cut across the loop of the River Thames to the enclosed parkland that the King’s father had considerably enlarged, taking in a sizeable bite of Mortlake, for which some disgruntled owners had still not been compensated.
    Two grooms accompanied them to open gates, and soon the ladies were joined by friends and hailed from carriages which, on any other day, would have contented Phoebe. But while she scanned the green tree-studded acres to find what might be a party from Ham House, her attention wandered and her admirers could hardly fail to note that something had happened to dampen her usual