Free Nell by Elizabeth Bailey Page B

taken at fault. My stupid pride! Only now that I have met her—’
    ‘You have changed your mind?’ he broke in swiftly.
    ‘Oh, no, Lord Jarrow. The reverse! I want to help her—if I can.’
    He found the little smile she gave unbearably touching. ‘But you don’t know that you can.’
    She shook her head. ‘If only your fears may be unfounded! She is so very beautiful. How shocking it would be if her mind is indeed disordered!’
    ‘Only because she is beautiful.’
    Startled at the sudden harshness, Nell’s eyes flew to his. ‘Of course not.’
    There was a spark in the dark gaze. ‘But her beauty makes it the more shocking, does it not? Don’t I know it!’
    Bitterness was rife in his voice and the furrows deepened in his countenance. Dismayed, Nell withdrew a step or two. What intimacy they had briefly shared was shattered. How changeable a man he was! And she had allowed herself to forget it. Although she was at a loss to know how she was to guess what careless remark of hers might set him off. Best to leave him now, before she laid more coals on the fire. She dropped a curtsy and turned away.
    ‘Miss Faraday!’
    Nell checked, looking back. ‘Yes, Lord Jarrow?’
    He brooded for a moment, his eyes hard and unyielding. What now? Nell waited, conscious of a faint motion in her veins that she did her best to ignore.
    The breath sighed out of him, and his gaze dropped. ‘Nothing.’ Curt, and dismissive. ‘I should not have engaged you.’
    Indignation rose like thunder in her breast, all but choking her. She watched him walk away, the door to the turret closing behind him with the snap of finality.
     
    There was tension in the dining room. To Nell’s consternation and—to her shame!—her secret relief, TolyBeresford was absent. Lord Jarrow had given the brief explanation that he was dining out with nearby acquaintances. His tone had been stiff. With resentment? Nell could not judge.
    ‘I trust it will not discompose you to be dining tête-à-tête?’
    ‘You trust wrong, sir,’ said Nell instantly. ‘It is excessively improper.’
    He had shot her a look that might indeed have discomposed a woman of lesser nerve. Nell had thrust down on the flutter at her stomach. Lord Jarrow had become acid.
    ‘Your virtue is in no danger, ma’am. But, if you wish for it, I shall ask Keston to have Mrs Whyte come up.’
    Nell was immediately ashamed of herself. There was no question of troubling the housekeeper, who must be at her wit’s end down in the kitchens. She lifted her gaze and looked her employer in the eye.
    ‘That will not be necessary. Your butler’s presence will afford protection enough.’
    She was treated to one of his ironic glances. ‘Let us hope he will prove able to curb my unnatural desires.’
    Silence reigned through the first course. But by the time Keston had removed what remained of the fresh beef roast, along with a selection of plain boiled vegetables that had been served alongside, Nell had become acutely conscious. Her conduct was disgraceful! What the Duck would say she dared not think. The wonder was that his lordship had not thrown her out on her ear!
    While the butler passed from the table to the door, collecting the next set of dishes from whoever it was outside—the unfortunate Grig, Nell supposed—she debated what she should say to Lord Jarrow. An apology was certainly in order. She had thoroughly oversteppedthe mark, and he had every right to be as surly as a bear. Merely because he had pokered up this afternoon—leaving her, it had to be admitted, positively fuming!—was no reason for Nell to forget her manners.
    From the array of fruits offered, she selected an apple, taking time over peeling the skin. She saw that his lordship ate nothing from the second course, instead brooding darkly over his wine. Nell’s guilt increased. What was she about to be adding to his distresses in that shabby way?
    She waited for the butler to withdraw into the background. Then she