Free Pistols at Dawn by Andrea Pickens

are being too hard on yourself. One mistake does not condemn a person for a lifetime."
    "You are far more generous than I deserve."
    Meredith found herself wanting to bring the smile back to his lips. It was really quite a nice one, she decided, the rugged masculinity of its chiseled contours tempered by a boyish vulnerability that softened any sharpness. Indeed, she had to restrain the urge to reach out and smooth away the look of haunted regret that tugged at its corners.
    "If your uncle has any sense at all, he should be quite proud of you," she said in a rush. "It takes a good deal of courage to admit a mistake and be willing to accept the consequences."
    His mouth did soften a bit, but before he could manage a suitable reply, she reached down and took up her basket. "It's getting rather late," she observed, her eyes straying to the lengthening shadows around them. "I had best be going home before my sister begins to worry."
    The hound, on seeing the basket rise, thought it another game and tried to bury his nose in the mushrooms. She steered him away with a gentle push. "You are a sweet thing, Ajax, but now I must bid you goodbye. And you, too, Mr. Harkness."
    Lucien took hold of the animal's collar and watched her hurry away. "I vow, old boy, I shall never let anyone disparage your abilities," he murmured. "You are quite the cleverest dog in all of England."
    * * *
    " What? " exclaimed Eliza.
    Meredith didn't look up from sorting the various plants into neat little piles on the kitchen table. "I imagine that is a rhetorical question, since it seems you heard quite clearly what I just said."
    "If I had any idea that scoundrel was lurking in the vicinity," she muttered, "I would have insisted you take the pistol along."
    "And a waste of effort it would have been, since I wouldn't have any idea which end to point where, even if I had the desire to pull the trigger. Which I don't. No, I shall leave such extreme measures to you, Liza." She calmly began to separate the mushroom caps from their stems. "Besides, I was not in any danger from Mr. Harkness."
    "How can you say that!"
    "I can't really explain it," she admitted. "I just... knew."
    Eliza rinsed out the last of the teacups. She dried it and put it aside on the washboard before speaking again. "You should also know that Mary Yount was attacked last night," she said quietly.
    Her sister turned so pale that Eliza feared she might be in danger of swooning. However, Meredith steadied herself on the edge of the table, and in a moment a bit of color returned to her cheeks. "I do not think that Mr. Harkness is capable of such duplicity. If you had seen him—he was so genuinely remorseful. And nice." The twist of her features showed how desperately she wished to believe her own assertion.
    "It seems highly unlikely that there are two such men prowling about Chertwell."
    When Meredith made no answer, she went on, though she hated having to strike another blow at her sister's faith in her fellow man. "Merry, things are not always as they seem, no matter how much we might want them to be. Promise me you will stay away from Lord Killingworth's nephew."
    There was a noticeable hesitation before the whispered answer. "If it is what you wish, then very well. I shall do as you ask."
    It was a less enthusiastic agreement that she might have wished for, but on slanting a glance at her sister's troubled face, Eliza decided it would do for the moment.
    * * *
    "Six times twelve, minus four and a half percent..." Eliza's muttering nearly drowned out the scratching of her pen on the sheet of scrap paper. She paused to add up the figures for a third time before entering them for real in the ledger.
    "Hell's bells!" With a guilty grimace, she looked around to see if anyone had overheard her slip of the tongue. Only Caliban, draped in a sinuous curve over the back of the faded sofa, was within earshot and he did nothing more than give a lazy yawn and go back to grooming his whiskers.
    Her eyes