Free A Stolen Season by Tamara Gill Page A

you, Lady Earnston.”
    “Well,” her ladyship said, not responding any further. Instead she pulled Lady Patricia forward and almost threw her into his lordship’s arms. “Dance with Lady Patricia, Eric. She is free this next set.”
    Lord Earnston clasped Sarah’s hand and bowed. “Until our ride tomorrow, Miss Baxter. Good night.”
    “Good night, my lord.” Sarah curtsied.
    When he didn’t immediately move away, her ladyship gestured them to leave, and took Sarah’s arm, adeptly steering her from the spot. Apprehension crept across Sarah’s skin.
    “Miss Baxter, I’m sure you’re a very good sort of woman, but if you’re looking to marry my son, you’re setting yourself up for misfortune.”
    Sarah noted her ladyship’s cold eyes and immovable stance beneath the sweet voice and smiling mouth. “I am not looking to marry his lordship; I consider him merely an acquaintance, a friend, if you will, in society.”
    “A friendship between members of the opposite sex is an absurd notion. Such foolishness leads to folly, and you, Miss Baxter, will not lead my son to any such situation.”
    Sarah stopped and pulled her arm from her ladyship’s tight grip. “I have no desire to lead him anywhere.” Sarah looked onto the ballroom floor and watched Lord Earnston enjoy his dance with Lady Patricia. They made a beautiful couple: elegant, tall, social equals. A pang of envy stabbed at Sarah, and she pushed it aside, breathing a sigh of relief when Lady Anita joined them.
    “Aunt, lovely to see you tonight.” Anita kissed her ladyship’s cheek. Lady Earnston’s features softened at Anita’s gesture, and Sarah caught a glimpse of a woman whose youthful beauty was still visible under the lines of time and spite.
    “Anita dear, I have been talking to your delightful friend, Miss Baxter. Patricia, as you can see, is dancing with Eric. Do you not think they make a fine couple?”
    Anita didn’t even bother to find them on the dance floor. “They make a fine looking couple. As to whether they would match as a married couple, we should leave that decision to the respective parties. Don’t you agree, Aunt?”
    Sarah bit the inside of her cheeks to keep from cheering Anita’s kindly veiled warning.
    “Ah, are my hopes of a match showing?” Her ladyship tittered.
    Sarah inwardly laughed harder at the false modesty this society peahen was crowing about.
    “Just a little, Aunt,” Anita said, smiling.
    It was time for Sarah to untangle herself from this charged topic. “Well, I think they make a lovely couple. If you would excuse me.” She curtsied to the older woman, and headed off in the direction she had spotted Richard earlier. She exhaled a sigh of relief when she spotted him leaning on the card room door.
    “We should leave.” Sarah turned and watched the dancers. Lady Patricia caught her eye, and Sarah couldn’t miss the smug smile her rival threw over his lordship’s shoulder. She turned back to Richard.
    “What’s wrong?” Richard asked.
    “They think I’m after him.”
    “Who?”
    Sarah inwardly cursed. “Lord Earnston. His mother and Lady Patricia both think I want to marry him. Stuff this need to be careful for a week or two. Make sure when I’m riding with the earl tomorrow morning that you get into his home and have a look about. The sooner we go home, the better.”
    Richard nodded. “And if I’m caught?”
    “You won’t be.” The music ended and Sarah watched as the dancers dispersed about the room. Lord Earnston bade a quick goodbye to Lady Patricia and departed her company.
    An inner voice cheered his action, but Sarah quickly silenced it. She was not permitted to dabble with him. He was a means to an end, and that was all.
    She would have to be more cunning if she wanted him to divulge the whereabouts of the mapping device. Cunning and creative — two words not normally associated with Sarah Baxter.
    • • •
    Eric leaned against a window frame and watched his mother storm