Miranda's Dilemma Read Free Page A

like he was used to hearing from her.
    Adrian went rigid and backed away from her. “Our friendship is none of your business.”
    “You know how he was.” Her face crinkled, as though with concern. “He was too timid to approach you. You should have forgiven him.”
    “You forget your place, Miss Jones.”
    She opened her mouth to reply, but he spun on his heel and strode away.

 
     
     
    Chapter Two
     
    Miranda gazed out the window of the moving carriage, well aware of her aunt’s gaze on her. But she was too tired to care. The roll of the carriage soothed her. Lack of sleep had frayed her nerves and made her eyes heavy. She closed them, letting her head rest against the seat back. Sun warmed her cheek and she turned her face toward the window. Relaxation melted through her like honey and she breathed slower and deeper.
    Mornings had become chilly of late, but today dawned a little warmer. In her mind, she returned to Sussex, where she knelt beside Mama in the garden, her sleeves rolled up amid the buzzing bees and chirping birds. The smells of earth and greenery filled her senses. Mama’s laugh carried on the soft breeze, her large gray eyes filled with girlish delight.
    “Do you plan to tell me what happened last night?”
    Aunt Cassandra’s words shattered Miranda’s peace.
    She opened her eyes and met her aunt’s stare. Sunlight glinted on Aunt Cassandra’s golden coiffure, revealing the fine lines near her eyes in the otherwise flawless milky white skin. Sunlight made the rose pink of her carefully painted mouth seem a shade more garish than it did in a dim, candlelit chamber.
    “I told you, the Earl of Danvers asked me to dance.”
    “Whatever you did or said to him was most unwise.”
    Miranda’s heart sped up, and a sick dryness seized her throat. She forced her expression to remain calm as she brushed a speck of lint from her emerald skirts.
    Adrian Sutherland, the Earl of Danvers, frightened her. The whole time she spoke with him last night, her stomach had been knotted, and her palms had sweated inside her gloves. Oh, she could keep the facade of the elegant, hard-to-acquire courtesan with many a man.
    Men who were ready and willing to be dazzled.

 
    I am watching you, Miss Jones.
    Beneath his charming, handsome exterior, Danvers was a hard, cold, arrogant man.
    Too determined to remain in control, too determined to have his way.
    So arrogant when it was well known that his father had gambled away the family fortune and Danvers had inherited his title in a state of genteel poverty.
    She had no interest in such men.
    And she never should have confronted him about Carrville. But her heart had taken over. She had spoken out of turn the words she had burned to say for years now.
    Poor Carrville. Even his daughters had not understood his gentle nature. No one had, least of all his son-in-law, the hard, arrogant Lord Danvers.
    No one else knew the secret that had driven Carrville to his untimely death, only Miranda and the other person who had been bent on blackmail.
    And to think that Danvers had actually accused her of hounding Carrville to his death…
    Anger seethed through her.
    Danvers was too overconfident of his own impressions to be believed. The man likely had no heart.
    “Miranda, I worked hard to gain your invitation to that particular ball. I think you owe me some explanation. What the devil happened between you and Danvers?”
    “I told you, we danced.”
    “Just danced? Then why has he denied my request for your invitation to his house party this coming week?”
    Miranda’s hand froze on her skirt. The tea she’d drunk this morning soured in her belly. She grimaced, praying her outrage showed, instead of her gnawing fear. “He can’t do that!”
    Cassandra snorted. “He is the Earl of Danvers. He may do whatever he pleases. And, as I have pointed out numerous times, Carrville is gone. You no longer have his protection. Nor his influence.”
    Miranda’s belly cramped again. She