The Fleeing Heiress: A funny flight into love. Read Free Page B

serious, but enough for me to be sent home. I have been visiting friends in the country and am now returning to Lon don to finish a bit of business, before I return to my regiment in Spain,” said Cardiff. He offered the explanation in a friendly manner, but he had no intention of making more of it than he already had.
    Thea would have liked to inquire more fully into his lord ship’s experiences, for she had a lively interest in the course of the war that was raging on the continent. Her brothers were army-mad and their interest had piqued her own. How ever, it was obvious to her in Lord Cardiff’s brief answer that he preferred not to elaborate on himself. “I see,” she said.
    “And what of you, Miss Stafford? How is it possible that you could have been abducted in the middle of the village street?” asked Cardiff, probing gently for her story. “Surely someone took notice and set up a hue and cry?”
    “You would think so, indeed, my lord, except that Mr. Quarles and I are known to be well acquainted,” said Thea, replying to the last point. She saw by Lord Cardiff’s well- bred expression of surprise that she had startled him. A faint color rose in her cheeks. “I shall have to explain it to you. Mr. Quarles is betrothed to my elder sister.”
    As Thea recalled her experience, her eyes flashed again with renewed outrage and darkened in shade almost to black. “It was the most outrageous thing imaginable. I had been visiting with my old governess, who resides now in the village with another family. When I had taken leave of her, Mr. Quarles happened to come by in his carriage—or so he said! In any event, he offered me and my maid a lift home and like a dolt, I accepted. I had no inkling what he planned.”
    “I suppose since the gentleman is betrothed to your sister that you would naturally trust him,” remarked Cardiff, watching her expressive face.
    “Yes, I was never so taken in my life,” said Thea. “I am glad that you hit him, for it is just what I wished to do.”
    “I believe you mentioned that you had your maid with you when Mr. Quarles sprang his dastardly trap. What hap pened to her?” asked Cardiff, curious about this missing de tail from her story.
    “Mr. Quarles forced her to disembark from the carriage just as we reached the outskirts of the village,” said Thea matter-of-factly. She glanced at Lord Cardiff. “He did not wish to have her along.”
    “No, I imagine it is rather difficult to manage an abduction and elopement even without the addition of the lady’s maid,” said Cardiff dryly.
    Thea’s eyes twinkled. “Oh, indeed, my lord. Mr. Quarles had never heard such blistering denouncements as my good Hitchins laid upon him. And I was not behind in my own re criminations.”
    Cardiff laughed, easily imagining the scene. “I have little doubt that he began to feel regret for his scheme from that moment.
    The door opened and the innkeeper entered, followed by a waiter carrying a tray. “My compliments to the lady, m’lord, and I have brought just what I thought might appeal. A fresh pot of tea with a bit of cold mutton and bread, a bowl of barley soup and one of the missus’s dried-apple tarts.”
    Cardiff glanced inquiringly at his companion. “Miss Stafford?”
    She nodded, saying with a smile, “It sounds heavenly. Thank you!”
    The innkeeper directed the waiter to set out Miss Stafford’s supper, but himself poured the tea, stirring in the amounts of cream and sugar requested by the lady.
    “Is that little matter concerning a certain unpleasant gentleman taken care of, mine host?” asked Cardiff idly. He swirled the wine in his glass as though his query was of a matter of only the most casual interest to him.
    The innkeeper gave a grim smile. “Indeed, m’lord. We’ve a few bruises amongst us, for the gentleman did not take kindly to the notion of travel this late in the day. How somever, he was persuaded that the inn in the next village would be more to his