The Silver Squire. Mary Brendan

idea of something tasty and different made her stomach roll hollowly again, yet even that consuming thought couldn’t completely drag part of her mind out of that opulent, cool hallway and away from a man with piercing metallic eyes.

      The shock and humiliation at meeting him again under such degrading circumstances were receding, allowing another worry to compete for notice. If Richard Du Quesne had recognised her but had been unwilling to embarrass himself in front of his mistress by saying so, he might not display such reticence in London on his return there.

      He owned a smart residence in Mayfair; she knew that. Should he soon go to London and mention he’d seen her in Bath and Jarrett Dashwood came to hear of it…She recalled dark olive eyes sliding over her body with sly, nauseating inspection. That blackguard would make a vicious and vengeful enemy; of that she was absolutely sure. She swallowed a bitter lump in her throat, pocketed her coins and fairly bolted up from the seat as though the vile man might even now be on his way to fetch her. She would forgo food this evening and use her money for the safety of a carriage ride home, she decided.

      ‘Miss Worthington?’

      She stopped dead, her complexion paling in terror as she slowly turned.

      Richard Du Quesne walked the path towards her and, as she instinctively stepped back, he gestured appealingly.

      ‘Please, don’t run away again…’ he said, with a flash of a rueful white smile. ‘It’s taken me hours to find you as it is.’

      Emma swallowed, still slowly retreating, even though her eyes had swept past him, taken in the plush phaeton visible beyond the railings that bordered the small park and digested the fact that it was, of course, his.

      ‘I’ve no intention of running, Mr Du Quesne,’ she lied quietly, while silently vowing that should the opportunity arise she would flee him with her last breath. ‘How are you? Well, I trust? I’m sorry but I have no time to chat today, sir,’ she fluently apologised, without waiting to discover how he did. ‘I have to be going now. I have an appointment and am a little late.’ She sketched a curtsey then spoiled all her confident ease by dithering over whether to walk back past him or turn and make for the opposite end of the empty park and thus enter yet more unknown territory. She settled for the unknown, whirled about and walked away.

      A firm hand on her arm halted her and gently turned her about. ‘Aren’t you going to now allow me the courtesy of enquiring how you do?’

      ‘Why? You know I don’t associate you with civilised behaviour. I’m sure you’re little interested in how I do…as, truthfully, I’m little interested in how you do.’ She swallowed, bit her unsteady lower lip, ashamed of her unnecessary rudeness. All she had needed to say was that she did tolerably well, thank you.

      She watched his light eyes darken behind lengthy, dusky lashes, then he laughed. ‘For a while, I just couldn’t conceive it to be you, Miss Worthington. Now I’m convinced it is. In three years you’ve not changed a bit.’

      ‘Oh, but I have, Mr Du Quesne,’ she said heartbreakingly huskily yet with a bright, courageous smile. ‘I really have changed so much.’ She felt a horrible, hot stinging behind her eyes. Please don’t let him reminisce, she silently entreated; don’t let him talk of their dear mutual friends, David and Victoria Hardinge; don’t let him mention her darling goddaughter, Lucy, or any of those things that always brought a poignant mingling of gladness and envy to torture her.

      Distraction came in the shape of a raucous cry that minutes before would have drawn her towards it. Her soulful amber eyes followed the progress of a woman hawking Sally Lunn’s tea-cakes, a sweetish aroma strengthening tormentingly in the stirring evening air.

      ‘Are you hungry?’ Richard asked quietly, noting her exquisite eyes were fixed on the pedlar.

      Emma shook her head and looked away immediately. ‘The light’s fading. I want to be home. I will be missed,’ she lied again. She almost laughed. Who on earth was there here to miss her?

      ‘I take it your mother is with you in Bath. Where are you staying? Why are you seeking employment?’ His staccato questions were fired at her.

      She avoided his eye. ‘I…I’m not seeking work, sir,’ she said slowly, while her mind raced ahead for plausible explanations. ‘I must beg you to convey my apologies to your…friend. It was just a wager…a joke in very bad taste. Some acquaintances laid a bet that I should never have the audacity to seek a position or attend an interview. It was a stupid, inconsiderate thing to do. I bitterly regret getting involved at all.’ She gained little solace from that small truth after such fluent lies and felt her face flame betrayingly.

      When he remained silent, and all she was conscious of was his muscular height and the moonlight sheen of his hair in the enclosing dusk, she began backing away again. ‘Good evening to you, sir,’ she tossed back at him as she twisted around and hurried on.

      He didn’t touch her this time, merely strolled unconcernedly behind her. It was as good as any physical restraint. Emma swirled about, continued backwards for a few paces then halted. ‘Go away!’ she snapped furiously yet with a hint of pleading.

      ‘No,’ he said easily. He passed her, circled her, examining her minutely then hovered close, like a patient predator awaiting the right moment to close in for the kill. ‘Tell me where you’re staying. What you’re doing here in Bath.’

      ‘It’s none of your concern! Leave me be!’ she raged in a hoarse whisper, yet with a lowered face as she sensed her exhaustion, her hunger, her fear of not getting back to her lodgings before it was really dark undermining her composure.

      ‘Of course it’s my concern,’ he drily contradicted her. ‘You know how upset Victoria will be if she hears I’ve neglected your welfare whilst you were with me. And when Victoria’s upset David’s unbearable…which upsets me.’

      ‘I am not with you!’ Emma flung at him desperately. ‘Besides, they won’t ever know. No one must ever know.’ She looked up slowly, realising she had just, stupidly, given him all the information he needed.

      ‘You’re here alone…and in trouble.’ The words emerged quietly, as though he couldn’t quite believe it himself.

      As the hawker retraced her noisy way along the street, still loudly advertising her wares, Emma’s frantic tiger eyes flicked to Richard. If she could just get him to go away for a moment…all she needed was an unguarded moment. ‘I am hungry,’ she stated breathily. ‘And feeling a little faint.’

      He held an arm out to her. ‘Come…’ he urged gently. ‘We’ll find somewhere to dine, on the one condition,’ he mock-threatened, ‘that you tell me what problems bring you here, so they can be dealt with.’

      ‘That’s very good of you, sir,’ she meekly thanked him. ‘But I’m a little giddy and nauseated. Perhaps a quick bite of something now and a short rest on this bench…’ Emma approached the seat and sank gratefully, gracefully onto it, her elfin features drooping into supporting hands.

      Richard glanced at the vendor almost opposite them now on the other side of black iron railings. Then he arrowed a shrewd look at Emma. Either she was a consummate actress or she really was famished. The vision of a thin, pale young woman sitting in the hallway of his town house haunted him. He certainly didn’t want her passing out on him.

      A large hand rested solicitiously on one of her shoulders, an instinctively cautious caress skimming over fragile shoulder bones beneath the enveloping cloak. Resisting the urge to simply swing her up in his arms and carry her to his phaeton, which he knew with a wry inner smile would no doubt earn him a slap for his pains, he said, ‘I’ll be but a moment. I’ll fetch you a bun and a flask of brandy from my carriage.’

      From beneath the brim of her bonnet, Emma slanted feline eyes at his powerful, retreating figure. He wasn’t fooled at all, she realised. He turned, vigilantly, several times, walked backwards, giving himself the chance to return to her in a second. Her heart squeezed, lead settling in the empty pit of her stomach as she noted his crisp, athletic step. Should she