Page 23 of The Outcast's Redemption
‘Very well, I will wait for you.’
She looked dissatisfied with his answer, but she turned on her heel and hurried away to the house. Wolf followed more slowly. He could only hope that Jones would not give him away.
A few minutes later she returned and he was relieved by her exasperation when she saw him. Clearly she had no idea of his real identity.
‘Yes, I am still here,’ he said cheerfully. ‘I shall escort you back to the vicarage. It is not at all seemly for a young lady to walk these grounds alone.’
‘I have done so many times without mishap.’
‘So you are an unrepentant trespasser.’
‘Not at all, there is a right of way through the park.’
‘And you walk here for pleasure?’ he asked her.
‘Not today. I have been visiting an old lady. It is much quicker to walk home this way than through the village.’
‘It would be quicker still to ride. And having seen you in the saddle I know you ride very well, Miss Duncombe.’
‘One cannot live within twenty miles of Newmarketwithoutriding.’ He detected the first signs of a thaw in her response. ‘However, riding today would not have been so convenient. You see, I came through the village and carried out several errands. I passed on Mrs Truscott’s recipe for a restorative broth to one family, called in upon a mother with a newborn baby to see how they go on and took a pot of comfrey ointment to old Mr Brent, for his leg. That would have been much more difficult if I had been riding Bonnie. I would have been forever looking for a mounting block to climb back into the saddle.’
‘I quite see that. But do you never ride here, in the park?’
‘I would not presume to do so without the owner’s permission.’
‘Are you always so law-abiding?’
‘I am the parson’s daughter and betrothed to Sir Loftus Braddenfield. I am obliged to set an example.’
‘Of course.’
She looked up. ‘I think you are laughing at me.’
‘Now why should I do that?’ He saw her hesitate and added, ‘Come, madam, do not spare my feelings, tell me!’
‘I think...’ she drew a breath ‘...I thinkthat you have very little respect for the law!’
His lip curled. ‘You are wrong, ma’am. I have a very healthy respect for it.’
Grace did not miss the sudden bitterness in his voice. A convict, then. She should be afraid, he might be dangerous.
Not to me.
A strange thought and one she was reluctant to pursue. Instead she looked about her as they made their way through the avenue of majestic elms that led to the main gates and the High Street.
‘It is such a pity that the park is now turned over to cattle,’ she remarked. ‘It was a deer park, you know. I used to love watching them roaming here.’
‘You remember the house as it was? You remember the family?’
‘Of course, I grew up here. At least, until I was eleven years old. Then I was sent off to school. As for knowing the family, my father may be a saint, as you call him, but he was careful to keep me away from the Arrandales. The old gentleman’s reputation as a rake was very bad, but I believe his two sons surpassed him. Thankfully for Papa’s peace of mind, by the time I came back the Hall was shut up.’
‘And just when did you return?’
‘When I was seventeen. Seven years ago.’
His brows went up. ‘And you are still unmarried?’
She felt the colour stealing into her cheeks.
