Page 14 of Scales and Sensibility
Please don’t chuckle, Sir Jessamyn, Elinor begged silently.That would give everything away.
Two dragons might look startlingly similar without proving anything conclusive…but for two such dragons to both share Sir Jessamyn’s own nervous weakness?No onewould ever believe that the great Mrs. De Lacey would choose to travel around the country with a dragon who couldn’t contain himself in company.
She arched away as her uncle leaned closer, his breath far too hot. “Sir John, really—!”
“Beg pardon, ma’am.” His sigh of frustration ruffled her hair, smelling of whiskey and the peppercorn seeds he he liked to chew. Still, he sat back obediently. “Just trying to get a better look.”
Sir Jessamyn vibrated nervously against Elinor’s neck, and her spine stiffened in response.I made a promise. She might not have funds or a future, but she could at least keep anyone else from frightening him now.
Elinor glared at her uncle with every bit of outraged haughtiness she could imagine from the woman she’d read so much about. “Would you care to tell mewhyyou have been gaping at my dragon in such a vulgar fashion, Sir John?”
Sir John scooted his chair back as hastily as if she’d slapped him in the face. “Well—that is—”
A strange exhilaration filled Elinor as she rose to her feet, tossing her napkin onto the table with dismissive flair. “Your local villagers may bow and scrape, butIdo not personally find it amusing to have any gentleman breathe onto my neck without permission—orto ogle my dragon with such rudeness!”
She snatched up a thick slice of chicken to pass to Sir Jessamyn; his head snaked out to catch it with lightning speed before returning to the safety of the back of her head.
Sir John loosened his neckcloth, breathing hard, as he scrambled to his feet. “Mrs. De Lacey, I beg you—”
“I fear I have made an error in choosing to visit your family,” Elinor said coldly. “Please inform your wife and daughter that I am once again...indisposed. You needn’t pass on any apologies.” She turned her back on him pointedly and started for the door, ignoring the choked protestations coming from behind her. “I shall start back for London directly.”
And just in time, she finished silently.
If she was quick enough, she would be long gone before he discovered that the great Mrs. De Lacey had never officially arrived at the inn after all—and had certainly never stabled any carriage or horses there.
It would be a local mystery—fodder for gossip for weeks to come—but Elinor and Sir Jessamyn would be safe. By the time Sir Jessamyn’s illusion faded, they would be well away. And then…
Well, she would think of something after that…she hoped.
Benedict Hawkins’s voice stopped her only two feet from the door.
“Mrs. De Lacey, if you please—doyou know what happened to the girl who was staying in your room last night?”
Ohhh...Even knowing that she shouldn’t, Elinor stopped walking. She took a deep breath, her eyes still fixed on the brass door handle that led to safety. “Which girl?”
“There was a young lady,” Benedict Hawkins said. “She began the night there, at least, and—”
“I arrived in the middle of the night.” Elinor didn’t turn around. She didn’t dare. “The room was already empty.”
“Were there any signs of distress? Anything left behind that might give a hint of where she’s gone?”
Elinor couldn’t help herself. She turned and met Benedict Hawkins’s intent hazel eyes—which were, for once, completely free of laughter.
“I’m concerned about her safety,” he said quietly. “She had no money and no one to help her. I don’t see how she could survive on her own. I meant to give her what little I could before she left, but—”
“On her own?” Sir John’s face reddened with remembered rage. “She had my daughter’s dragon, sir! Shestolemy daughter’s dragon, impudent as you please. She’s no doubt sold it on already to the first blackguard she met. Wretched girl! After everything we did for her—”
Elinor forced her words out through gritted teeth. “Of whom can you possibly be speaking, Sir John?”
“Myniece.” He spat out the word. “Well, my wife’s niece, anyway. Her fool of a sister married a man who couldn’t handle his investmentsorhis horses. He overturned himself and his wife in a carriage ride and left three daughters for someone else to look after. My wife insisted we ought to take one of them in to help our daughter Penelope, but—”
Benedict Hawkins choked. “Oh, good Lord. I beg your pardon, Sir John—and Mrs. De Lacey. I just—I’m afraid, I was so distracted, sir, that I hadn’t quite put it all together until now. As we weren’t properly introduced, I hadn’t heard your surname, but—well, of course. Your daughter must be Miss Penelope Hathergill, then?”
Sir John blinked, interrupted in mid-flow. “Well…yes.”
“So the girl who was here last night—Miss Elinor Tregarth—is hercousin?”
“Unfortunately.” Sir John shrugged. “That minx couldn’t care less for family loyalty, though. Yesterday afternoon she made a fool of herself with a hysterical fit in front of my daughter andmy wife, and then she fled the house in disgrace with Penelope’s dragon—who cost me a pretty penny, I can tell you. When I catch up with her, she’ll learn her lesson!”
