Page 36 of An Earl to Remember
Oh, this is so dangerous.
The clatter of hooves and a loud voice restraining an animal shattered the intimate spell he had been weaving about her. Shocked, she drew away, glaring at him. How had he done it, captivate her so effortlessly?
“You have a caller,” he murmured, looking beyond her shoulders out the windows.
Georgianna turned around, conscious of his masculine strength and heat at her back. “It is Mr. Jonathan Hayle. He is a neighbor.”
“Is he to come inside?”
Noting the direction Mr. Hayle traversed, she shook her head. “He…it seems he is visiting Lizzie.”
“Ah, I see,” the earl said, “he is wooing her.”
Georgianna cast him a quick glance, and the earl lifted a brow in question.
“Have I misspoken?”
“Mr. Hayle does have a deep affection for Lizzie, and his sentiments are returned. However, the Hayles are an old country family of respectability and large fortune. His parents would have greater ambitions for their only son.”
The earl looked away in the distance, his expression inscrutable. Suddenly he appeared more like the powerful earl and not her fake husband who seemed to own a different character from the rakish gentleman she met before.
“Permit me to enquire why do you allow him to meet with her alone?”
She flushed at the cool rebuke of his tone. “Lizzie is one and twenty. I trust her judgment and that she would not be…reckless with her heart.”
“Her heart?” He gave a soft, derisive laugh. “When a man pays court to a lady he evidently makes no plan to offer, it is her virtue that is under threat.”
A jolt of apprehension went through Georgianna. “Mr. Hayle would not conduct himself so poorly, nor would Lizzie!”
“How innocent…and naive.”
He did not mean it as a compliment, and a sense of hurt writhed inside her chest. “I…” But what could she say? Surely, she had not failed in one of her duties to her sister.
The earl turned away. “I will introduce myself to this Mr. Hayle.”
He did not await her approval but departed the kitchen, leaving Georgianna feeling wretched and wondering if she had been foolish to not put a stop to Mr. Hayle’s visit.
Chapter Eleven
“Is that the only reason you visited, Mr. Hayle?” Lizzie asked tremulously. “To confirm if the rumors are true? If so, let me assuage your curiosity and you can be on your way. Yes, the stranger found on the shore is my sister’s husband, and his memory has not yet returned.”
Daniel could not decipher the gentleman’s reply, and he shoved his hand in his pocket, wondering if he should interrupt their conversation. It had taken him some time to locate where they strolled, for he had never before ventured to this side of the manor. The fruit orchard was rather large and in desperate need of raking.
The lovers’ voices hushed, and he turned away, tipping his face to the sky. The protective surge that had filled his chest still lingered, and he had injured his wife’s feelings with his harshness. Georgianna, who seemed to live a sheltered life in the idyllic village of Crandell, did not know there were men ruthless enough to seduce and walk away from a lady without any concern for their reputation or supposed heart.
This is not my concern.
His wife trusted her sister and treated her with respect, so why the hell was he thinking to barge in on their private discourse? He would seek an introduction to Mr. Hayle at another time. Daniel started to walk away, and a passionate outburst arrested his step.
“I do not wish to marry her. It is you I love, Elizabeth! Please do not say I am to never call on you again. I cannot bear it, can you?”
“You plan to marry Squire Tomkins’ daughter and wish to maintain a friendship with me?” Lizzie demanded on a sob.
The profound hurt in her tone wrenched through Daniel, and a dark anger took him over.
“I love you. How can I bear to lose you?” Mr. Hayle said, his tone desperate with yearning. “Give me some time and I will… Lizzie, please do not walk away!”
A soft gasp sounded and then silence. A ragged moan floated in the air, and Daniel stiffened. “Bloody hell,” he muttered.
