Page 37 of A Duke in Pursuit of Passion
It took every ounce of emotional and mental strength she had to hold up her ruse, and even just minutes, in she felt as though she might crack. This was the man who had last seen her sister, who had encouraged her to leave her entire family and her home, and who had endangered everything. And just being near him made Ella's skin crawl. She felt as though he was a snake in a man's skin, and she could not wait to see him unveiled.
Only the thought of finding her sister stopped her from screaming for Nate's aid.
For a second, she thought of the nobleman and all that had happened the night before, and she knew without a doubt that the second she screamed, he would come running. The thought caused her heart to race. Yet, she knew that, for Louisa's sake, she couldn't.
"You said your aunt is very strict?" Mr Giles pointed out, looking at her from the corner of his eye. "Is she your guardian?"
"Of a sort," Ella responded. "My dear papa sadly passed away a few weeks ago, and she has travelled all the way from America to return me there to live with her and my uncle until all the nasty business with my inheritance is straightened out."
All night, during the moments when she and Nate had not been making love, she had been weaving the web of her deceit in her hand, hoping to capture Mr Giles' attention with as seamless a story as possible.
"I still believe it is a terrible shame that Scotland should be losing such a rare and beautiful gem such as yourself."
The charm dripping from the man's tone was enough to set a lump of bile in Ella's throat, and she tightened her fingers upon the ivory handle of her fan, one that she had borrowed from Nate's aunt to look as though she most definitely came from money.
In fact, most of what she wore now was Lady McGilligan's due to her having brought so little with her from London in her haste to find her sister. She was just pleased that the two shared a similar frame and size.
"I can assure you I intend to return once my gemstone mines are properly tended to," Ella assured him, and seeing the glint in Mr Giles' eye, she knew she was definitely catching his attention. "It is really the only reason I am going to America in the first place, to ensure I can oversee everything for myself. It was what my dear papa would have wanted."
"The two of you must have had a very close relationship for him to leave you such an inheritance?"
Ella could sense the prying nature of his presence from a mile away, and it took every ounce of her self-control not to give herself away.
"Yes," she said, nodding behind the fan. "My family and I have always been very close even when great seas separate us."
Their conversation continued in a similar fashion, with Mr Giles offering question after question, avoiding any that she threw in his direction, and Ella tried her hardest to make herself an unmissable target. Remembering what Nate and Mr Murphy had found out about the black market ring of men kidnapping young women from wealthy families, she was determined to whet his appetite, even if it made her feel sick to her stomach.
And by the time they had taken a single turn around the park, she seemed to have entirely hooked him. They stopped in almost the exact position they had begun in, and Mr Giles turned to face her, practically blocking her between him and Alice, with a look of quiet determination.
"My Lady, I have so greatly enjoyed our time together that I fear I could not depart without gaining your word that we shall meet again before your departure to the Americas."
Ella's heart skipped a beat. She could only hope her disgust did not show so immediately upon her face. From his hopeful expression, she could guess not.
"Mr Phelps, I fear I shall not be in Scotland much longer," she told him, determined not to make herself too available, prevailing upon his hope of making her a target. "We are set to sail any day now."
Startlingly, Mr Giles gripped her free hand and wrapped both of his around it. It took everything Ella had not to snatch her hand away.
"Please, My Lady, say you shall meet me!" he pleaded. "I cannot bear the thought of this being our last meeting."
He looked at her with such an intense pleading expression that, for a moment, she could see why her sister had done what she had. Louisa, as the youngest sister, had always been so easily led.
I should have protected her,Ella thought bitterly, and though he made her skin crawl, she forced a smile and said, "I shall meet you, Mr Phelps. But we must be careful. My aunt would never approve."
He nodded and nodded more and more eagerly, and when he pressed his lips to her knuckles, Ella felt sick to her stomach, her heart stopping with disgust.
"Here, we must meet here again," Mr Phelps insisted. "And it must be soon!"
Forcing an eager smile to match his own, Ella suggested, "Tomorrow?"
And with that, Ella's plan was complete. After some more overly charming words of farewell from Mr Giles, she watched him walk away. And out of the corners of her eyes, she noticed Nate and his men all moving in. At first, it was a rustle of bushes nearby.
Then a man broke away from a bench Mr Giles had passed unknowingly. She noticed Mack coming down the hillock on the other side of the path, where he had been keeping a higher watch for anyone who might have been with the baron's son.
All Ella could do was hope and pray they would follow him long enough to find where her sister was.
Reaching instinctively for Alice's hand that had been proffered for comfort, Ella squeezed her maid's fingers tightly and asked, "It will work, won't it, Alice?"
Gripping her hand in both of hers, Alice assured her, "I am certain of it, My Lady. Lord Rolfe and Mr. Murphy will not allow it to be any other way."
