The Keys of Love by Barbara Cartland

Author:Barbara Cartland
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-908411-04-4
Publisher: Barbara Cartland.com

CHAPTER SIX

“Did you have a good ride out, dear?”

Nanny stood in the doorway of Henrietta’s room, her old shawl draped about her and her hair unpinned.

Henrietta leaned down quickly to unhook her boots. She had been crouched broodingly in the armchair for over an hour, weeping tears of frustration, and she did not want Nanny to see her stained cheeks.

“It was fine, Nanny,” she murmured. “Fine.”

Nanny looked perplexed. She had been expecting Henrietta to return rosy with health and eyes sparkling with pleasure. Instead of which her charge seemed subdued.

“Who accompanied you on the ride?”

Henrietta started on the other boot.

“The the Duke’s groom Joe,” she replied in as light a tone as she could muster.

Nanny was not deceived. Something was troubling the girl.

“Did anything improper occur?”

Henrietta looked up in alarm. She really must not let Nanny get ideas like that into her head.

“Oh, it’s not at all what you think, Nanny. It’s just that the D Joe tried to apprehend a thief, who got away though Joe managed to retrieve the items he had stolen. The whole incident unsettled me rather.

“I am sure the thief is the villain from The Boston Queen, the prisoner who escaped on the road and probably hid on one of the coaches bringing us here to Merebury.”

“My goodness!” breathed Nanny. “To think that you were in such danger while I was all tucked up in bed!”

“Oh, I was quite safe. I was in good hands.”

Good hands indeed!

That the Duke had courage and command could not be denied, but he had played her just like like a fish on a hook. Allowed her to believe he was a groom, someone with whom she could feel completely at ease.

She had even ridden full saddle in his presence!

This, added to the fact that he had witnessed her in a state of semi-undress the day before, made her redden with shame and indignation.

What must he think of her? Was she a source of entertainment for him?

She had heard of the merry licence of the Prince of Wales and his retinue. Was she now to be the subject of merriment at some future royal supper?

Her head ached as she imagined him recounting his morning’s sojourn not just to the Prince, but also to Lady Butterclere and Miss Foss. How they would snigger at the thought of her gullibility. How they would enjoy the idea of her discomfiture.

Why did he do it, why?

She now cast her mind back to that first encounter.

Henrietta had to be honest and admit to herself that he had not deliberately misled her until he realised that she took him for the groom.

Then he had announced himself to be simply ‘Joe’.

He had clearly mistaken her for Romany.

Perhaps initially he had been merely teasing the girl he thought to be his prospective fiancée, amused that she did not recognise him from the photographs she had seen.

But why did he not reveal himself when he realised his mistake? And why had he then compounded his error by inviting her

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