The Devil Meets Lady Veronica Pebblesworth by Tanya Wilde

Author:Tanya Wilde
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: 0
Published: 2016-09-03T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

Daniel entered Veronica’s room without so much as a knock and promptly froze in place. She stood stripped down to nothing but her shift, staring at riding habits displayed on her bed, a suitcase at her feet. He made a mental note to thank Cook for informing him of her mistress’s intentions and shut the door with his foot but made no further move to enter the room.

Perhaps he’d acted too rashly at the pond. Coupled with her father’s demands, they may have pushed her to the edge of what she would allow. If either of them did not proceed with caution, they may lose her. And he was not prepared to let her go over a battle between father and daughter.

She whirled to face him, her eyes alight with fire but said nothing. Oh yes, she’d not yet forgiven him for depositing her in the pond.

“Why have you never married?”

“What?” she snapped.

He took a watchful step closer. “It’s a simple question. You are a beautiful woman and you’re smart. Why have you never married?”

“I do not need to answer that,” she replied on a huff.

“Who is he?”

“Who is who?”

“The lad who broke your heart.”

Taken aback by his question, he watched beneath hooded eyes as those beautiful ones deliberated whether to divulge the part of her past that had kept her from starting a family of her own all these years.

“I have never been in love,” she said with a shrug but circled around the bed to place distance between them.

Daniel remained motionless. His suspicion proved to be correct and he’d arrived at the heart of her reluctance to marry. So he allowed her whatever space she desired.

“But I did fancy a boy once, and caught him kissing Alice Martingale in the stables.”

That almost brought a smile to his face. “I see, and after that, you decided marriage was not for you?”

She shook her head. “It has little to do with matters of the heart, Mr. Crane, but rather a matter of instinct. When I caught them in the stables it occurred to me that men, like most creatures, are slaves to their baser urges. I understood more in that moment than most girls do in their entire lifetime. I found it in my best interest to remain a woman in possession of her own mind, rather than a mindless miss craving the attention of a man.”

“Supreme independence.”

She nodded.

Daniel tilted his head to stare at her with fresh consideration. He understood her reluctance. A woman such as Lady Veronica would never suffer the presence of fools but unlike some youth, he would never betray her trust.

“Why me?” she asked.

He did not pretend to misunderstand. “There is something about you. I simply cannot stay away.”

“But you do not even know me,” she insisted.

“I know you enjoy feeding the ducks at the pond, it clears your mind. You are fond of your servants and treat them as your family because you consider them friends. Not to mention you possess one of the rarest hearts I’ve ever encountered.

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