LITMIR.BIZ

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grin. “Be of good cheer, Miss Kethley. Later this morning I intend to investigate the condition of the road. If I think it safe to proceed, this afternoon we will escort you to your anxious family.”

      “Oh, thank you, my lord. They must be beside themselves with worry. I would be very grateful to you for their sake.”

      And for my own. This morning his lordship’s masculine energy seemed to flow from him in waves. Even as he relaxed over morning coffee, it set an unfamiliar sympathetic vibration rippling through Iantha as never before. Try as she might, she could not wall him out. Perhaps the camaraderie of the evening before accounted for the increased difficulty. She had relinquished her control, and she could not regret it, but…

      His lordship had undeniably breached her walls. He had made her laugh. Genuinely laugh. She had even danced with him. But now…

      Now she felt vulnerable again.

      Afraid.

      She finished a scone and hastily excused herself.

      Rob tapped politely on the bedchamber door and mustered his patience for what seemed an unnecessarily long wait. At last his guest opened the door a crack and peered cautiously around it. Rob sighed. His evasive lady had once again fled. He had cherished hope that the relaxation of the previous evening would have a more permanent effect. Ah, well. He pushed lightly on the door, and she stepped back enough to allow him into the room.

      At least his news should please her. “I believe that we may attempt the journey, Miss Kethley, if we go on horseback. I will take Feller and Thursby with us to help break the way and assist should we encounter any difficulties. Burnside and Vijaya can hold the keep.”

      A relieved smile brightened her face. “Thank you, Lord Duncan. I am more indebted to you than I can ever repay.”

      Rob studied her for a heartbeat. If she recognized what the inescapable consequence of this situation must be, she gave no sign of it. “No repayment is needed, Miss Kethley. I am happy to be of service to you. However, conditions are likely to become difficult. Can you manage one of my horses, or would you prefer to ride with me?”

      She didn’t hesitate a moment. “I will ride alone.”

      “As you wish.” What other answer had he expected? He just hoped she did not overestimate her strength and skill.

      They did not make the trip easily. Although the sun had softened the snow enough for the horses to push through, it required several hours of hard going for both men and beasts to cover the distance his charge had driven in an hour two days before. In places they were obliged to leave the drifted roadway completely and take to the boggy, windswept hillside, jumping the small freshets of melting snow. When at last the tired party trotted up the drive of Hill House, all of them showed signs of wear, but Miss Kethley still sat her saddle with a stiff spine. No, she was not nearly as fragile as she looked.

      They had not yet reached the door when a tumult of people and voices spilled out of the house to surround them.

      “Miss Iantha!”

      “Annie, Annie!”

      “Oh, my dear! Iantha.”

      Rob had no opportunity to help Miss Kethley from her mount. A dozen hands reached for her before he had his feet on the ground. A tall, slender youth sporting extremely high collar points lifted her down and enveloped her in a bear hug, oblivious to the damage to his elaborately tied cravat, while a younger boy hovered nearby. She kissed the cheek of one and tousled the blond curls of the other as she stepped back. “Thank you, Thomas. Don’t look so solemn, Nathaniel. I am quite well.”

      At that moment a small whirlwind of ribbons and petticoats launched herself into Miss Kethley’s arms. “Oh, Annie! Where have you been? We have been so worried. I prayed and prayed….” Great tears coursed down the pink cheeks.

      Her sister enfolded the girl in a quick hug and then set her away and wiped at the tears running down the young cheeks. “Do not cry, Valeria. I had an accident, but Lord Duncan saved me from the storm.” She turned to the lady of middle years with hair as silver as her own. “Now do not you start to cry, Mama.”

      The older woman satisfied herself with a brief embrace and released her daughter, wiping a tear from her own violet eyes. “I am just so relieved, Iantha. I have been quite distraught.”

      Miss Kethley turned to Rob. “May I present Lord Duncan, Mama? My parents, Lord Duncan—Lord and Lady Rosley.”

      “Your servant, ma’am.” Rob bowed to the lady and, shifting to face the tall, thin older man who had just come up leaning on a cane, bowed a second time. “Lord Rosley, your servant, sir.”

      “Duncan.” His lordship nodded, his eyes narrowed, but immediately swiveled toward his daughter. “Iantha, is everything well with you?”

      “Quite well, Papa. A small snowslide struck the gig and almost buried it in the drifts. A shaft broke, and poor Toby was hurt. Lord Duncan arrived to extricate us just as the storm broke. We were fortunate to have been near his home at the Eyrie. I am unhurt—only very sorry for the anxiety I have caused you.”

      “Humph. As you should be, minx.” Lord Rosley sniffed, cleared his throat and pinched her cheek. “Well, let us not stand here in the cold. All of you come in. You cannot return tonight.”

      “Thank you, my lord.” Rob handed his reins to Feller who, followed by Thursby, led the horses away in the direction indicated by the Hill House grooms.

      Rob followed his host. “If I may, Lord Rosley, I would like very much to have a word with you in private.”

      His lordship favored him with another hard stare.

      “Yes, I should think you would.”

      Her mother took one look at her bedraggled state and hustled Iantha up the stairs to her bedchamber. Having gently, but firmly, evicted young Valeria with a promise to let her sit with Iantha later while she changed clothes, she turned to her older daughter.

      “Are you truly all right? You have not been harmed in any way, or frightened?”

      Iantha smiled reassuringly. “No, Mama. Truly, I have not. Of course, I was frightened, to be in such a situation….” She paused and took a deep breath. The fear she had felt two days before had begun to fade. Thank God. “But Lord Duncan proved a very kind gentleman—a gentleman in every way.”

      Her mother sank down on the bed with a relieved sigh. “Oh, I am so glad. I couldn’t bear for you to have been hurt again—or even threatened.”

      “Nothing of that sort occurred, Mama.” Iantha sat beside her. “I was never in any danger of harm except for the snowslides.” And my own difficult emotions. Iantha patted her mother’s hand.

      “Snowslides.” Lady Rosley raised her eyebrows. “Never tell me there was more than one!” Her hands flew to her heart.

      Oh, dear. She had said too much. Iantha quickly shook her head. “No…well, yes, Mama, but Lord Duncan plucked me out of the way of the second one.”

      “It seems we have much to thank him for.” Her mother looked at Iantha with narrowed eyes.

      “Yes.” Iantha studied her hands. An uncomfortable thought had occurred to her. “Mama… What do you think he and Papa are discussing?”

      “Why, dear, Lord Duncan is asking your father for your hand in marriage, of course.”

       Chapter Four

       R ob followed Lord Rosley into his library, uncomfortably aware of the latter’s suspicious manner, but not overly concerned. Of course the Viscount was worried about what had happened to his daughter over the last two days—and would be more worried when he discovered that she had been the only woman in the house. But Rob knew exactly how to make allaying the older man’s fears a simple matter.

      He had given it a great deal of thought in the last day

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