“You are being terribly naïve. There is no terrible misunderstanding. You know what you saw,” she gasped, her voice laden with anxiety.
Her tears blended with the raindrops that pelted her cheeks, but she didn’t care. The further she walked, and the longer it rained, the boggier the path got until she slipped and slid more than she walked. Still, she was oblivious to the sharp stones that poked through the soft soles of her boots, and the mud that caked the bottom of the uniform she still wore. She didn’t see the cornucopia of vibrant greens, golds, greys, and browns that made up the landscape, or the tumultuous clouds that billowed and danced threateningly in the sky.
Nothing mattered apart from the fact that she had to find a way of piecing together the fractured remnants of her life. Not only that but she had to think of a way to explain to her father what had gone wrong without incurring his wrath, and being tossed out on her ear for being a harlot.
Aidan sighed as he woke up. He sensed that he was being watched. It took him a moment for his mind to resurface enough to focus on what was bothering him. When he opened his eyes, he looked straight into the disconcerted gaze of his butler, Rollo.
It was then that his world crashed down around him. He stared at the back of the head of the woman before him and felt his stomach drop to his toes. His eyes widened. The horrifying realisation then slammed into him that the woman he thought he was holding wasn’t Petal. It was, in fact, Edwards.
He turned a beseeching look on Rollo, who looked back in disgust. Rather than speak, the butler turned around and disappeared out of the door without a backward look. The loud slam of the door made his disgust evident.
It was enough to make the woman in front of him jump in alarm.
Aidan bolted out of bed. He still had his nightshirt on, which was reassuring, but the question as to why Edwards was in his bed in the first place was less so.
“Just what the Hell do you think you are doing in my bed?” Aidan bellowed.
He watched the woman twitch, but he suspected she hadn’t been asleep in the first place. The proof was there in her wide-awake gaze when she rolled over and gave him a sultry look.
“What is it, darling?”
“Get out of this bed this instant, or I swear, as God is my witness, I am going to drag you out by your hair you heathen.”
“Oh, come now,” Edwards drawled seductively. “Then everyone will know what we have been up to. I don’t mind if you don’t.”
“God, you are shameless,” he snarled.
He wasn’t about to be cowed by the woman though. From the daylight outside, he suspected it was time for Petal to light the fire in his room. Determined not to allow her to see Edwards even in his bedchamber at this time in the morning, let alone in a partially clothed state as she was, he hauled her out of bed. Thankfully, she had only taken her dress off, which now lay suggestively abandoned on the floor. Picking it up, Aidan thrust it at her and dragged her toward the door in her petticoats.
“Get out of my room and, while you are in yours, pack your belongings. I want you out of this house today. If you don’t go, I am damned well going to drag you to the door by your hair.”
He slammed the door closed on her spluttering protests and locked it for good measure while he was there. Once alone, he cursed fluidly and tried to decide what the hell he was going to do next. He knew he hadn’t touched Edwards sexually. After his tryst with Petal, that wasn’t even physically possible for his still healing body. Not only that, but Edwards was completely unappealing to him. He would have to be drugged out of his mind on Laudanum to even be coerced to get into bed with her.
With that reassuring thought locked firmly in his mind, he turned his attention toward what to do about Petal. Yesterday he had practically avoided her all day. While the dowager had been there, he hadn’t dared speak to her or look at her for fear of revealing his deep affection for her. The last thing he wanted was to forewarn his mother, or her cohorts, that there was anything going on between them. He knew they would do their damnedest to drive Petal out of the house, and would brand her a wanton to anyone within ear-shot.
After this morning’s little debacle, one thing was now abundantly clear. Whatever he did it had to be quick, and preferably before Edwards cast some scurrilous rumours about their fabricated assignation. Or, heaven forbid, hinted to the dowager that she had spent the night in his bed, and that Rollo was a witness.
Aware that Rollo was now probably at odds with him as well, Aidan rang for his butler.
For the first time in several weeks, he got dressed. Then he settled down in the chair beside the fire to wait.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Petal opened the door to home, took one look at her father, and burst into loud, uncontrollable sobs. She saw little of the farmhouse kitchen she had grown up in; or her father for that matter. Her world narrowed to nothing more than the coarse material of his shirt, and the heartbreak that shattered her world.
It took nearly an hour before she calmed down enough to take a seat at the table. Once she did, her father drew a chair forward and sat opposite. He braced his elbows on the table-top so he could look into her downcast face.
“What happened?”
Petal sucked in a deep breath and tried to find the right way to tell him but just couldn’t shame herself in his eyes. In the cold light of day, she was ashamed at just how quickly she had allowed herself to be fooled by the arrogant aristocrat in the large house.
“It is not what I thought it would be,” she hiccupped evasively.
It was all she could think of saying that would appease his curiosity and provide him with an explanation for her sudden return.
“What happened?” He prompted again when she didn’t speak.
He knew his daughter well. She wasn’t being honest with him.