A Deal with a Duke (The Daring Drake Sisters 2)

before continuing, “We were returning from our estate near Hownam where we’d spent Christmas. And where were you off to?”

“Yes, Miss Drake, you did not have the chance to tell me to where you were traveling before being waylaid,” Harry challenged with one brown brow arched.

“I suppose you haven’t heard the news,” she answered as she cut her beef. “Lord Ainsley asked me to join him and his mother in Scotland through Twelfth Night.” She deliberately paused her fork in midair as if she had just realized this critical thought. “I fear he will worry when I don’t arrive on time.”

Harry choked on his beef and then reached for his wine. “Lord Ainsley you say?” he asked as he placed his wineglass on the table.

“Oh, my,” Lady Gringham said with wide eyes. “I had not heard that bit of news. When did this all occur?”

“It was rather sudden,” Louisa admitted with a secret smile to make everyone trust her...save Harry. With a glance at his angry face, she knew he did not believe a word she uttered. “I must admit, even I was surprised since he’d given me no special notice this Season. But since late August, he has called on me several times a week. He asked me to join them before he left to spend Christmas with his mother.”

Lady Gringham tilted her head with a slight smile. “Well that explains Emerson,” she said so softly Louisa barely heard her.

Louisa looked wistfully toward her glass of wine. “Ainsley seems to understand me in a way no other man has managed.”

Harry coughed as if still choking on something.

“Oh,” Lady Gringham said with a sigh. “It is past time for that rake to reform.”

“Yes, it is,” Louisa replied. “I suppose after that dreadful accident that took his dear father and brother, he has to find a lady who will be his countess.”

“Your mother must be so pleased,” Lady Gringham added as she picked up her wineglass. “She most likely had given up on you ever catching a man.”

Louisa clutched her knife, trying to ignore the urge to hurl it at the countess. “Yes, she had thought me to be a hopeless spinster. But time will tell, I believe.”

Harry leveled her a questioning look. “I hadn’t heard such news either, Miss Drake. I must admit, I am a bit surprised.”

She smiled sweetly at him. “How would you have heard anything this far from town, Your Grace?”

“News does tend to reach out here.”

While he likely knew about Blakely, Harry couldn’t possibly know about Emerson. It had only been four months since that debacle. She put it out of her mind, determined to enjoy her first real meal in days. For a few moments, the men chatted about politics, allowing her time to eat in peace.

“How is your sister, Miss Drake?” Lady Gringham inquired before receiving a cold glare from her husband.

“Emma is recently engaged to Lord Bolton.” Louisa gripped her wineglass tightly before taking a large swallow. Do not ask about Tessa.

“And your older sister?” Lady Gringham continued as if unaware of how both Harry and her husband gawked at her.

“She is quite well, too. She is expecting her first child in early summer.”

“It certainly is about time,” Lady Gringham commented before taking a bite of meat. “She has been married for two years. My daughter was barely wed four months when she informed us she was with child.”

There must be something utterly wrong with Lady Gringham not to notice how uncomfortable poor Harry looked with this conversation. Louisa had to change the topic and what better than the weather. “Your Grace, do you believe the storm will be over soon, so we might be able to continue our journeys tomorrow?”

He gave her a brief look of relief with the change in conversation. “We will have to see in the morning. It appears to be over a half foot of snow and still falling and blowing.”

“Oh no,” Lady Gringham said with a sigh. “My eldest, Sarah, is nearing delivery of our first grandchild. I must get to Suffolk.”

“We will find a way,” Lord Gringham replied, patting his wife’s plump hand.

“You may take my sleigh,” Harry added. “Once you get out of the heavy snow, leave it with an inn. I will have a man return your carriage when the roads clear.”

“Oh, thank you, Your Grace,” Lady Gringham exclaimed.

Louisa smiled, thankful that the couple would be gone come morning. Then she could tell Harry the real reason she arrived. She could only hope he would listen to her idea with an open mind.

HARRY SCOWLED AS THE realization struck that he was now stuck with Louisa until the coaches could get through. She couldn’t return with the Gringhams after telling them she was off to see Ainsley in Scotland. A story certainly made up to throw them off her real motive for arriving unannounced and unchaperoned.