Hardly a Husband (Free Fellows League 3)

"I was hoping that might be the case," Lady Dunbridge said.

"But I became worried when you were gone for so long. I was afraid someone else might have waylaid you or that you had become lost in the maze. Thank goodness Lord Mayhew offered to help me look for you."

"It's my fault," Jarrod apologized. "I shouldn't have brought her out here without informing you."

"I should think you would have had the good manners to ask me." Lady Dunbridge gave him a serious look. "Instead of informing me."

Jarrod nodded his head. "You're quite right, Lady Dunbridge," he replied in a conciliatory tone. "I should have asked permission to escort Miss Eckersley into the garden. Please accept my apologies."

"Well." Lord Mayhew stepped from behind Lady Dunbridge.

Sarah blanched at the sight of him. She closed her eyes and waited for him to remark upon their earlier encounter, but it never came. He didn't recognize her. But then, how could he? When all he'd seen was her bare leg and her posterior?

"I'm sure my godson meant no harm or disrespect," Lord Mayhew was saying; "it's been a long time since he's had to answer to anyone and he's accustomed to doing things his own way. But Miss Eckersley is here now and I'm sure she's none the worse for wear for having seen the garden by moonlight." He looked at Jarrod.

"I'm sure you're right," Lady Dunbridge said. "And I had no objection to Lord Shepherdston showing Sarah the garden or anything else; it's just that there are people inside who are bound to notice that they were gone an extraordinarily long amount of time."

"If any untoward gossip should result from our absence from the ballroom, I assure you that I will take care of it," Jarrod told her. "In the meantime, I shall assure you, Lady Dunbridge, that I've returned Sarah to you with her virtue intact."

Lady Dunbridge glanced at her niece.

Sarah nodded. "Lord Shepherdston showed me the folly and was a perfect gentleman the whole time." She pursed her lips and added, "Much to my dismay."

"Sarah!"

"It's true." Sarah couldn't quite meet her aunt's gaze. "I should have liked to have gotten a few wildly passionate kisses from my excursion into a beautiful moonlit garden and the mysterious depths of a maze with a man, but Lord Shepherdston's behavior was beyond reproach."

She gave a dramatic sigh and Jarrod bit the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling at her overacting.

Lady Dunbridge looked from Sarah to Jarrod and back again. Sarah was lying through her teeth and Henrietta knew it. "If you say so."

"I do, Aunt Etta," Sarah assured her. "And I will say it to anyone who dares say otherwise."

"Very well, my dear," Lady Dunbridge replied. "But you would both do well to remember your father's teachings." Lady Dunbridge firmed her lips and thought for a minute. "I suggest you begin with two scriptures. Colossians 2:21 and First Corinthians 7:9."

"Yes, ma'am," Sarah replied in an uncharacteristically meek voice that fooled no one.

"By the by." Lord Robert walked over to Sarah and bowed. "We haven't been formally introduced, but I am Robert Mayhew, Lord Shepherdston's godfather and maternal uncle by marriage, and you must be Lady Dunbridge's niece…"

Remembering his manners, Jarrod turned to Sarah and continued the introductions. "Miss Sarah Eckersley, may I introduce Lord Mayhew, seventh Earl of Mayhew?" He turned to Lord Rob. "Lord Mayhew, Miss Sarah Eckersley."

Lord Mayhew rubbed his palms together in anticipation. "And now that we've all toured the gardens together and seen part of the maze, why don't we return to the ballroom and see if any damage has been done?" Lord Mayhew offered an immediate solution and explanation for Sarah and Jarrod's absence, as well as his and Lady Dun-bridge's, and he gave credence to the fiction by escorting Sarah back into the ballroom while Jarrod escorted Lady Dunbridge. "Shall we, my dear?"

"I'd be delighted, Lord Mayhew," Sarah answered. And thank you."

Jarrod arched an eyebrow in query as he offered Lady Dunbridge his arm. "Colossians 2:21, ma'am?"

"Touch not; taste not; handle not, Lord Shepherdston."

Jarrod couldn't help but grin. "Very apropos."

"I thought so." She smiled up at him.

"Dare I ask for a translation of First Corinthians 7:9?"

"It is better to marry than to burn."

"You may have a point there, Lady Dunbridge," Jarrod conceded.