Meant To Be (Pendleton Manor 1)

“Yes, at Albury House. It promises to be one of the most attended events of the Season. Do you know …?” but he bit his lip. “No, of course you don’t.” He paused and then went on, although not as naturally as before. “Why did you leave without telling us, Sophy?”

Now it was her turn to be shocked. She shook her head, some of her hair coming loose from the pins and curling about her face. “I had to leave before your father set the bailiffs on me, Adam. Didn’t he tell you?”

“No.” He watched her warily.

“You think you know so much about me and yet I have heard nothing from Harry,” she said, letting him see her anger. “Although I have written to him more times than I can remember.”

“You’ve written to him?” Adam sounded astonished.

It only made her angrier. “I expect my letters were burnt unopened.”

“Sophy, you know I would never have done such a thing.”

He was right. She tried to calm herself. Adam had always been her friend.

Adam was staring at her thoughtfully, resting a hand on the hilt of his sword. “I can ask him to write to you, if you like?”

She didn’t have to ask who ‘he’ was, but Adam sounded as if he wasn’t sure that suggestion would be welcome to Harry. And when he added, “He’s very busy these days,” it sounded like he was already making excuses for the reply that would never come.

“Is Sir Arbuthnot …?”

“Father had a turn. Collapsed over an argument about a horse. He is confined to his bed most of the time. Not that it stops him from roaring orders to Harry, who is running the estate now. We never did find another manager after your father …Well, Harry does it all, and Father likes to have him at his beck and call.”

“My father didn’t do anything wrong,” she ventured, watching his face. “None of what was claimed was true.”

This time he gave nothing away, but the very vacuity of his expression told her that he did not fully believe her.

“Is Harry married?” she asked, her voice a little high.

A frown creased the skin between his brows. “No,” he said.

She tried not to show her relief but he probably saw it anyway. Unlike Adam, Sophy had never been very good at hiding her feelings.

“I heard that you were married.”

She caught her breath. “Married?” she said.

Who had made up such a story? But deep down she knew. It was another way for Sir Arbuthnot Baillieu to distance his eldest son from a girl he didn’t think good enough.

“Yes, you married your cousin,” Adam went on.

“And you believed that?”

“Adam?” One of the other soldiers was calling to him, and Sophy saw that a group of young women had come up to speak to the men, and a da

rk haired girl was flicking coy glances at Adam. She was reminded again how he had always been one for the ladies.

Sophy quickly forced another smile and said goodbye. Adam bowed over her hand and for a moment it seemed as if he wanted to say something more, but when he didn’t, Sophy walked away.

“What a handsome young man,” her grandmother’s maid said. “He seemed very pleased to see you, miss.”

Sophy smiled, but did not satisfy her curiosity.

When she reached the gates, Sophy turned, and found Adam standing, still watching her. The dark haired girl was clinging to his arm now but he ignored her. He was too far away for Sophy to see the expression on his face, but something about the set of his shoulders made her think that far from being pleased to see her, he had been perturbed by their meeting.

All the way home to Grandma’s, Sophy mulled over their conversation, picking at it like a square of knitting, searching for the dropped stitches. Harry had taken over the estate because his father was unwell, Harry had asked about her and then stopped, Harry had tried to find her and stopped. Adam believed Sophy was married to her cousin. Was that why Harry had stopped looking? Why would he believe such a thing without speaking to her first, face to face?

She shivered, suddenly cold despite the warm day. What if she were to board a coach to Oxfordshire, walk up to Pendleton Manor and knock on the door, demanding entry? It seemed like a good idea, but not if Sir Arbuthnot was still there, and although Adam said he was bedridden, he was still capable of throwing her into prison just as he had her father. She had seen his fury first hand and she was frightened of him.