Page 15 of Black and Silver

“What new game is this?” Lord Lawrence asked, laughing as he reached the wall. “Are we to sit on the grass with the wall at our back, hiding away from the world for a while?” He sounded as if the prospect pleased him.

“Yes, yes, hurry,” Minnie hissed, sinking down even lower when Owen turned slightly in their direction.

He did not appear to see them, and a few seconds later, Minnie realized that Owen was speaking to a stable hand of some sort who had just brough a horse to him. There was enough activity around the inn’s yard that Lord Lawrence standing at the wall with a basket did not stand out as particularly odd, but Minnie did not want to take any chances.

Lord Lawrence sat on the wall, setting the picnic basket beside him, and glanced back to the inn. “Is something wrong?” he asked, frowning in puzzlement.

He looked right at Owen as the stable hand helped him to mount, but as Lord Lawrence didn’t know that what he was seeing was significant, his gaze traveled on to a pair of young ladies laughing as they walked up to the inn, another stable hand mucking out the long building where several carriages were parked, and then at Silas as he stood attending their horses.

Silas glanced around as well, then shrugged, and Lord Lawrence turned his attention back to Minnie.

“Is this a game or is something more serious afoot?” Lord Lawrence asked seriously.

Minnie delayed her answer as she watched Owen thank the stable hand, then nudge his horse forward. She didn’t emerge from her hiding place until the odious man had ridden all the way down the lane, then disappeared behind a hill. Even then, she sat tensely on the wall across the basket from Lord Lawrence, convinced Owen might suddenly gallop back and cry out, “Ah ha! I found you at last!”

“Do you know that man on the horse?” Lord Lawrence asked, lowering his voice to a concerned tone.

Minnie swallowed and glanced guiltily to him. She could run from the truth or pretend her life as she knew it was not indanger, but judging by the look in Lord Lawrence’s eyes, he’d figured her out.

“I suppose you have a right to know,” she sighed, distracting both Lord Lawrence and herself from the direness of the situation by pulling the cloth off the basket to see what they’d been given for luncheon.

“Yes, I believe I do,” Lord Lawrence said, taking the cloth from her and spreading it on the top of the wall.

He then removed the meat pies and mugs of weak ale that the basket contained and set them out as if they were at a formal supper.

Minnie considered delaying by picking up one of the meat pies and taking too large a bite of it, but that would have just drawn things out.

“I do know that man,” she said, trembling on the inside, worried that her confession would bring about the end of her journey with Lord Lawrence and her life of freedom. “His name is Lord Owen Scurloch, and…I was supposed to marry him.”

Lord Lawrence, who had picked up a pie and taken a bite, nearly choked. He chewed a bit, swallowed, then reached for a mug to wash the bite down, then said, “Supposedto marry him?”

Minnie reached for her pie and picked it up sadly. “It was to be an arranged marriage,” she specified. “I wanted no part of it. But my parents insisted they had grown weary of my spinsterhood, my father knows Owen’s father, they have business dealings they want to solidify through marriage, and so I was to be the sacrificial lamb to advance their wants.”

“That is barbaric,” Lord Lawrence said with a serious frown.

Minnie blinked and paused in the middle of taking a bite of her pie.

She quickly finished the bite, swallowed, then asked, “You are not siding with my father on this matter?”

“Why would I?” Lord Lawrence asked, as if it were obvious. “No woman should be forced to marry against her will. I cannot imagine you ever doing such a thing.”

The uncertain sprouts of affection for Lord Lawrence in Minnie’s heart blossomed a little.

“I never would do such a thing,” she agreed, more strength in her voice. “My family was insistent, though. I attempted to leave Wales for the sanctity of London, but my mother caught on to my scheme. She kept me locked in the family castle until the day of my wedding.”

“She did not!” Lord Lawrence gasped, as if she were telling one of her stories instead of the absolute truth. “How is it that you are here with me now and not on your honeymoon?” he asked on.

Minnie smiled broadly. “I escaped from the church before the wedding,” she said. “I had my maid take my trunk to a certain carriage inn. I asked to be alone for a moment to pray before the ceremony, and as soon as my mother left me, I escaped through the vestry and raced to the inn just in time to catch the next coach to London.”

Lord Lawrence took another bite of his pie and studied Minnie while chewing. “On the one hand,” he said once he’d swallowed, “that sounds very much like the sort of thrilling tale you would invent.”

Minnie laughed humorlessly. “I can assure you, it is not invented.”

“That is what I was about to add,” Lord Lawrence went on. He took another bite of his pie, nearly finishing it, then continued. “On the other, that is also precisely the sort of thing I can imagine you doing if you were trapped in an unwanted union. You are not the sort to go meekly to the altar, weeping as you do, and to allow your fate to be decided by others.”

Minnie smiled, sitting straighter. “Why, Lord Lawrence, I believe that is the kindest compliment I’ve ever received.”

“It is sincerely meant,” Lord Lawrence said with a solemn nod, then popped the last of his pie into his mouth.

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