Page 13 of A Lord Apart (The Way to a Lord's Heart 2)

“The combination would be pure chaos, I imagine.”

A picture rose in her mind, puppies romping among the hooves, the resulting havoc. “It would, wouldn’t it?”

“You might be better off with geese,” he mused. “They can be quite—”

“No!”

Whitfield blinked.

“I hate geese,” Penelope admitted. “I was mobbed by a…a gaggle when I was four years old. They nipped at my hands and my hair and terrified me. Philip had to beat them off with a stick.”

“Philip?”

Penelope swallowed a wave of sadness and resentment and deep chagrin. Now she’d done it. Why had she mentioned his name? And how could she expect to avoid it? “My brother,” she said. “He’s dead,” she added before he could ask where Philip was and why she wasn’t living with him.

“I’m sorry.”

She had to change the subject before he moved on to the awkward questions. But her mind had gone blank. Or rather, it had filled with memories of interrogation. Her hands were shaking. Lord Whitfield would notice that weakness and wonder what it meant. He would insist on knowing.

But he didn’t.

When Penelope glanced up, she found surprising sympathy on her neighbor’s blunt features. He seemed puzzled, yes. But he also looked as if he knew it could be horridly painful to speak of a family member. How hadhelearned this? She was moved by the oddest impulse. She wanted to take his hand.

Emotion trembled in the air between them. His brown eyes didn’t drill into hers as others had tried to do, she noted. He was sturdy and muscular, but he didn’tloom. She suspected him of more kindness than he would admit. Tears stung at the idea.

Then Lord Macklin came in, trailed by Tom and Kitty with a fresh pot of tea. Everyone sat down. The gentlemen began to recount the highlights of the chase. Kitty lingered to listen. Macklin made joking comparisons to a military campaign, while Tom acted out some incidents with broad gestures. There was a good deal of laughter.

Penelope joined in gladly. She welcomed the light mood and, even more, the interruption. It gave her time to remember that these were not her friends and safe confidants. She’d made that mistake before, and suffered for it. Lord Whitfield had been quite sharp about the Rose Cottage legacy, and he probably would be again. He was the major landholder in this part of the country and could make things difficult for her. Lord Macklin had practiced charm, but she knew nothing else about him.

And so Penelope donned her social armor and smiled and chatted about nothing for twenty minutes more. When she bid her callers goodbye, she was cordial and distant. And if Lord Whitfield looked dissatisfied, she simply couldn’t help it.

“An interesting young lady,” said Macklin as the men rode back toward Frithgerd together. Tom trailed a discreet distance behind them.

“Yes,” said Daniel. He was aware of feeling disgruntled, and that he had no justification for such a state.

“Quite a conundrum,” the earl went on. “When was the legacy to her added to your father’s will?”

“It was part of the original document, made ten years ago.”

“Was it indeed? And yet you knew nothing of it?”

“My father didn’t share such details with me. Not enough time between his various journeys.” Daniel heard the bitterness in his tone. He spoke again to dispel it. “Of course, I was told the main terms. The disposition of the estate and so on.”

His older companion nodded. “So still a mystery. One might profitably make inquiries about a landowner named Pendleton who lived north of Manchester, I suppose.”

“A landowner?”

“I would say that Miss Pendleton comes from the gentry. Do you disagree?”

Daniel shook his head. The signs of her upbringing were unmistakable.

“And she said she grew up north of Manchester.”

“She had a brother named Philip, now dead.” Immediately, Daniel felt as if he’d betrayed a friend. She’d looked so stricken when she’d mentioned her brother. But for God’s sake, all he wanted was to understand why she was here.

“That should help. Inquiries will take a little while, of course.”

They would take less time for Macklin. He knew everybody. “I suppose it will do no harm to investigate,” Daniel replied.

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