Fallen Angel by Elizabeth Thornton Page B

grandfather, but the Moncrieffs have been like family to me."
    "Well, the question is academic, till the solicitor gets here," interposed Deveryn. "Don't get too attached to Scotland, Miss Sinclair. London isn't so bad, you know. And there's some very fine country within a day's drive—Oxfordshire, for instance." And he flashed Maddie a bold smile.
    Maddie drew a steadying breath. The man was insufferable. She thought to depress his pretensions and turned her eyes up innocently to meet his. It was a mistake. She found herself drowning in their cerulean depths. Silent words touched her, offering warmth, comfort and a promise of things to come. Heat seemed to spread over her skin. She put up one hand to her throat. Only Deveryn noticed her distress, and though his lips remained grave, Maddie was sure that it was laughter which brightened his eyes to the colour of the sky on a clear summer's day.
    Deveryn bit into a scone to hide his smile. It amazed him to think that the electricity which seemed to crackle between himself and the girl went unremarked by their companions. Cynthia, who had bored him in the past with childish displays of temper when his eyes had strayed to other women, seemed totally oblivious of his compulsive attraction for the slip of a girl who sat very much on her dignity pretending an ignorance of what he intended for her future. Guardians, indeed! As though he gave a rap for them! It was only a formality, and then the girl who had captured his heart would be under his protection.
    Conversation shifted to Drumoak's neighbours, and though Deveryn was careful to contribute his share to the conversation, he found that he could listen with only a small portion of his attention while he unobtrusively contemplated the girl across the tea trolley.
    Not a beauty according to the fashion of the day, he supposed, though there was something very arresting about that vibrant colouring. Her hair, he noted, was just as he suspected. In the light of day, the muted fire in each silky tendril kindled to a burnished copper. Across her straight nose, there marched a sprinkling of freckles, an adornment which the females of his acquaintance would regard as a positive affliction. On Maddie he thought them adorable and wondered if there were others concealed beneath the drab mourning dress. It would be his pleasure, he decided, to uncover them one by one. But it was her eyes, those intelligent and eloquent dark mirrors of her thoughts which gave the girl her real claim to beauty. Though he was sure that he had discerned a welcome in them when he had first stepped over Drumoak's threshold, he was aware that a protective veil had been drawn over them. A few moments alone with the girl, and he would soon shatter the fragile defenses she seemed intent on building against him.
    It was Miss Spencer who abetted the viscount in his design.
    "No let up in the storm. I think we're in for a week of it. I hope, Lord Deveryn, that you don't intend to travel the roads in this unsettled weather?"
    "Only the three miles to Inverforth. I think I'll hole up there till the worst of it is over."
    Miss Spencer was suitably distressed. "Please, don't even consider it! Our hospitality at Drumoak may not be extravagant, but it exceeds anything you're likely to find in Inverforth." She looked to Maddie for confirmation.
    "Oh quite," said Maddie, though her voice lacked conviction. "But we shan't be offended if you have pressing business elsewhere that requires your attention."
    "Thank you," returned Deveryn dryly. "How could I refuse such a generous offer? To be perfectly frank, a stretch in the country is to my taste at present, and, as you say, Inverforth's inn has little to recommend it."
    It took only a few moments to make the necessary arrangements, and his lordship's carriage was on its way back to the White Horse to collect his valet and baggage. Duncan accompanied the coachman since it was deemed that his escort in a stretch of road which was