The Babe and the Baron Read Online Free Page A

at the door.”
    “Good gracious, sir, I cannot leave at the drop of a hat. I must pack my clothes and take leave of my friends and close up the house...” A dozen necessary tasks raced through her mind. “If you are in a hurry, I can travel by stage.”
    “I beg your pardon, I did not mean to rush you. If my coachman drives you to call on your friends, can you be ready to leave this evening, do you think? We might spend the night in Cambridge and reach London tomorrow.”
    “London? Where is Llys?”
    “In Shropshire, on the Welsh border, due east of here but it will be quicker to go back to Town and out again by the post roads than directly cross country.”
    “I...I had rather not go to London.” Papa and Mama never missed a Season in Town. She could not bear the possibility of a chance meeting.
    “As you wish,” he said, with an indifference belied by the understanding in his eyes.
    Lord Wyckham was altogether too knowing. Had he heard the full story of her elopement? Laura faced the fact that his motives might not be half so admirable as he claimed. She must be mad to go off with a stranger to an unknown destination. In a sudden panic, she clutched the bench with both hands. She was safe here...
    The colander slid from her lap, depositing half its contents on the carpet of pink and white petals. Setting his hat on the bench, the baron crouched to right the colander and scooped up the handful of beans.
    Impossible to distrust a man who gathered spilled beans and rescued one from spiders, she decided with a silent sigh.
    He bowed, smiling, as he presented the colander to her. “Your luncheon, ma'am. We shall dine in Cambridge.”
    She took the colander, and the hand he offered, and rose. He picked up the basket as if it were perfectly natural for a fashionable nobleman to carry such a prosaic object. They turned towards the cottage.
    At the open back door, the gold braid on his scarlet coat flashing in the sun, Captain Wyckham stood flirting with Sally, invisible in the kitchen. The maid's giggles proclaimed her delighted with the attentions of the dashing young officer.
    “May we interrupt?” said Lord Wyckham dryly.
    His brother grinned. “I was just telling Sally she's in for a treat, ma'am. All settled is it? Sal, my girl, take off your apron. We're off to Shropshire.”
    “Oh no, sir, I can't do that.” She appeared in the doorway, looking dismayed. “If you please, madam, Pa won't never let me go to furrin parts. He took on something dreadful when I wanted to work in Cambridge.”
    “Of course, Sally, I did not expect you to go with me. I shall give you a quarter's wages and you can take care of the cottage for me while I am away.”
    Lord Wyckham frowned. “That is all very well, but you cannot travel alone with a gentleman, ma'am.”
    While his insistence upon propriety reassured her, Laura was ready to seize the excuse not to go. Captain Wyckham intervened.
    “I'll go with you, Gareth,” he offered obligingly. “Two gentlemen, both relatives, will make it quite proper, ma'am—Cousin Laura. We must be sure to call each other Cousin.”
    His brother agreed, though he seemed a trifle dubious. Perhaps he guessed at Laura's second thoughts.
    They arranged that the carriage was to take the gentlemen back to Cambridge for the day and then return to be at Laura's bidding. She went up to her chamber to begin packing.
    Through the open window came their voices as they walked around the outside of the cottage. “I expect I could hire a maid in Cambridge,” said Cousin Gareth. “You wanted to visit your friend.”
    “I can see old Bunjie any time. I don't mind coming with you. Cousin Laura's a Trojan, isn't she? Game as a pebble! I rather like her. She's no beauty, of course, but it's just as well, for Maria don't take kindly to competition in that department.”
    Laura gazed dejectedly at her meagre wardrobe of practical brown and grey cottons and worsteds, some cheaply dyed to mourning black. Not