“Indeed. It is fortunate for me that the man was not a better shot with a pistol. Miss Langdon, you did not suffer any ill effects from yesterday’s incident, I hope.”
“I am very well. Only my parasol was broken, thank God.”
“Yes, I am very grateful to God that the man did not turn his gun on you after you struck him.”
“You were his intended target. I only wish I could have done him more damage.” Leorah smiled. “But who would want to harm you, my lord? Have you made such an enemy?”
“It appears I have. I still do not know why, though I’m fairly certain I know who was behind this attempted murder.”
He must mean Mr. Pinegar. “Surely those three lords who take such prodigious care of you have an idea how to find the culprit out and present evidence of his evil actions.”
Lord Withinghall shifted his body in his chair and cleared his throat. “Not yet, I’m afraid. And they are the reason I wanted to call on you, to apologize for those three lords of whom you speak.”
“Apologize for them? If they have done wrong, then they should be the ones to apologize.”
“I realize that. But I do not want you to think that I sent them or even knew that they were coming here to say those things to you. I would never have wanted them to speak thusly on my behalf.”
“But perhaps they were right.”
He lowered his brows, drawing them together.
“Your reputation and career may suffer from being in my company.”
“I do not attempt to address foolish speculations. You have done nothing wrong, and I will not be controlled by the gossipmongers’ idle chatter.”
“But I know it would pain you,” Leorah said softly, lowering her voice, “to be embroiled in a scandal.”
“So I might have thought as well.” His expression was very sober, and he looked into her eyes. “But this has taught me that the only thing that would truly pain me would have been to be at fault in a scandal, to have done something shameful or hurtful to another person, not the scandal itself.”
Leorah’s breath shallowed as she contemplated his statement. Only a truly good man of noble character could have spoken those words—and meant them.
“But you value your career,” Leorah said, her heart suddenly beating erratically as she tried to read his expression. “You would not want anything to prevent you from serving your country.”
“I do value my career, but . . . perhaps I may have made an idol of it.”
Felicity started fanning herself with her handkerchief. She seemed to realize what she was doing and clasped her hands in her lap.
He continued to stare intently into Leorah’s eyes. “I am coming to realize that there are more important things in life than worldly success. Or preserving the good opinion of people who have nothing to do with my happiness.”
A lump formed in her throat. “That sounds very wise.”
“Perhaps these near-death experiences are inciting me to become a philosopher.”
Leorah smiled. “Yes. A very good one, I would say.”
Felicity sat quite still, her lips parted as she looked from Leorah to Lord Withinghall and back to Leorah.
“It is incredible,” Leorah said, “that the man did not murder you. You were so close to him when the gun went off. But I suppose he was so startled he lost his aim when you came leaping off the stage and fell on top of him.” Leorah bit her lip to stop herself from smiling.
“It was undignified, I suppose.” One side of his mouth went up in a wry smile. “But not as undignified as running away.”
“Undignified?” Leorah placed her hand over her heart. “It was very brave. No one should be concerned with dignity when one is facing down a gun.”
“You were the brave one, striking an armed man with only a parasol.”
Leorah laughed.
“But, thankfully, God in his mercy kept us both safe yesterday.”
“Yes. Thankfully.”
“Well, I should go. I do not wish to delay your morning walk.” Lord Withinghall stood to leave, and after a few civilities, the servant showed him out.
When he was gone, Felicity hurried to the window and watched him walk down the street. She spun around, her eyes large and a smile on her lips.
“Oh, Leorah. He wants to ask you to marry him!”
“What could have made you come to that conclusion?” She could not let Felicity know that she had thought the same thing. And yet, there were so many reasons why it could not be true.
“The way he looked! The way he spoke!”
“He was only trying to discover if I was well after the man tried to kill him. You are imagining it.”
“I imagined nothing. No, he is in love with you. I am sure of it. And you cannot convince me otherwise.”
“That he would be in love with me seems very unlikely. He already asked me to marry him once, and I refused him. He would never ask me again.”
“Perhaps he wasn’t in love with you then, but he is now.”
“That can’t be true, Felicity. He has always disliked me.”
“He may have disliked you when he barely knew you, but he’s come to know you much better.”
“Well, even if he is in love with me,” Leorah said, turning away from her friend and fingering the draperies hanging beside the window, “I’m not in love with him.” Am I?
“Why not? He is handsome. He doesn’t listen to his friends who have told him not to speak to you. And he is a viscount with a large fortune.”
“Yes, but he disapproves of people like me who don’t follow society’s rules. And he’s incapable of passionate love.” At least, that was what she had always believed about him. But did she still believe that?
“How do you know he’s incapable of passionate love? He loves helping children, and did you hear what he said about not making an idol of his career? And that thing he said about there being more important things in life, and about his happiness . . . I know he was speaking of you.”
“You know no such thing. He never said a word about me. You nearly convinced me—I’d nearly convinced myself—but we’re both only being silly.”
“How do you feel about him? Do you love him?”
Leorah took a deep breath and allowed herself a bit of soul searching. Finally, she said, “I have never been in love with a man, but I always imagined if I were in love, it would be similar to how I feel about Buccaneer.”
Felicity’s mouth flew open. “Are you going to compare a viscount to a horse?”
“If I cannot feel more for a man than I do for my horse, I cannot very well be in love with him, can I?” Leorah was only partially in jest. “I love my Bucky. I miss him when I don’t see him for a few days. I want to talk to him and put my arms around him whenever I do see him.” Did she also feel that way about Lord Withinghall?
Oh dear. She did miss him when she didn’t see him. She did want to talk to him and put her arms around him when she saw him. She even wanted to feel his arms around her. But how could she admit that to Felicity?
“Leorah, you are not human if you do not feel at least a bit of love for the man. I’m half in love with him myself, though it’s clear it is you he cares for.”
“I do like him. He is not so dull as I thought he was at one time.”