No one laughed along with her, and she looked around.

  Poor Lady Hurlston, though, held a gloved hand at her throat and her face was exceedingly pale. Fearing the woman was about to faint, Charlotte brushed off the earl’s grip, and rushed to her side. “Are you all right, my lady?”

  “I am not at all right!” Lady Hurlston cried, clutching Charlotte’s hand tightly. “I would have been run down and killed but for you. Who were they?”

  Charlotte felt the older woman trembling and looked about them for seating. But of course there was no place to sit a lady of her distinction anywhere close by in Hyde Park. She couldn’t very well be asked to sit on the ground against a tree. Instead, Charlotte could only squeeze the lady’s hands in hers. “I’ve no idea, but I am sure they have gone, my lady. You are quite safe now.”

  “My son might have been killed,” Lady Hurlston nearly sobbed.

  Afraid a complete collapse or faint was imminent, Charlotte risked putting an arm about the woman’s back to support her. “He’s as whole and as handsome as ever,” she promised.

  Charlotte urged the countess toward her son.

  Mr. Berringer was standing beside Hurlston now and had his hands on his hips, staring off into the distance. “Bloody fools! The Park needs policing.”

  Lord Hurlston agreed and caught Charlotte’s gaze. “I cannot believe a pair of riders almost ran us down in Hyde Park. They should have been on the row. Did anyone recognize them?”

  Everyone demurred.

  “I’m sorry. I never got a good enough look at their faces,” Charlotte apologized. “They were moving too fast.”

  “Probably some ridiculous bet to be won,” Berringer decided, shaking his fist at nothing.

  “Yes, I suppose it could have been a wager of some sort,” Charlotte agreed quickly. “They must have wanted to see how many people they could offend in under ten minutes.”

  “Ten?” Hurlston asked.

  “I noticed them circling couples in the park not so long ago. Crisscrossing the lawn where anyone strolled,” she told him. “Like most people, you didn’t seem aware of them until they were almost upon you both.”

  That was probably the longest she’d ever spoken to Lord Hurlston about anything that hadn’t involved mention of the weather. She glanced at his mother, who seemed much calmer now, and smiled.

  Hurlston removed his hat and shuffled his feet. “I thought it was merely thunder.”

  Charlotte couldn’t help but laugh, then quickly smothered it.

  He frowned at her and put his hat back on. “What’s funny in that?”

  “Oh, nothing.” She glanced up at the clear sky and then smiled at Lady Hurlston, who still seemed content with Charlotte’s physical support. At least the lady was no longer trembling with fright. “I was just thinking of the weather at that moment. It’s an otherwise lovely day for a stroll.”

  Hurlston looked up at the near cloudless sky above the park and grimaced. “It was a reasonable assumption on my part.”

  “Of course, my lord,” she quickly assured him, though it was hard not to grin that an earl was defending himself to her. She was finally having a conversation with him. A pity it was too late to do her any good.

  Hurlston reached for his mother’s hand. “Mother?”

  Charlotte let her arm fall away from the older woman’s back.

  “So much for the enjoyable stroll you promised we would have,” Lady Hurlston said in a shaky voice. “I should have trusted my instincts and remained at home.”

  “This will never happen again,” he promised, glancing Charlotte’s way.

  “Oh, I’m sure Lord Hurlston is correct,” Charlotte added with a reassuring smile. “Everyone is usually on their best behavior in Hyde Park at this time of day.”

  “Damn dangerous way to ride a horse,” Berringer grumbled once more, before slapping Hurlston on the shoulder. “Well, they do look like they’ve gone, but we should keep an eye open in case the fools come back.”

  Charlotte agreed.

  “I think we best return to our carriage and head home,” Eugenia murmured, catching Charlotte’s eye and nodding vigorously. Charlotte took that to mean they would continue their conversation later. “Would you care to walk with us, Lady Hurlston?”

  The lady gestured to Charlotte. “I should be happy to, and I might never let this brave young lady out of my sight, so would someone please introduce us?”

  Charlotte looked to Eugenia, but it was Lord Hurlston who performed the introductions, using her full name and mentioning her parents as well.

  Charlotte quickly offered a curtsy.

  “It is a pleasure to meet you,” the lady said, but then her brow creased. “Your face seems familiar. Am I acquainted with your mother, perhaps?”

  Charlotte nodded. Lady Hurlston and her mother were born in the same year. She knew that from studying the peerage during her first aborted season, when her interest in Lord Hurlston had been at its first peak. “Perhaps you came out together? Her name before marriage was Olivia Hemdale.”

  Her face brightened. “So we did, though I have not spoken to Olivia in many years now. I trust your mother is in good health. She always professed to have a robust constitution.”

  “Yes, indeed she is quite well,” Charlotte promised. “My parents travel often, so it is not surprising you’ve not exchanged words in recent years.”

  “Miss Waters’ parents are notoriously difficult to pin down for conversation, Mama,” Lord Hurlston murmured. “Don’t ever mention additions to our library in their presence or they’ll abandon you in an instant.”

  Charlotte winced.

  But the lady nodded. “Is it because of their adventures that you encountered unhappy elephants?”

  “Indeed, it is, unfortunately.” She glanced at Lord Hurlston. His mother was quite upset. “Will you both walk with us, my lord? There can be safety in greater numbers.”

  “That seems a wise thing to do.” Hurlston nodded. “Are you ready, Mama?”

  “Indeed I am. I should never have let you persuade me to venture from the town house,” she muttered softly to him.

  Charlotte winced. She knew a fair bit about Lord Hurlston’s mother, of course. Society loved to gossip about eccentrics like her parents, and recluses like his mother seemed to have become in recent years. Lady Hurlston was said to be deeply affected by the loss of her husband two years ago. She had mostly kept to herself this season, eschewing the usual London amusements for the quiet of home. But she always traveled where her eldest son went.

  They fell into step, heading back the way they came, and surprisingly Charlotte ended up with Lord Hurlston on her other side.

  “I am in your debt for the timely warning,” he murmured quietly after a few steps. “Thank you.”

  “Think nothing of it, my lord.”

  “I could not do that. I wasn’t paying attention, and I ought to have been.”

  “Hyde Park can be as dangerous a place as anywhere in the world,” she promised him. “We must all do our best to look out for each other.”

  “Is that what you learned while traveling, frightening off elephants with just that flimsy parasol you hold?”

  She looked up at him slowly. “It pays to never take your safety for granted anywhere, my lord. One must use whatever comes to hand, in Hyde Park, in a ballroom, and in the jungle. Parasols come in handy in many situations, not just for beasts.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  “Good.”

  He frowned. “I trust you’ve never needed to try your hand at fighting back savages or scoundrels with that thing.”

  “Shallow-water fishing,” she replied with a tight grin. Charlotte had fired pistol shots at the feet of a savage once. Not that anyone needed to know that part of her past. Was it any wonder she never wanted to go back to that life?

  When they reached the carriage, Lord Hurlston’s was signaled to draw up behind the Berringer carriage. Although Lord Hurlston urged his mother toward his, the old lady dug in her heels and turned toward Charlotte.

  “You must come for tea, and bring your mother, too,” she said. “As my son said, we are forever in your debt.”

  “That is very kind of you, but I assure you, you have no obligation toward me,” she promised, blushing fiercely. Although the honor of the invitation was great, the chances of getting Mother to socialize with anyone on the cusp of leaving the country were slim.

  “We do owe you a great debt,” Lord Hurlston promised. “You must come for tea, even if you mother has other plans for the day.”

  Charlotte gave grudging agreement and murmured a goodbye to the older woman as she finally agreed to go.

  Charlotte filed after the others toward the Berringer carriage, feeling unsettled still. Danger left her feeling out of sorts. Mr. Berringer swung up onto his horse, intending to follow them home. When it came time to enter the carriage, Lord Hurlston was suddenly by Charlotte’s side again.

  She nearly swooned as his fingers clasped tight on her elbow. “Anything,” he whispered.

  “Anything?” She looked at him in dazed confusion. Only inches away but oh so far out of her league. Her senses swam momentarily with the thrill of his presence.

  His gaze softened as he squeezed her elbow a little tighter. “I’ll grant any boon within my power to give.”

  She shook her head to break the spell he’d cast over her. What she wanted from him, she could never have. She must be content with the occasional smile in her direction in the years to come. “There’s nothing you can give me,” she insisted before entering the carriage.

  Charlotte heaved a sigh as he disappeared from her sight as the door shut. It wasn’t fair that he’d finally noticed her after he’d announced his intention to make a perfect match with someone else.

  Chapter Four

  Winston ushered his mother into his home and sighed in relief as the door shut behind them. “There you are, Mama. Home at last.”

  “And not a minute too soon,” Mother murmured.

  Winston was long over the fright of nearly being run down and moving toward feeling indignant about that. Never before had he been endangered by talking a stroll. Mother might have been hurt. His friends and Charlotte Waters, too.

  “Have you time to amuse an old friend,” a voice suggested out of nowhere.

  Winston spun around in surprise to find Lucien Hunt, a country neighbor, standing just inside the open library doorway with a glass of wine in his hand.

  Winston gaped. “Good Lord. What the devil are you doing in London, Hunt?”

  Hunt grinned and rushed forward to shake his hand. “I’ve come to offer my congratulations to you and your beautiful future bride, of course. I understand a date has finally been set. I had to come and see myself that it was true, and it does seem the rumors are true.”

  “Indeed, they are. A date has been set but you didn’t have to come all this way to congratulate us,” Winston said. Lucien Hunt was exactly the last man he’d expect to travel all the way to the capital just to offer his best wishes on his marriage. “The wedding is not for weeks yet.”

  Hunt inclined his head. “I had other business to attend to in London as well.”

  “Oh, of course,” Winston murmured.

  “Lady Hurlston how wonderful to see you again,” Hunt said, taking up mama’s hand in his and kissing the air above it. “It’s been too long, my lady.”

  “It has,” she answered with a fond smile for their neighbor.

  Hunt turned about before Winston could ask what business had brought him to London because Elizabeth was coming down the stairs.

  “There’s the blushing bride to be,” Hunt exclaimed. “How do you do, Miss Elizabeth?”

  “Very well, Mr. Hunt. I had no expectation of seeing you for weeks yet,” she said, her cheeks turning pink as Hunt took up her gloved hand too and kissed the air above it.

  “Why don’t we all go into the drawing room,” Winston suggested, moving to claim Elizabeth’s hand. “Shall we?”

  Lucien offered his arm to Mother. “Shall we join them, my dear lady? May I also say how well you look today. London clearly agrees with you and your future daughter-in-law. Why you’ve both never looked more radiant than you do today.”

  Winston caught his friend’s eye. “I’m sure looking forward to your own marriage will put a glow on your own cheeks too, Hunt,” he teased.

  “Ah, I have my doubts I will marry at all now,” Lucien warned, settling mother into a chair and claiming an armchair for himself. “Who would have me?”

  Elizabeth winced. “Lady Hurlston, shall I call for tea?”

  “Please do,” mother agreed with a soft smile for Winston’s future wife as she rang the bell. Mother turned her attention in their neighbor’s direction. “Mr. Hunt, indeed it is a great surprise to have you join us in London at this time of year.”

  “Or any year, for that matter,” Winston murmured. “I was starting to think you’d never come back.”

  “Well, Hurlston here has pestered me sufficiently and now here I am.” He speared Winston with a smirk. “Come on. What exciting news do you have to share with a poor country bachelor? I suppose you’ve driven young Peter away with your lovey-dove ways.”

  Lucien Hunt had always teased them about their longstanding betrothal in terms that made Winston uncomfortable. And it seemed he would continue even now the marriage was announced. “Peter will put in an appearance sooner or later, I’m sure. Other than the banns being read, you missed nothing much else going on.”

  Mother clucked her tongue.

  “No, nothing at all,” Winston warned Mother. He had decided on the way home not to mention the eventful day he and Mother had endured to anyone. There was no point having Elizabeth worried about him, too.

  Elizabeth cleared her throat. “When did you arrive in Town, Mr. Hunt?”

  “Just this morning. I’m staying at Long’s Hotel, on New Bond Street unless you’ve room for another guest.”

  “Of course, I do,” Winston promised after a moment of consideration. But he was annoyed. Hunt had very neatly given him no choice but to agree to house him really or seem churlish. The London townhouse had room enough to play host to a dozen more country friends and Hunt had stayed with Winston before. Though entertaining his neighbor’s was not how Winston had planned to spend the weeks leading up to his marriage.

  “The more the merrier,” Elizabeth agreed with a tight smile.

  For a moment Winston wondered if he should have consulted her about the matter of housing Hunt. But Hunt and Elizabeth usually got along well enough when in the country. He could not imagine he’d be a bother to her now.

  Elizabeth steered the conversation adroitly from one topic to another while they waited for tea to arrive. When a footman appeared bearing a heavy tea tray, Elizabeth was quick to catch the servant’s eye. “Have a guest room prepared for Mr. Hunt.”

  The man looked confused for a moment and glanced at Winston’s mother for instruction.

  “Yes, please do arrange a room for Mr. Hunt,” mother murmured, a little frown forming on her brow.

  Elizabeth noticed the frown, too. “Forgive me, my lady. But Hurlston did say to make myself at home. I hope my occasional requests do not bother you overmuch before the wedding takes place.”

  “Of course not, my dear. I consider you my daughter already. You may do as you please here.”

  “Thank you,” Elizabeth murmured before turning back to their guest. “What news do you have to share from home, Mr. Hunt?”

  “You’ve only been gone a week,” Lucien replied, laughing. “But I do know something that will amuse you.”

  Lucien began to whisper some tidbit of local gossip in her ear.

  Winston didn’t care much for gossip and turned to his mother to whisper, “There’s no need to speak of this morning, Mama. It was only a little bit of excitement, soon forgotten.”

  “I hope so.”

  Winston smiled down at her worried face. “Do not fret about today. It could not have been intentional. As Miss Waters suggested, most likely some ridiculous wager played out in public. No doubt they realized the harm they’d almost caused and fled swiftly to avoid any unpleasantness over their actions.”

  Mother worried her lip still. “If not for that brave girl, I might have lost you.”

  Woman. Charlotte Waters was no child. She was a pretty distraction, too. “A bit of conversation now will do your nerves the world of good, I’m sure.”

  “You might be right,” she conceded.

  Winston sighed. If left alone, Mama would likely nurture her worry of further danger for the whole of the day.

  Papa had been much better in drawing Mother out of her mopes than he was. But he was the head of the family now, and at least she would leave the country estate with him, even if she did not embrace her widowhood yet or a full return to society.

  Hunt could be quite the flatterer, too, and Mother usually responded well to that. It was a pity Lucien had no luck with the ladies his own age though. He seemed destined to remain a bachelor forever at this rate. “How was your journey from home, Hunt?”

  “Crowded,” Lucien complained. “But that is the lot of those who must travel by public conveyances. A private carriage must be vastly more agreeable.”

  “We’ll have to find you an heiress to marry while you’re in London and then you can afford a fine carriage of your own to travel about in,” Winston suggested with a wink for his friend.

  “Do not tease him about marriage, Hurlston,” Elizabeth snapped. “Not when Mr. Hunt has only just arrived in Town.”

  Winston wasn’t unduly surprised by Elizabeth’s sudden rebuke. She tended to overreact whenever the topic of matchmaking and marriages came up in conversation with anyone. “I was only teasing him, as he’s always done to me over the years.”

  “Hurlston may tease me,” Hunt promised, absently patting Elizabeth’s hand where it rested on the arm of her chair. “What else could we expect but a matchmaking attempt from the man who will marry the most sought-after beauty in the district?”