A Dangerous Pursuit (Regency Spies & Secrets Book 1) - Laura Beers (macos ebook reader .TXT) 📗

“It matters not.”

“I don’t like you keeping secrets from me,” Mrs. Foster said, frowning. “It makes me wonder what you are up to.”

“You don’t need to worry,” Madalene assured her. “It is nothing that I am unable to handle on my own.”

“It is my job to worry about you, and I do—incessantly.”

Madalene gave her a reassuring smile. “You have been my favorite companion, and I don’t know what I would have done without you these past six months.”

Mrs. Foster huffed. “I have been your only companion.”

“That makes my statement no less true.”

Graham stepped into the room and met her gaze. “Lord Hawthorne is here to call upon you, Miss. Are you available for callers?”

“I am,” Madalene replied as she reached for her cup of chocolate. “Will you show him to the lawn and inform him that I will be along shortly?”

“Yes, Miss,” Graham said, tipping his head.

After her butler departed, Madalene took a long sip of her chocolate. She returned the empty cup to the table and put her napkin on her plate.

Mrs. Foster leaned back in her chair. “I will be watching you both from the window. Try to avoid doing anything too scandalous.”

Madalene smiled. “I would expect no less from you.”

As she made her way towards the rear of the townhouse, Madalene wasn’t entirely sure which Lord Hawthorne she was going to see today. Would it be the unapproachable side of him, or would it be the pleasant side that she had seen a glimpse of in the drawing room yesterday? She found she rather liked seeing him smile, even if it was only for a moment.

She stepped outside and saw Lord Hawthorne standing on the lawn. He acknowledged her with a tip of his head.

As she came closer, Lord Hawthorne didn’t exactly smile at her, but he didn’t frown at her either. Rather, his expression held an emotion she couldn’t quite decipher. How is he able to mask his emotions so efficiently, she wondered.

“Miss Dowding,” Lord Hawthorne greeted.

She came to a stop in front of him. “Good morning, my lord,” she said. “May I ask how your nose is faring?”

“Tender,” he remarked. “I apologize for calling upon you at such an early hour, but I’m afraid my presence is required at Parliament this afternoon.”

Madalene smiled at him. “I am so pleased that you did,” she replied. “It is no imposition, as I am typically an early riser.”

“You are?”

She nodded. “I prefer riding in the morning, just as the sun comes up. It is peaceful and gives me time to reflect on what I truly want most out of life.”

“Which is?”

“I suppose I want what most people want,” she said, “to find happiness in my life.”

Lord Hawthorne visibly stiffened. “Not everyone is entitled to happiness,” he remarked, his voice gruff.

“I don’t believe that to be true.”

“Then you are incredibly naïve.”

“Perhaps, but I choose to be.”

“There are bad people in this world,” Lord Hawthorne said with a shake of his head, “people that rejoice in others’ misery. Do you suppose they are entitled to happiness?”

“I’m afraid I haven’t had a chance to consider that,” she admitted truthfully.

Lord Hawthorne gestured towards her townhouse and remarked dryly, “You live in a gilded cage, one that keeps you safe from the horrible atrocities of the world. But you have no idea the level of corruption, death, and hatred that spews from every corner of this earth. It is everywhere, and you don’t even have to seek it to find it.”

Hearing the undeniable pain in his words, Madalene asked, “Have you seen this hatred in the world?”

“I have,” he admitted softly. “I have been in the midst of it, and I have seen the devastating effects of it.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that,” Madalene murmured, taking a step closer to him.

Lord Hawthorne watched her with anguish in his eyes, but then he blinked, and his emotions retreated.

He reached behind his back and retrieved a small pistol. “I want to give you this muff pistol,” he said.

Madalene eagerly put her hand out to accept it, but Lord Hawthorne didn’t place it in her hand as she had expected. “There are a few things we need to discuss before you can handle a pistol,” he remarked instead.

“Which are?” she asked, dropping her hand to her side.

“You never point a pistol at anyone unless you have no other option,” Lord Hawthorne stated. “Taking someone’s life is not something you should regard lightly.”

“I understand.”

“I don’t think you do,” Lord Hawthorne responded, a solemn look on his face. “Watching the life draining out of a person’s body will forever remain with you. It will haunt you every time you close your eyes.”

Madalene looked at him curiously and was a bit fearful. Lord Hawthorne spoke with such conviction that she had no doubt he had experienced this firsthand.

An image of her mother came to her mind, and Madalene grew solemn. “I understand more than you can possibly know,” she breathed.

Lord Hawthorne gave her a look that implied he didn’t believe her but, thankfully, he didn’t press her. He glanced over at the townhouse and remarked, “I see that Mrs. Foster is watching us rather dutifully.”

Following his gaze, she saw Mrs. Foster standing by the window with her arms crossed over her chest.

“She is rather intense for a companion, is she not?” he continued.

Madalene smiled and waved at Mrs. Foster. “She may be, but she is all that I have left.”

“Oh?”

“Mrs. Foster and my mother grew up in the same village and were dear friends,” Madalene explained. “After her husband died, Mrs. Foster came to live with us and became a second mother to me. Sadly, after a few years, my mother grew sick, and she made Mrs. Foster promise to look after me.”

“That must have been nice, to have someone who could help you navigate through your grief,” Lord Hawthorne remarked.

“It was,” she admitted, “but not a day goes by that I don’t miss my mother.”

“That is to be expected.”

Madalene pressed her lips together as