The Long Road to Love Read Online Free

Lord Middleton’s estate in Lincolnshire by the end of the week and have estate business before I depart.” The earl gazed down, inspecting the shine on his Hessians. He wondered what Sanders’s secret was for achieving such a high gloss.
    Harriet felt her face warm. It was clear that he had no intention of bestirring himself to help her or Angelica. Standing abruptly, she said, “Lord Blackstone, I knew you to be a notorious rakehell when I came, but I had not heard you could be so lacking in honor as to abandon an old friend.”
    Richard’s boredom was replaced by an immediate surge of anger. For all his amorous dalliances, he’d never crossed the line of what was proper for a gentleman. He rose and stared down his nose at Miss Parks. “Madam, you may be sure I have never turned my back on any friend in need. If Miss Markham is truly in trouble, then I should know the details before I can decide this for myself.”
    Harriet realized she must have wounded his pride, a very good sign that he was more honorable than she’d thought. She rushed to explain while she had his full attention. “Miss Markham received an important letter from her brother, the nature of which must remain private. In a foolhardy manner, she decided to flout his wishes and ran away last night. Sir, she will be ruined, for she is traveling by common stage without a proper maid.”
    Holding her breath, Harriet waited to hear what his lordship would say. If her new impression of his lordship was correct, then he would do her bidding.
    “In what direction is the young lady traveling?”
    Harriet’s knees grew weak with relief, for it seemed he would go after the girl. “I believe she is going north, sir, to York to the residence of a Lady Longstreet.”
    Richard knew he was every kind of fool to be involving himself in this matter. Why, he hadn’t even seen the chit in over six years, but it rankled him that this aging spinster had found him lacking the one principle that all true gentlemen prized, honor. “Very well, I shall leave at once and return Miss Markham to you to protect her good name.But, madam, pray that having one with my reputation as her rescuer does not do more harm than good.”
    “ ‘Tis a chance I must take, my lord.”
    The earl strode from the room shouting for his breakfast and his man, leaving Harriet with high hopes that Angelica would be back at Edenfield long before Giles and Lord Paden arrived.

Chapter Two
     
    The York stagecoach swayed and bounced its way along the Great North Road at a lumbering pace. The weather had held fine and the roads were dry, but the vehicle was slowed under the weight of four interior passengers and eight on the top, plus a great number of portmanteaus and trunks.
    Angelica gazed out the window, enjoying the passing countryside, confident now that no one from Edenfield was pursuing her. The first night of her journey proved uneventful, but nerve-racking. She had boarded the Mail Coach at Croyden near midnight, expecting at any moment to be hailed by someone in her stepbrother’s employ.
    After arriving at the Bull and Mouth Inn in Picadilly, she counted her remaining funds and realized her money would not permit further travel by the expensive Mail. She took a hackney to Holburn where she spent what little remained of the night at the George. Tired from lack of sleep, but determined to escape her stepbrother, she’d taken the first York stage north the following morning.
    Having been on the road for nearly two days, and having gotten a good night’s sleep at last, she was beginning to enjoy herself. The letters from Lady Longstreet were tucked safely in her portmanteau in the boot of the coach; Angelica hoped that none at Edenfield would remember her mother’s old school friend. But even if they did, she would be at Longstreet Manor long before anyone overtook her. Still, would the baroness be able to protect her?
    A burst of laughter sounded from the passengers on the roof,