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reassured if you were out of harm’s way.”
    Roslyn finally nodded with reluctance. “How long will we have to remain in hiding?”
    â€œUntil Lord Danvers can be made to see reason.”
    â€œYou shouldn’t have to fight our battles all by yourself, Belle,” Lily insisted.
    Arabella smiled. “I know, but I think it best in this instance. You can go and live with Tess for a few days. He won’t think to look for you at her house.” Tess Blanchard was their dearest friend and a teacher at the Freemantle Academy for Young Ladies, which had been named after their patroness.
    â€œWinifred would undoubtedly take us in,” Roslyn suggested.
    â€œYes, but Lord Danvers is likely to look for you there, since I told him about her ladyship’s sponsorship.”
    When Lily still looked troubled, Arabella gave her an imploring smile. “Lily, promise me that you will go along with my plan for the time being.”
    â€œOh, very well.” She threw her arms around Arabella’s neck in a brief hug. “But I don’t like it in the least. I would rather remain here with you and challenge the vexations earl.”
    Arabella ignored that comment, for she had learned the hard way that it was unwise to challenge the new Lord Danvers. “I think you should stay with Tess tonight. Lord Danvers will likely call on us soon, and I don’t want you to be here when he does.”
    â€œHow will you deal with him?” Roslyn asked.
    â€œI’m not yet certain,” Arabella murmured. As their guardian, he had the right to arrange convenient marriages for her and her sisters, yet she would somehow have to make him abandon his plan. “He is living under the illusion that he can dictate to us, but I will have to show him the error of his thinking.”
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    All her good intentions, however, suffered a serious setback four days later when she spied Lord Danvers riding across a grassy meadow toward her.
    â€œBlast and hang him,” Arabella muttered under her breath, abruptly drawing rein. She should have known his lordship wouldn’t be happy to cool his heels waiting for her. She had purposely stayed away from home at the appointed hour for the interview he’d requested, determined to make his guardianship as inconvenient as possible. She hadn’t expected him to come after her; obviously she had underestimated his persistence.
    Her gloved hands clenching on the reins, Arabella hesitated for the barest instant. It was not like her to turn tail and run, yet she didn’t trust herself alone with Lord Danvers. It was one thing to meet him when servants were within calling distance; it was quite another to face him alone in a secluded meadow. She had no desire to confront the earl if he was bent on revenge for threatening him at sword point during their first encounter, or for defying his express orders this afternoon.
    The lamentable truth was that the handsome devil unnerved her with his lithe, broad-shouldered form, his piercing blue eyes, and his knowing smile. She wasn’t certain she could hold her own with him just now.
    Or perhaps she had simply turned craven.
    Not pausing to further debate the deficiencies of her character, Arabella wheeled her horse and spurred it into a gallop, making for the copse of beech trees in the distance. Any hope that Lord Danvers hadn’t seen her, however, died a swift death when she risked a glance over her shoulder. He was giving chase.
    Her heart quickening, she bent low over her sidesaddle and urged her mount on. When shortly she reached the beechwood and plunged inside the cool shadows, she was forced to slow her pace to negotiate the low-hanging branches that snagged at her bonnet.
    Not so the earl. The sound of hoofbeats behind her told her that he was still pursuing her. When she came out again into another sunlit meadow, Arabella doubled her efforts but knew he was rapidly