Page 24 of No Ordinary Lady

His neighbors said good night and wished him a pleasant stay, as if he was to leave again as he normally would have. Mr. Wilson wished him a good night, too, and then linked Amy’s arm through his, leaving Daniel to escort Granny and Mother to the top of the front steps to wave the last pair off in their carriage.

Daniel turned to Granny as soon as the carriage was underway. “Upstairs with you.”

“Yes, I believe I’d prefer that,” she said, with far too much enthusiasm for an early night.

Daniel looked around. “Mother, might we…?”

But Mother was already walking away, her head bowed, and her steps hurried as she disappeared down the hall leading to the housekeeper’s rooms.

“She’s disappointed in me,” he said with a surprise.

“Have courage. The worst is yet to come,” she said cryptically.

To his surprise, Granny allowed him to assist her up the stairs and along to the doorway of her bedchamber. He opened the door and stood back to allow her to enter.

Granny patted his cheek. “I’ve missed my favorite grandson.”

“I’m your only grandson,” he reminded her with a fond laugh. “And I’ve missed you, too, but you ought not to distract me when I’m trying to make a good impression on the Wilsons.”

“They ought to be worried about impressing you. They don’t even know the real you, just the version your mother talks about to them. She’d have them believe you were a philanthropist and a saint next.”

“Hardly, although I gave money to those in need recently,” he said, thinking of Marian lying asleep in his bed at the inn last night. Her hair tossed across his pillow and her lips slightly parted, her ample bosom rising and falling in sleep in his arms.

He glanced toward the staircase guiltily. Could Marian still be here somewhere? Close by? He wondered if she’d try to steal from him again, or was she after more money in exchange for the ring?

The companion Mother had hired for granny was waiting to attend her in her bedchamber, and Daniel bid them both a restful night. “We’ll talk more tomorrow,” he promised.

“Daniel,” Granny called.

He turned back.

“You ought to go directly to bed now, too. I think you’ll need all your strength for the coming days.”

“Proposing shouldn’t be that hard.” He smiled. “Good night.”

He headed down the hall but nearly missed a step when he saw that Mother was standing outside his chambers, waiting for him. He had not expected to see Mama again tonight, given the speed of her earlier disappearance.

He stalked down the hall, anticipating a series of complaints made against him. “Did you need to speak to me?”

“She’s fine.”

“She’s not fine if she’s fainting all over the place,” he chided.

“But never mind my mother tonight. She ought to be thinking of you and making a good impression, not drawing unnecessary attention to herself. She always creates drama where none exists,” Mother said with a heavy frown for Granny’s distant doorway.

Daniel glanced over his shoulder at Granny’s closed door, too. “Is she really all right?”

“Of course, she is,” Mother promised. “You ought to worry about yourself more, and Amy.”

He didn’t want to think about Amy right now. Granny’s health was more important to him. “About her turns. When was the last one?” he asked, unwilling to be distracted from his worry over his aging relative to talk about his impending marriage.

Mother pursed her lips. “Oh, some time ago, but it wasn’t at all serious then either.”

“We’ll see what Kimble has to say.”

“She won’t see him,” Mother warned.

“She must, especially if she wants to live long enough to meet my heir one day.”