Page 60 of No Ordinary Lady

And then she turned around and found Danny standing in the room with her.

Marian hadn’t heard him come in, and her breath caught at the smile that spread across his face. She’d been too lost in her own thoughts and hadn’t been paying attention, and that was another sign she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

She was usually more aware of her surroundings than this. “Excuse me,” she said, and went to pass him, but his arm shot out, halting her retreat as she ran into it.

As his fingers closed on her hip, a shiver of excitement raced through her. But he was a temptation she should resist with all her might. He was the reason for her confusion and the unwanted emotions that had besieged her today. He made her want a chance to live a good life and to be his.

When he pulled her close, she fell into his arms with no real resistance. She fought her attraction, desires, but a sigh of relief escaping her lips when she inhaled his scent proved her undoing.

He held her flush against his warm body, and her arms rose to encircle his neck without any decision on her part to do so.

He said nothing at all, but held her gaze as if waiting for her to say something to encourage him or stop him. By his behavior and intense gaze, it was easy to assume what he wanted from her. Passion. Heat and satisfaction. The same rush to intimacy that had occurred that night at the inn before he’d drawn away. Marian had wanted that too, but there were many reasons not to give in to her urges with him anymore.

Good ones.

She couldn’t stay with him, and he didn’t really want her around. He intended to marry a mean-spirited woman who would ruin his life and incite further division between his family. When he married Amy Wilson, he would probably forget her all too easily.

But couldn’t Danny see he had appalling taste in women, herself included? He was hell-bent on making his life one misery after another. Chasing after things he ought to be more cautious of.

“Have you been crying?”

“It’s nothing. I stubbed my toe.”

He glanced down and nodded. “That can cause a tear or two.”

Danny was entirely too trusting. His first question should have been to ask what she was doing in his chambers, but he still had not said a word about that. He should have told her to leave the room immediately for the sake of propriety.

Amy would never dare come to his chambers uninvited, the way Marian had. They were a bad influence on each other, and it had to end now.

Marian rose up on her toes and pressed her lips hard to Danny’s. It wasn’t a gentle kiss she offered, and it wasn’t meant to mean anything beyond goodbye. To bring an end to the way she’d felt about him from the very beginning of their acquaintance.

Before Danny could respond, Marian wrenched away from him and fled the room. Fled him and the regret that was making her choke up with fresh tears and cause her heart to hurt like it never had before.

She ran headlong into a slender form, who grabbed her by the shoulders and held her still.

She looked into Lady Scarsdale’s eyes and saw astonishment reflected there. But then the countess glanced behind to the open door to her son’s bedchamber, and censure and disappointment soon followed.

Marian couldn’t bear to see the loss of respect another moment, and she ran blindly from her too.

She was done for here. Her reputation, what little she’d regained in the last days, vanishing in the blink of an eye. All because of Danny and the way he made her feel.

She never should have gone to warn him at the inn.

Never should have let herself care about him, or anyone else in this place.

If Lady Scarsdale guessed the rest, that she’d met her son before she even arrived here, her time as a companion to Mrs. Nolan was absolutely over, too.

She had to leave tonight, before she was thrown out tomorrow.

Marian fled to her chamber, a large guest room granted to her out of misplaced kindness, and locked the door behind her. She cried tears of frustration and loss, until she could weep no more, and then she pulled herself together again.

Her bag was still under her bed, packed in readiness to flee at a moment’s notice, the same as when she’d hidden it there.

She should go now to avoid any later unpleasantness.

But then she glanced down at the pretty dress she was wearing, and her heart sank. She would normally change into something more suitable for the long road before leaving anywhere. She also still had to fetch that money she’d found in Danny’s room to take with her.

She had to go back to his chamber for that, most of all.