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Emily shook her head and had to adjust her brown hat. “I lack the pleasure.”

“Oh, it is no pleasure at all. He is rude and—”

“In front of your mothers?”

“No.” Anna could feel her cheeks redden. “I had gone outside to write a story…” Her cheeks grew even hotter as she recalled whom she had been writing about, even if she had made him the villain in the tale. “And I crossed his path. He had been so surly and… and…”

“Nothing at all like your duke?”

“He was not merely rude to me either. He cast off our stablehand and then rode one of our horses. Without asking if he could, mind you. Just acted as if he had leave. And, well, this is not very charitable of me, but when the horse threw him—”

“The horse threw him?”

“Yes. I first ran over to help him, but he did not want me to. For a moment, I felt glad he had been thrown! It is terrible of me, I know, but I could not help myself.”

Emily halted. “That’s really not like you, Anna.”

“I know. There is just something about him…” She stopped as well and exhaled through her nose. “Hopefully I will not be seeing him again, and that will be that.”

“It does sound as if he was behaving oddly. I wonder if there might be a reason behind it.”

“Are you excusing his actions?”

“It seems to me that…” Emily resumed walking. “…you tend to make excuses for the duke for everything. ‘He’s talking to her because he is good friends with her brother.’ ‘He is too busy to call for tea.’ But with this man, you do not seem willing to allow him an excuse nor think there might be a reason for his behavior.”

“Why should I?” Anna asked stiffly. “He has shown me no manners. Why should I not think the worst of him?”

Emily appraised her but said no more on the subject, for which Anna was rather grateful.

When she returned home after a lovely visit—as they spoke no more about men—Anna avoided her mother until dinnertime made that impossible. It was times like this when Anna wished to not be questioned by her mother that she missed her father the most. He had died when Anna was only three. She did not remember much about him, only a sense of security and love that she had never felt with anyone else.

As soon as she finished eating the last of her meal, Anna patted her mouth and laid her cloth napkin on the table. “May I—”

“Anna, I allowed us to eat in peace, but we must talk now.”

She refrained from wincing. “Very well.”

Like a good daughter, she placed her hands on her lap and readied herself to listen. All the while, she wished she were anywhere else but here. Her mother did not understand what she was already asking of her by avoiding all contact with the dashing Benjamin. She had agreed to do that. What else could her mother want?

“I was wondering what you thought of Jasper,” her mother said plainly.

Anna forced herself not to blink or react in any fashion. Her mother had a terrible tendency to accurately deduce the cause behind every movement. Long ago, Anna had learned to keep her features straight when talking about something she wished to keep private.

“I did not speak with him enough to form an opinion,” she said, hoping she did not sound stiff.

“Well, I think you should consider befriending him.”

Befriending? Her mother had no idea what kind of man Lord Pershore was!

She shook her head emphatically, no longer concealing her stunned horror. “He is—”

“A much better match for you than that the Duke of Barnet.”

“How can you say that?”

Her mother rubbed her cheek. “Obviously something happened between you two, and whatever it was, it seems like you did not care for it. I will not make excuses for him, especially when I do not have all the details…” She paused.

If she were waiting for Anna to fill in the details, she would be waiting a long while.