Chapter 1

 

'Harriet....what on earth are you doing here?'

'Robert, I was so upset when you left the house yesterday, I had to see you again. I want to leave with you on your travels abroad.'

'Harriet, have you gone mad?! Does your family know you are here?'

'No, I didn't want to tell Papa. I knew he would forbid me from coming over here to see you.'

'Yes, he would have stopped you, and with good reason,' Robert said nervously. He brushed his hair to the side in frustration as he looked at Harriet in disbelief. 'No proper lady would ever think to visit a gentleman's rooms alone, unchaperoned,' he scolded her.

'Well, I guess that I am not a lady then,' she sulked back at him, as if she was a little child instead of a grown woman of twenty-three years.

'And how the hell did you even get up here? How did you gain access to my rented rooms?'

'I told the kind old lady who manages this building a little white lie,' she said, looking sheepishly at him. 'I told her that I was your wife!'

'You did what? What mischief are you doing here? The lady who let you in knows very well that I have no wife to speak of. She clearly thinks you are one of my friends.'

'One of your friends....whatever do you mean by that? Oh-,' it suddenly dawned on Harriet what he was trying to get out. 'You mean the type of woman friend that my brother Jeremy has from time to time that causes him to disappear for days and nights on end?'

'Exactly!'

'Gosh, how can she mistake me for such a woman? Do not fear! I will explain to her exactly who I am when I next meet her.'

'You will do no such thing! You have already done enough damage for one day-and more to your own reputation if we do not rectify your mistake soon.'

'Ok, I will do as you say,' she conceded.

'Well, I hope you intend to keep to your word to listen to me, since we have to get you quickly home before your absence is noted and your father calls up a search party and the law to take my head.'

'Robert, don't you think you are being a tad dramatic?'