She stayed there because she was too scared—she was honest with herself—to go into her bedroom where he might find her. Yet he hadn’t behaved like a mad man most of the time. Despite his teasing, she’d never been afraid of him until now.Perhaps he was just irrational on this one point, like someone afraid of spiders, or sickened by the color blue. He’d said that he could only hate something to do with his grandmother, though why he’d think there was any connection between herself and a dowager duchess she couldn’t imagine.Clearly she was caught in one of these vicious family feuds one read about in books. The earl and his grandmother likely hadn’t spoken calmly in years, and family quarrels did have a way of getting out of hand. Look at her mother and her Aunt Maira.Perhaps if she arranged for Saxonhurst and the dowager to meet. For tea. In some unalarming, neutral spot. . . .She was still sitting there, chin on hands, planning her strategy when a candle flame shone into her eyes.She started, and saw Mr.
