Miss Lockhart returned a stiff curtsy, then moved to the side of the carriage. Lucius wondered what the earl had hoped to achieve by this walk? He intended to find out as soon as they drove away. Harrowden stood by while Miss Lockhart assessed the carriage then reached up her hand to grasp the side of it.

“Perhaps you could assist Miss Lockhart,” Lucius suggested, carefully hiding away his irritation. It would do no good to provoke someone he did not know, and who did not act in the usual way of a gentleman.

“Of course,” Lord Harrowden replied, equally as polite. He offered Miss Lockhart a gloved hand and, with some difficulty that was likely due to cold, she stepped into the carriage.

When Miss Lockhart was settled next to Lucius, he tucked her securely under the blankets that his groom had thought to provide, stopping long enough to fold them around on the other side of her. She appeared to be even colder than she had been last night. He clicked the reins.

“What brings you so far from the estate?" He felt Miss Lockhart shiver next to him, and she replied through chattering teeth.

“Lord Harrowden insisted upon showing me the grounds. He kept leading me farther away from the estate, although I told him I was not properly dressed for the cold. He did not seem to hear me, and I dared not refuse him since he is, in some sense of the word, my employer."

"My dear Miss Lockhart, Lord Harrowden is not your employer, and therefore you need not do anything he suggests unless it accords with your own wishes. Lady Harrowden is your employer. Your salary will come out of her trust.”

Miss Lockhart turned to him in surprise, and Lucius was caught by the brilliance of her clear gray eyes, set as they were against her rosy cheeks, and the white that surrounded them. His stomach lurched in an unfamiliar way. Turning forward again, Lucius could only be glad she was sitting comfortably beside him, as it would have taken a good half hour to walk back to the estate—and the earl had not even begun to lead her back in the direction of the house.

"I am unfamiliar with my role," Miss Lockhart admitted, her gaze directed toward the house they were fast approaching. "I do not know what I owe Lady Harrowden—how much I must cater to her wishes and to what degree I might remain my own master. How much of what others request of me must I do?” She spoke in a musing way, as if there were no ready answer.

“Who is your father?" Lucius asked, the question leaving his lips before he had thought it through. It was unlike him to ask such a personal question. His entire aim was generally to keep a distance, as he had enough family and friends to occupy him without adding more. Nevertheless, he persisted. “You were not born to this role.”