“I can imagine,” Lord Cathraiche said, a bit too amused for Priya’s liking. “Miss Narayan possesses a lively spirit. I quite admire it.”
A different sort of shiver shot down Priya’s spine with the intensity of the look Lord Cathraiche gave her. She wasn’t certain she knew what to do with it. Her body and her heart told her one thing, but her mind knew too much and had too much sense to give that any heed.
“I will not stay silent on matters I believe in simply because it is inconvenient in a place that is thousands of miles away,” she said, addressing her brother with her head held high. “And I will not stand by and be spoken of as though I am a fashionable new toy. My views are quite serious, and as I understand it, there are serious people who wish to speak to me about them.”
“There are,” Charlotte added, her eyes wide as she stared between Lord Cathraiche and Jeetan. “Mrs. Pankhurst is waiting.”
“I cannot keep a woman of such important in suspense,” Priya said, as if she hadn’t intended to run away to gather her thoughts and marshal her defenses just moments before. “If you will excuse me,” she said, glancing to Jeetan, nodding to Lord Cathraiche, then turning to walk off.
“Wouldn’t you like to stay, Miss Narayan?” Lord Cathraiche called after her. “Aren’t you at all interested in the many reasons why I admire you and am about to ask your brother for permission to be acquainted with you?”
Priya froze, her heart squeezing into her throat. Was the Earl of Cathraiche laying some sort of claim on her?