Chapter Eight #3
“Naturally, such would be easier, but not necessarily wiser. We will go inside, and, in that manner, you will be able to say honestly that you spent time overnight with your new friends and that you waited for a reasonable hour on the clock before you called upon your dear relative.” He reached for the door and set down the steps once they rolled to a stop.
“I do not wish for you to lie to your relations, but, in such matters, one only needs to provide enough information to satisfy the truth.”
A butler and a footman were waiting on the entrance step before which the coach had rolled to a stop.
The butler held out a hand to support both, first, her, and then Lord Graham on the steps.
“Good morning, my lord. Lord Thompson will be glad to greet you. His Lordship was worried you had encountered trouble on the road.”
“Only a bit,” Lord Graham said as he stepped down stiffly. “I came across Miss Whitchurch’s friend, who required my assistance. Is there anyone up yet?” His Lordship turned to offer Freya his arm.
“Lord Thompson, Miss Whitchurch, and Mrs. Thompson. They always rise before the others,” the butler replied.
“Good.” Lord Graham said with a nod of approval. “Send my bags to my quarters. Set Lady Freya’s aside.” He turned to the footman. “Are you serving me again, Mr. Dideon?”
“Yes, my lord,” the man replied smartly, his shoulders straightening with pride. “Assuming such pleases you, sir.”
Lord Graham instructed, “Once I speak to Lord Thompson and arrange for Lady Freya’s safe travel to Mr. Turner’s vicarage on the Rayland side of the village, I will require a hot bath. My leg is suffering terribly.”
“I understand, my lord. I will see that everything is prepared properly.”
His Lordship turned their steps towards the entrance, and Freya fell in beside him. “I apologize, my lord,” she said softly. “I did not mean to cause you actual pain.”
“You did not,” he said in equal quietness.
“Up until late last evening, I was performing as an agent for the Home Office among some of those who would wish to overthrow our government. I did not have time to treat my leg properly before I set out on the road. That was my choice—a choice I would gladly make again in order to protect you, my lady. I am glad to have been of service to you and to have spent time with you without interruption.”
She looked up in alarm. “I am pleased to be in your company, as well, my lord, but I never realized the depth of your role in the Home Office. Is such work dangerous?”
“It can be,” he warned under his breath. “I am trusting you with my secret, Lady Freya. Beyond the family and those employed by the Home Office, no one else knows.”
Freya studied him carefully. “Why would you tell me?”
“Because I trust you,” he said simply.
There was no more time to discuss this new development in their relationship, for Lord Thompson appeared in the doorway of what surely must be the morning room.
“I should have known you would arrive in time to break your fast,” Lord Thompson said before he noticed Freya on Lord Graham’s arm. “My lady?” he said with the inflection of a question as he bowed to her.
“Lady Freya was traveling to the Turner household on Rayland’s side of the village. A man attempted to rob her of her reticule. I prevented his escape.”
Freya realized Lord Graham spoke the truth, but not the whole truth.
She held no doubt His Lordship knew she had purposely come to Kent because of him.
The fact that he had accepted the situation was both surprising and unsurprising at the same time.
She required time to understand what all had occurred between them in a few short hours.
“I thought it would be better if Miss Whitchurch delivered Lady Freya to Mr. Turner’s house,” Lord Graham continued.
“Reasonable indeed,” Lord Thompson responded with a slight lift of his brows.
Before Lord Graham directed her forward, he had something else to share with Lord Thompson, something even Freya did not know. “Were you aware that Lord Rayland recently remarried?”
“I had heard so, but I have yet to greet the new baroness,” Lord Thompson confirmed.
“You know the lady well,” Lord Graham corrected. “The lady is the former Lady Eímear Graham, among the other titles she has claimed over the years. My stepmother.”
Lord Thompson frowned. “Is Duncan aware of this change? He has not mentioned it to me.”
“I am not confident,” Lord Graham admitted, “but I have already been called upon to pay Boyde’s debts in the amount of two hundred pounds at the Lyon’s Den. Obviously, my brother has been told not to bother Rayland with such matters.”
“Not again,” Thompson declared.
Freya looked from one man to the other, but she could not discern what this conversation meant. However, before she could ask, Miss Whitchurch rushed past her intended to catch Freya up in a welcoming embrace. “I am so glad you are in Kent,” the lady said.
Freya was glad also for the opportunity to spend time with her new friends, and also with Lord Graham. However, a slew of questions were swimming around in her head, and she wondered how she fit into this new reality of Lord Graham being involved in government affairs.