Chapter 6 #2
“Well, um. Come along, my dear,” Algernon held out his hand to Maggie. “I’m sure you need the quiet to recover from our journey.”
Maggie turned to look at him pointedly. The longer she studied him, the more hostile her expression became. Eventually, she set her hand in his. “Yes, I think that is a very good idea. I should like some privacy before our next discussion.”
Algernon gulped. Oh dear God. This was a disaster.
He escorted her inside the inn and immediately upstairs to the chambers the innkeeper directed them to, his blood pumping wildly in his veins. Married? To Maggie? She was going to ring a peal over his head or kill him. She’d already threatened to do so.
The entire way up the stairs, Maggie’s fingertips dug into the back of his hand. He would apologize profusely once they were alone, but the damage was already done to her good opinion of him. He had entirely forgotten that he was known here.
He opened the door for her and allowed her to precede him into the first bedchamber. But before he could cross the threshold to talk, Maggie slammed the door in his face.
He sighed. Yes. That was one imposition too far.
He went to his own chamber and entered a tidy little room. He glanced at the connecting door and went there to knock.
Maggie flung it open. “What were you thinking to ask for a connecting room when you are known here?”
“Yes, I had forgotten about that,” he said, as he peeked into her room, noticing it was larger and prettier than his. He approved of that. “I am sorry.”
“He will remember meeting your new wife, too, the next time you visit,” Maggie whispered, clearly horrified.
“Possibly.”
“Algernon!” Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “I cannot be your wife.”
“I know that. You know that.”
She set her hands on her hips. “Why does this not bother you more?”
“I will regret it if he gossips, but I would not change anything about this day.”
“You have become reckless. Impulsive. Presumptuous and—”
Algernon quickly put his finger over her lips. “I assure you, I have no intention of bothering you as a real husband might hope to.”
He dragged his finger off her lips slowly, and heard a small gasp leave her throat.
Algernon stilled, struck by what he was doing…and wanted to do next most of all: find any excuse to kiss her again.
He was being reckless, and normally would act on his impulses around a woman he fancied.
But Maggie was his dear friend, and he ought to behave with more restraint around her until invited to do otherwise.
She had not voiced such an invitation yet, though there had been ample glances that suggested she was considering his appeal.
He stepped back from her. “Have dinner in your chamber if you wish to punish me for wanting you near, Maggie. I deserve it.”
He pivoted and retraced his steps to the door, deciding that Maggie might need time to cool her temper before she would forgive him.
The inn boasted a taproom, and he went there to wait at a table near a window. The ale was decent and the room warm, and he drowsed a little as the room filled with newcomers, and considered what he was doing with Maggie.
Maggie, while highly desirable, was the last woman an indebted duke should flirt with so often.
She had said little about her circumstances, but he’d gleaned enough to piece together that she lived in near poverty and was disappointed with her life.
Her cloak hid from most the poor condition of her gown, but the soles of her shoes were nearly worn through.
He could not be another disappointment to her.
And yet he had thought all day of kissing her again. Today, and since meeting Maggie again, he had ignored that he was traveling to London to rendezvous with a wealthy viscountess.
Lady Stephanie Kent had the connections, the pedigree, and the elegance, not to mention the money, to provide Algernon’s immediate needs in a bride.
But the idea of marrying her did not appeal.
Not when there was no affection between them.
He had tried to like her more last season, and failed.
He hoped further time spent with the woman before he proposed might rectify that situation.
And it was why he was headed to London…to see her again and find the right moment to propose.
Algernon was sipping his fifth tankard when he heard a shrill laugh that reminded him of Lady Kent. He repressed a shiver, which was not the correct reaction for a prospective groom to have at all.
When he heard the piercing noise again, he sat up straighter and glanced around the taproom.
A hush had settled over the taproom patrons in the hour he’d been there, and the laugh came from no one nearby. He turned his eyes to the open window and spied a carriage he recognized standing directly outside the inn.
The distinctive black and blue wavy stripe along the side of Lady Kent’s carriage was unmistakable.
He blinked in surprise to see her here…but she was not alone.
Lady Stephanie Kent and a strange man appeared to be grappling inside her carriage—mid-tryst.
Algernon narrowed his eyes at her brazen behavior. It was one thing for a widow to rendezvous with a lover in a carriage after dark, but another to do it in broad daylight with the carriage blinds tied back.
The fellow struggled to escape through the open door, held in place by Lady Kent as they exchanged heated kisses. As soon as the fellow’s feet hit the ground, though, he stumbled back and she was driven off with a regal wave.
Algernon watched the fellow rush into the taproom and survey those inside, while straightening his hair and tugging down his sensible brown waistcoat.
The man was utterly unremarkable in appearance. Sandy-brown hair, sensibly attired and not obviously wealthy.
But he was younger than Algernon by a half-dozen years.
The man requested a tankard of ale and headed toward the only vacant chair in the room.
The one opposite Algernon.
“Do you mind if I join you, sir?” he asked. His voice was soft, hesitant. Timid almost.
“No, not at all,” Algernon murmured, made uncomfortable by the request, but curiosity won out. Who was Lady Kent’s new lover?
After a moment, he met Algernon’s gaze. “Are you a local, sir?”
“No. Just passing through,” he promised, relieved not to be recognized. “And you?”
“Yes. Passing through as well.” The fellow glanced around. “But I was hoping someone knew of a position I could apply for.”
“I’ve no knowledge of one,” Algernon answered, struck by the oddity of the question. Algernon hadn’t heard a whisper about Lady Kent engaged in any affairs before today. “Are you in search of a position?”
“Not exactly,” the fellow said, turning red.
Algernon fell silent as he sipped his tankard, considering what to say next to the man.
But as he watched the young man ignore his own drink, he revised his assumptions.
The fellow couldn’t be more than twenty, perhaps even younger than that.
He still had spots! What was Lady Kent doing, kissing a mere boy?
Algernon sat forward. “Where are you headed?”
“To London.”
Lady Kent’s carriage had been pointed in the opposite direction from London. Had she taken a journey solely to seduce her young lover? He tried to remember if she owned property nearby, but he did not think so.
“Do you live in London?”
“I’m a… Yes.”
Algernon thought about the way he answered. The fellow had just held his tongue over a longer explanation. The boy was a servant.
Algernon glanced out the window again to hide his shock. Lady Kent’s servant, it seemed. The boy was new to her employ, if that was so.
“London is a place of great opportunity for ambitious young men.”
“I thought so, too. Until…”
Algernon sat back. “Until?”
“Nothing,” the fellow hedged, looking around guiltily. As he turned his head, Algernon noticed small bite marks on his throat.
Algernon’s skin prickled with distaste. “Are you in any difficulty, sir?”
“No, of course not,” the fellow whispered, though he sounded horrified by the question.
Dear God, he was just a boy and out of his depth.
Algernon struggled to keep the revulsion off his face for what Lady Kent might have done with him, and not just in her carriage.
He’d seen this before, but usually it was a young maid imposed upon by a male employer, not a footman or groom unwillingly seduced by the lady of the house.
They fell silent for a while as Algernon considered what he should do or could say to the young man.
Getting involved with an employer, was not bound to help him succeed in the end.
He finished his ale, watching the young man sip and hide a grimace at the taste his own.
All the young man sank deeper into his chair.
After twenty minutes of silence, Algernon tapped his finger to get his attention. “Were you serious about finding new employment?”
“No. Not really.” The fellow quickly ran a hand through his hair, discreetly checking his clothing, too. “It was just an idle fancy of mine to seek a more challenging position.”
Algernon’s curiosity was utterly piqued now.
The fellow glanced out the window, suddenly grew pale, and shrank down in his chair so he could not be seen easily. He buried his nose in his tankard again.
Algernon glanced outside, too, and spied Lady Kent’s carriage standing directly out front of the inn again. He did not bother to hide himself when the lady he had intended to marry returned for her young lover.
Eventually, the young man sighed and stood up. Clearly, he thought he had no choice but to continue to please Lady Kent.
“A pleasant day to you, sir,” he mumbled, sounding defeated.
“One moment,” Algernon murmured. “I tend to trust my instincts, and if I were you, I would seek a new position sooner rather than later.”
The fellow agreed and headed for the door. Algernon stood up and then turned to go upstairs to his chambers, deep in thought. How often did Lady Kent engage in affairs with her servants? He would have to look into that before he proposed.
He let himself into his chamber, needing to be alone with his troubling discovery.
He would have to confront her about his suspicions.
If he found further evidence of such dalliances, he could not marry a woman prone to sleeping with just anyone.
He required his heir to be his own offspring, and for there to be no doubts in his mind about that.
Suddenly, Maggie was rushing toward him. “Where have you been? I was worried sick about you!”
“Only in the taproom,” he said, blinking in surprise at her complaint. He captured her hands when she drew close enough, humbled by her concern.
She had worried for him? Of all the people in the world, it was Maggie who missed him, and that touched him deeply.
He kissed the back of her hands, and then tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “There was no reason to be worried.”
“I thought you had abandoned me. We’ve only just married,” she complained.
Algernon started to apologize—and then remembered they were not married at all.
He laughed, understanding that he’d been forgiven in his absence, and for the pretense of being a married couple.
Her teasing was good for him. She turned his mind from his problems so easily.
Even as children, Maggie had always tried to soothe him.
It was a quality he desired in a wife.
Maggie stared up at him, and then her smile slowly slipped away. “Something happened while we were apart. What?”
She could read his moods, too.
So he told her about meeting the young man in the taproom, and his obvious reluctance to return to his employer’s carriage, along with his suspicions of a scandalous affair taking place.
But he kept back that he was on his way to meet the same woman with a view to making her his wife.
“It does sound suspicious, indeed. I do hope the young man takes your advice and finds a new position soon,” she murmured.