Entangled with the Duke: A Clean & Sweet Regency Historical Romance Book
Page 10
* * *
“Please, I do beg both your pardons,” Lady Alexandra said desperately trying to get between the Duke and the porcupine. “I don’t mean to cause a scene.”
* * *
“Well you certainly did that none the less,” Lady Charlotte said in utter shock. “Why on earth would a single lady presume to push a pram? And then to put such a horrid creature inside. It is lucky I have a strong constitution. Were it my mother who took a moment to peer down at the basket's contents she would have swooned on the spot.”
* * *
“I did not hope to be seen at all,” Lady Alexandra tried to explain. “I promise you it was out of pure necessity that I am here on these steps in such a way,” Lady Alexandra tried to explain.
* * *
She was desperate to make the lady see that this was not at all what Lady Alexandra had hoped to happen this day. Perhaps if she could make Lady Charlotte see that fact, she would keep this most horrible interaction to herself. Lady Alexandra could only imagine the sideshow her sisters would now become after an event such as this.
* * *
“Why, is that a northern porcupine?” Raven said turning back to Lady Alexandra.
* * *
The movement gave her the leverage she needed to cut between the Duke and the basket. She quickly went to work covering up the dreadful beast again. For now, she was sure that every moment she laid eyes on the thing, she would only remember how it was the ruin of her dear sisters’ future.
* * *
“It is, Your Grace. I do beg your pardon again for the atrocious sight. I was unable to carry it on my own, and my cart was not accessible to me this day,” Lady Alexandra tried to explain. “It was imperative to my father that it be delivered today for a showing in the morning.”
* * *
“What strange things you do,” Lady Charlotte said eyeing the basket as Lady Alexandra hurried to hide its contents. “Of all the preclude wonders in this museum, one never considered the wildest to be a lady on its steps,” she said with a jolly laugh.
* * *
Lady Alexandra’s eyes hit the floor as her face flushed red. For yet a second time she had been shamed in front of the Duke and his chosen companion. Tears burned her eyes, and she fought to keep them at bay.
* * *
“Why not take a hackney?” Raven asked.
* * *
Lady Alexandra couldn’t bear to speak the truth of the matter to him. It was shameful enough as it was, to confess the lack of funds for such a thing would be too much to keep her emotions back.
* * *
“Could you imagine that, Your Grace,” Lady Charlotte said with another giggle. Now having gained her composure from the shock, she was rather enjoying the comical scene before her. “The poor driver would have had heart palpitations at the sight. That thing would have no doubt punctured holes all throughout the hackney and cost a man his living.”
* * *
“It isn’t alive,” Lady Alexandra mumbled under her breath.
* * *
Luckily Lady Charlotte didn’t hear amid her giggles.
* * *
“Why did you not ask for assistance? I would have happily helped you transport the specimen,” Raven said to Lady Alexandra.
* * *
This stopped Lady Charlotte’s laughter. Lady Alexandra too looked up surprised at his bold declaration.
* * *
“Are you acquainted with this lady then?” Lady Charlotte ask.
* * *
It was a sweeping moment of relief for Lady Alexandra. If Lady Charlotte didn’t know her name, perhaps her sisters were saved yet.
* * *
“It is only that, as I said,” Raven stumbled turning back to his party, “I was very fond of this museum as a child. Lord Grebs, Lady Alexandra’s father, is the patron of the place.”
* * *
Lady Alexandra deflated again. There went her chance at anonymity.
* * *
“Still that is little cause to offer assistance to one such as, well a practical stranger,” Lady Charlotte amended quickly.
* * *
“It is for the specimen of course,” Raven tried to play off. “The quills on the animal are most delicate.”
* * *
“They don’t look very delicate to me,” Lady Charlotte retorted.
* * *
“They are hollow, in fact,” he explained. “Making it very easy for them to break. It is understandable that Lady Alexandra would transport it in such a unique manner to preserve the specimen,” he explained looking back at Lady Alexandra.
* * *
She couldn’t believe that he was actually attempting to soften the blow of this disastrous encounter.
* * *
“I would be happy to carry it in for you,” he added.
* * *
“Oh, please don’t, Your Grace,” Lady Alexandra started pulling the basket away from them and back to the side of the stairs.
* * *
“You certainly can’t do it on your own,” he pressed, motioning to the climb behind her. “I fear you will hurt yourself if you try again.”
* * *
“I thank you for your concern, Your Grace, but I assure you I am quite capable. Help will be along any moment, besides. I bid you both a good afternoon,” Lady Alexandra rambled out, desperate for them to go on their way.
* * *
Raven narrowed his dark eyes on the lady. Though he could see this was a terrible event for her, he couldn’t help but feel the warmth of the comical situation bubble up within him. He couldn’t help but let a smile slip at the clear stubborn will of the lady before him.
* * *
“I am afraid my honor would not allow me to turn my back on a lady clearly struggling. If you do not let me assist you in your endeavors, then I will wait right here till you have safely reached the top.”
* * *
Raven was fully expecting the lady to give in to his demands and allow him to walk the item up the steps for her. Instead, she stood a little taller titled her chin in a most becoming manner and took the tentative step up the first step on her own. He had never felt more admiration for an act of womanly bravery than in that moment.
* * *
“Lady Alexandra,” a soft voice called up from inside the building.
* * *
A maid hurried down with a gentleman quickly in tow.
* * *
“Please, m’lady, wait till we reach you,” the maid called out in panic.
* * *
Lady Alexandra gave out a long sigh of relief. She wouldn’t have asked the duke to assist her if her life depended on it, but she also wasn’t too fond of the idea of making an attempt a second time with an audience.
* * *
“Lady Alexandra, what on earth were you thinking walking that all the way here from your house,” the gentleman’s voice said as he reached the bottom of the steps.
* * *
“Forgive me, Mr. Lucas, from taking you from your work. My father insisted on its delivery today, and I saw no other way about it.”
* * *
“Although I have made it quite clear that from now on you are to call on me if there is a need of transporting quilled creatures,” Raven interjected catching the attention of the gentleman.
* * *
“Forgive me, Your Grace,” Lady Alexandra said still flustered. “May I introduce Mr. Thomas Lucas. He is the head scientist of the zoology department. Mr. Lucas this is the Duke of Raven and Lady Charlotte Weiderhold.”
* * *
Lucas bowed as was proper to the two members of the ton.
* * *
“Zoology you say,” Raven said with sparked interest.
* * *
“Yes, Your Grace,” Mr. Lucas said taking the carriage from Lady Alexandra.
* * *
“I am most fascinated by the subject myself. Pray, tell what is your emphasis on?”
* * *
“Honestly, Your Grace, I focus on whatever Lord Grebs can produce for me. We have minimal supplies, unfortunately. Thankfully with this creature, we will be having a lecture of curious native creatures of the new world.”
* * *
“How very fascinating. I will have to be sure to attend.”
* * *
“I would be most honored indeed if you did so, Your Grace,” Mr. Lucas said swelling with pride at the notion of a prominent Duke at his morning lecture.
* * *
“You must beg my pardon, however, as I must return to my work post haste,” Mr. Lucas said by way of apology. “I would hate to be less than prepared for tomorrow’s endeavors.
* * *
“Of course,” Raven said waving the man off.
* * *
“Perhaps it is time we return to the gig as well,” Lady Charlotte suggested at Raven’s side. “The hour is getting late.”
* * *
“Of course,” Raven said remembering his companion. “Lady Alexandra, would you care to join us. I have plenty of room in the gig, and your job seems to be done here.”
* * *
Lady Alexandra looked to Lady Charlotte, who barely fluctuated in facial expression but clearly didn’t want the added company.
* * *
“I thank you for the kindness, Your Grace, but I think I will join Mr. Lucas to ensure he has all my father’s notes along with the item.”
* * *
Raven did his best to hide the disappointment. He wasn’t surprised at her refusal. Lady Alexandra had been thoroughly embarrassed by the encounter though he had found it to be the highlight of his day. He hadn’t wanted it to end just yet.
* * *
There was something quite enticing about Lady Alexandra that he just couldn’t quite put a finger on. She was clearly unorthodox in many ways. Perhaps it was the surprise of her actions that seemed to befuddle and entice him all at the same time.
* * *
“Well, in that case, we will bid you good evening,” Raven said to the lady with a bow, rather reluctantly.
* * *
For Lady Charlotte’s part, she relaxed into a smile and took the duke’s arm. Just before they departed out of earshot, Lady Alexandra could hear the hurried talk of the duke’s companion in the strangeness of the encounter and all she could think her mother would make of it.
* * *
“Come along, Polly,” Lady Alexandra said with a heavy heart to the maid who had waited a few steps above of the party.
* * *
“Let us go inside and see to the beast before our return home. We still yet have a long walk ahead of us,” Lady Alexandra said as she turned, lifted her walking dress, and made her way into the museum of natural wonders that would forever be the curse in her life.
Chapter Twelve
Lady Alexandra found the discarded carriage just inside the museum doors. She looked at it with pointed malice.
* * *
“Polly see that this is removed to a storage closet at the back of the museum and never sees the light of day again,” she said with satisfying thoughts of its demise.
* * *
“Yes, m’lady,” Polly said with a quick curtsy before walking off with the offensive basket.
* * *
Lady Alexandra let her gaze travel around the room. It had only been a few days since she last saw the building and little had changed. She knew it well enough to pick out any misdeeds or misplacements.
* * *
Though the museum didn’t hold the highest degree of honor among the ton, it was an enjoyable place for many of the common folk of London. The time of day didn’t lead to much business, but still, a few guests paused around the building.
* * *
It was an old edifice very regal in design. The floors were of fine tile, and the main room had a roof reaching high above the second floor ending in a beautiful dome-like shape made from glass. It let in the most exquisite light so that candles or lamps were rarely used.
* * *
A large wooden walkway skirted around the main room giving a view into the various offices and labs of the second floor. She was sure that Mr. Lucas had already hurried up the wood staircase on the east wall and to his own office to inspect the creature.
* * *
She would venture there herself to see that his needs were met in a moment’s time. Presently she was more decided on taking a turn about the exhibit portion of the museum. From this main entry, just as there were rooms detached from the main walk like spokes on a wheel, their image was also mirrored below. Instead of small offices and slightly larger laboratories of above, the rooms below spoke of grander (visions, spaces).
* * *
To the east was the staircase and just beyond the largest of all the indoor rooms. It was reserved for the wonders of Africa. Naturally one of the most popular exhibits with its lion pride and elephant with a baby calf.
* * *
Often, Lady Alexandra’s father was determined also to house a giraffe inside. How he planned to manage that feat with the museum’s ten-foot ceiling was beyond her. She was sure that such an attraction would bring the Londoners by the tons and perhaps bring the museum, and her family, out of ruin. Desperately she hoped the possibility would somehow come, though being a realist, she doubted it.
* * *
On the west side of the building, the area was only split into two rooms, one to hold the curiosities of the new world, the latter to show Asian wonders. They were not quite as popular, and truth be told less filled than the bigger safari room. It was her father’s current project to bring popularity to this place with such specimens as his porcupine.
* * *
Directly behind the main building was a glass-encased wonder and truly Lady Alexandra’s favorite exhibit of it all. This green dome, filled with beautiful tropical plants the year round and exotic insects, was by far the most enchanting to her, though rarely visited by the common folk when having to contend with lions and elephants.
* * *
It was no small feat to keep such tropical wonders, both insect and plant, living through the harsh London winters. Even with its protective dome to ward off the chill of such, it was still a constant battle to keep the temperature inside up to favorable conditions. It was one Lady Alexandra had taken a personal interest in. Before her complete takeover of the museum, the room had been little more than an indoor/outdoor garden for gentile folk and Londoners alike to meander through when the weather didn’t cooperate outside.
* * *
Since then, Lady Alexandra had work hard, with the help of Mr. Lucas, to integrate tropical fauna and living specimens to bring what she could only hope were the tropical wonders of other worlds to this little portion of London.
* * *
Having little faith in a giraffe, she was sure that this enclosed dome would be her ticket to getting society’s approval of the museum. She had already invited several prominent members of the local Zoological Society to tour it and received excellent tips and pointers from them. Her dream was to make this place accessible to the lords and ladies for events year round. In so doing, she would bring popularity back to the museum of wonders.
* * *
Lady Alexandra hesitated in going straight to the second floor to see to Mr. Lucas’s needs. She so wanted to stroll the garden paths inside her sanctuary and see that all the care they needed were being properly seen to. More than that, she was in desperate need of the calming effects of her tropical paradise after the ordeal she had just experienced.
* * *
However, before a step further could be taken, she heard her name called over the banister. Looking up, she found Mr. Lucas at the top and waving for her to meet him presently. For fear that something had gone terribly wrong in transporting the beast, Lady Alexandra lifted her walking dress and hurried to the stairs presently.
* * *
She found Mr. Lucas waiting for her al
ong the walkway, and together they entered his humble office. It was humble in size, but also the largest of the second floor. At least a dozen local scientists visited the museum on a regular basis and used these offices to study and write reports on specimens of all sizes and shapes. Along with the offices were also four very well-kept labs where various tests and experiments were performed for medicinal and scientific purposes.