Never Kiss a Laird

by Byrnes, Tess

  “But I like Mr. Denham very much more than the Earl, Mama, and I have only known him one day.” Clarissa sniffed. “I would much rather marry him.”

  Sally busied herself with folding some clothing she found on a chair, trying not to attract any attention to herself. How was it possible that that they could be having such a conversation in front of her? she marveled silently. How true that the house staff become invisible, she thought, avidly listening as Mrs. Riding spoke again.

  “Mr. Denham is very well, and if he were the oldest son, I would give you my blessing, my dear. But he is not, and although I believe the Denhams to be very wealthy, it is not to be compared with the Earl’s fortune. You should consider yourself lucky that the Earl is so personable. I declare I am almost jealous,” she tittered. “Now get up and I will arrange your hair when you have finished dressing.”

  “Yes, Mama,” Clarissa replied obediently.

  “I declare, you put me all out of patience, Clarissa,” Mrs. Riding fussed. “You are going to be a Countess. You will have position and wealth, and a husband that will make you the envy of all your acquaintance.”

  “Yes, Mama,” Clarissa agreed, with a sniff.

  “You will put young Denham out of your mind. The Earl is entirely besotted with you, and you are much more fortunate than you deserve.”

  Clarissa dissolved into quiet tears, and Mrs. Riding stood and took a hasty turn about the room. She knew it behooved her to treat the girl gently. Clarissa was usually a most biddable girl, and the fact that she dared to contradict her mother was new.

  “Now, my dear,” she crooned. “You just need to learn to know the Earl a little better. Get up and get dressed, and be on your best behavior and if the Earl offers for you, you send him to your father. He and I have your best interests at heart. Nothing is settled yet, my dear.”

  Mrs. Riding’s eyes fell on Sally, and she snapped, “You are the wretched girl who served at dinner last night. What are you still doing here? Go about your business at once.”

  Sally bobbed a curtsey, and fled from the room, wondering if this was to be the Earl’s fate. To fall victim to a matchmaking mama, and a wife who didn’t love him? Sally walked slowly down the main staircase, and pushed through the green baize door to the kitchens. Mrs. White pounced upon her as soon as she walked in.

  “Aileen, thank goodness. What took you so long with those trays? Take these to the breakfast parlour,” she ordered, handing Sally two covered dishes. “And then hurry back here. We’ll have the guests down for breakfast any moment now, and nothing for them to eat!”

  Sally accepted the bowls, balancing them awkwardly. “Where is Mary this morning?” she asked.

  “Mary is making up beds upstairs, and then she’ll be down to help me wash up after breakfast. Now never you mind about Mary, and get those eggs out.”

  Sally retraced her steps back to the main part of the house. Really, a housemaid never had a moment to herself, she thought crossly. She delivered her burden to the side board in the morning parlour, and made her escape. Running lightly up the stairs, Sally looked first into her brother’s room but found it empty. Rupert was probably out riding, she thought with dissatisfaction, since it was such a lovely sunny morning. Her brother was enjoying all the luxury of being a guest in the Earl’s house, while she was delivering breakfast trays.

  “Just wait until I come into possession of my fortune,” she muttered to herself. “I will give my maids two days off every week, and sleep until noon every day if I want.”

  She ran Mary to earth in the Earl’s room. Sally tapped on the door, and poked her head around, to see Mary pulling up the sheets on the big four-poster bed.

  Catching sight of Sally at the door, Mary paused in her work and exclaimed, “The Laird must have been tossing and turning all night! I’ve never seen his bed all torn apart like this. Come give us a hand!”

  Sally, her cheeks reddening, approached the far side of the bed, and took hold of the sheets, pulling them up along with Mary. The masculine scent of the Earl drifted over her as they shook out the bedding and straightened it, and Sally closed her eyes, remembering the intoxicating sensations she had experienced that morning. She opened them to see Mary’s curious gaze, and gave an awkward laugh. Back to business, my girl, she told herself.

  “Mary, what can you tell me about the carrier’s lad that Bridget fell in love with?” Sally asked, abandoning subterfuge for a more direct approach. “Do you know where in London he came from?”

  “The first time he came here was with the stove. We had it from London, and Mrs. White hired her niece’s husband to bring it. He just set up as a carrier, so she thought to put a bit of work his way. Robbie is his brother, and Mrs. White says he’s a good honest lad. She felt that bad, with Bridget being turned away.”

  “Mrs. White’s niece’s husband’s brother,” Sally murmured. “Where in London is their business situated?”

  “Eh, you do talk so good, Aileen.” Mary said, diverted. “You could be a proper lady’s maid, you know.”

  Sally smiled at the young maid. “Thank you, Mary. But can you remember where in London Mrs. White’s niece lives?”

  “Yes, indeed. They’re in Lambeth. I remember because we had the stove delivered in the spring and we were in the middle of the lambing. I asked Mrs. White if there were lambs in Lambeth, and she thought that was ever so funny.”

  Sally gave a dutiful laugh. “What is the name of the business, Mary? Do you remember?”

  “A’course I do,” Mary stated proudly. “It’s the same as their last name. Fraser. Fraser’s Carrier, on the Clapham road in Lambeth,” she intoned proudly.

  “Mary, you are a wonder!” Sally exclaimed. “Thank you very much! You have no idea how grateful I am to you. Do you know when they are due back? Has anything been ordered from London?”

  “Oh, no, Aileen. Mrs. White felt so bad about what happened that she said we won’t be using them again. We’re going back to our old carrier.”

  “I see. That is a complication,” Sally said, furrowing her brow in thought.

  “Where are you going?” Mary exclaimed as Sally ran from the room. “We still have the ladies’ rooms to do.”

  Sally turned guiltily. ‘I’m so sorry, Mary, but I must go. I do thank you, though, for all your help.”

  Mary shook her head and went back to her work and Sally raced down the hallway. As she turned the corner to the stairs, she collided with a solid body. Recoiling, she looked up at the surprised face of her brother.

  “Sally!” he exclaimed, grabbing hold of her arm. “Sally, I am so glad to see you.”

  “You must let me go, Rupert,” Sally demanded, trying to shake his hand off. “I have found out where Bridget’s Robbie is, and I must return to the cottage immediately.”

  “But Sally, I must talk to you,” Rupert said, dragging her towards his chamber. He closed the door behind them, keeping hold of her arm.

  “Well?” Sally questioned impatiently, when he didn’t immediately speak. “Tell me quickly, Rupert. I am in a hurry!”

  “You have seen Miss Riding, Sally,” Rupert said eventually. “Do you not think she is the loveliest girl you have ever seen?”

  Sally closed her eyes. “Yes, Rupert, she is very lovely.”

  “I wish you could have heard her playing upon the harp last night, Sally,” Rupert enthused. “She has the gentlest touch. I was never much for music, as you know, but I do think I could listen to Miss Riding play upon the harp for hours at a time.”

  “That’s nice,” Sally offered.

  “She thinks just as she ought, also, Sally. She speaks very well of her parents, and she wants very much to make them proud of her.”

  “Admirable,” Sally produced.

  “I am in love with her, Sally,” Rupert admitted. “There has never been such a girl, Sally. I am going to ask her father if I may pay my addresses.”

  Sally cringed inwardly. She did not think her brother’s chances of success stood very hi
gh, with the much bigger matrimonial prize of the Earl as his competition. She looked at her brother’s open, hopeful countenance, and found that she could not say the words of warning that crowded into her mind.

  “Does Miss Riding return your regard, Rupert?” she asked instead.

  Under her amazed gaze, her brother’s handsome countenance reddened, and he dropped his eyes. “She tells me that she does. I know that I should have spoken to her father before I let her know of my feelings, Sally, but it just came out. We both felt it immediately. I’m the happiest man in England, Sally!” Rupert swooped Sally up into his arms and spun her around.

  “Rupert!” Sally remonstrated as he set her back on her feet with a thud. “You are getting ahead of yourself. For one thing, you have only known each other for a day. Are you so sure of your feelings?”

  “I am certain, Sally. I could never feel this way for another girl.”

  “I think you had best speak to Mr. Riding, Rupert,” Sally advised, fearing that she was sending her brother to an interview that could only end badly.

  “Of course. I intended to do so as soon as may be.” He paused with his hand on the door knob, looking back at his sister, a happy smile on his face. “Won’t you wish me happy, Sally?”

  Sally tipped her head to one side, a rueful smile on her face. “Of course I do, Rupert.”

  She watched him leave the room, and then followed him out the door and down the hallway. She was worried that Rupert was about to get his heart broken and wished there was something she could do to soften the blow.

  As she approached the top of the stairs, Sally saw the front door swing open, and Hugh strode into the hall. He was dressed for riding, in tight fitting buckskins and the brown tweed riding jacket that he had worn that day in the village of Thorne, and his dark hair was tousled from his ride. He looked up and saw Sally at the top of the stair, and a grin broke across his handsome face. Sally felt an answering smile on her own face, but before Hugh could approach, Clarissa and her mother came out of the morning parlour and caught sight of him.

  “My lord,” Mrs. Riding claimed his attention. “Do not forget that you promised us a ride around your estate today. The sun is shining, and we are ready to go!” She pulled Clarissa forward as she spoke. “Clarissa has been talking of nothing else all morning, isn’t that right, my dear?”

  Clarissa had been looking down at the handkerchief she was twisting in her hands, but at this she nodded politely, trying to summon up a smile despite the tragic look on her lovely face. She was dressed in the yellow lustring, and her golden hair haloed her face becomingly. Sally bit her lip at the beautiful picture she presented, smoothing the skirt of her own black stuff gown discontentedly.

  The Earl approached Clarissa and took her hand, raising it to his lips before releasing it. “Let us have a cup of coffee, and I will see if Mr. Denham is ready to accompany us,” Hugh said, leading his guests back into the breakfast room without another look in Sally’s direction.

  Sally watched them go, and then she sat down on the top step as her smile slowly faded and a cold feeling settled over her. Rupert might not be the only Denham sibling destined to get their heart broken, she thought suddenly.

  “Sarah Denham, you are a fool,” she said aloud. She wasn’t sure when it had happened, but somewhere along the line she had lost her heart to the handsome Earl. Rather than accept the role of the disgraced, compromised girl, Sally had embraced the freedom of a fallen woman. She had thought that indulging in a dalliance would be a light-hearted fling that she could walk away from at the end. Somehow, though, her heart had betrayed her, and she had fallen in love. Even as she tried to convince herself that it was nothing more than a physical infatuation, Sally knew that was not the case. True, she had never imagined that a world of pleasure such as she had experienced with Hugh even existed. But it was so much more than that. She also loved the way he smiled at her, his ability to laugh at her maid’s masquerade without being shocked, and his quick sympathy for Bridget. He was different from any man she had known before, and like Rupert, she very much feared that she would never feel this way about another partner.

  Watching him kiss Clarissa Riding’s hand felt like a slap across her face, and Sally felt unfamiliar tears pricking at the back of her eyes. She had not shed a single tear from the day that Lady Greenly had found her in Simon Atherly’s arms outside the Saracen’s Head. She had weathered the storm of disgrace, the banishment from her family and all the trepidations of setting out to make her own way in the world without a tear drop falling.

  “You will not start sniveling now, my girl,” she said staunchly, sniffing loudly. “This is just another chapter in your life. The Earl will marry Clarissa Riding, and you will move to France.” She reached into her pocket searching for a handkerchief to blow her nose, and her fingers closed instead on the Earl’s diamond stickpin. She had meant to return it to the Earl, but had completely forgotten about it. She pulled it out and twisted it in her fingers, as the light twinkled and sparkled in the glowing diamond. A reminiscent smile played across her face as she remembered that day in the cottage that Hugh had lost it, the day that she had first given herself to him. She knew without even considering it that she had no regrets. Only that it must end, and that she would have to say goodbye to Hugh forever, that she did regret most bitterly.

  Caught up in her thoughts, she did not hear quiet footsteps approaching.

  “What have you got there,” Mr. Carr reached down and snatched the diamond stickpin from her fingers. “So that is where his lordship’s tiepin has gotten to. Thief!”

  Sally jumped to her feet. “No, you are mistaken,” she started.

  “Save your breath, miss,” Mr. Carr snapped. “You have been caught red-handed.” He took hold of her arm and pulled her to her feet. “We’ll see what the Earl has to say about sneak thieves in his own home.”

  “You must let me explain,” Sally expostulated angrily. “I did not steal it. I found it.”

  “Fine words,” Mr. Carr spat as he dragged Sally by the arm to a room at the end of the hallway. He shoved her inside and hurriedly pulled the door to, and turned the key in the lock. “You can just wait there while I call the constable!” he called through the heavy wooden door.

  Inside the room, Sally pounded on the door. “Let me out, Mr. Carr!” she called furiously. “At once! You must allow me to explain directly to the Earl.”

  “I’ll have the police here and they can explain it to his lordship,” Mr. Carr replied. “I’ll not let you impose any further upon my lord.”

  Sally gave the door one last, frustrated blow and then turned and looked around her prison. It was actually one of the better spare bedrooms, a beautifully appointed room with silk hung walls, and an ornate four poster bed. The furniture had been polished until it shone, and the floor had been fastidiously swept clean. There was a large window that looked out over the grounds, with an old cherry tree, just starting to bud out, one fragrant branch almost brushing the window.

  Sally stamped across the room and sank onto the bed. This was a complete disaster! Unless she could see the Earl and enlist his aid, she would be taken into custody as a thief. Near to screaming with frustration, Sally stormed over to the window and threw up the casement. A branch of the cherry tree was within easy reach of the window, and without pausing to consider, Sally climbed up onto the sill. Her heart was pounding. Sally had never enjoyed heights, and as she looked out the window, the ground seemed much further than one story down. Screwing up her courage, and resolutely keeping her eyes on the tree, Sally stretched one foot out, and placed it tentatively on the branch. Reaching out with a shaky hand, she grabbed the bough and pushed off of the sill, shifting her weight onto the tree.

  “Just don’t look down,” she muttered, as she inched herself down the branch, stepping carefully onto the branches below until she reached the last one. She was still a good six feet off the ground, but she crouched down, wrapped her arms around the branch and swung herself
down, so that her feet dangled but a few feet from the ground. Closing her eyes, she let go, and landed with a thump, falling backwards to land in a heap. She scrambled to her feet and raced for the lane, hoping to intercept Miles so that she didn’t have to run the whole way back to Whitethorne cottage.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “I just can’t believe that sweet girl would do anything so wicked,” Mrs. White exclaimed in Sally’s defense. “She was a good hard worker, and had ever such a sweet, honest face.”

  “It’s a judgment on me,” Mrs. Cameron said in a hollow voice. “I never should have taken her into service without seeing her references.”

  “No one will blame you,” Mr. Carr assured her. “You are just too trusting, Mrs. Cameron.”

  Mrs. White carried over two cups of tea, and set one in front of each. “The fact remains that we have four house guests, and are seriously under-staffed,” she bemoaned. “I don’t know how I’m going to be expected to set a decent meal before them, with only Mary to help me. If only we’d had a bit more warning that the Laird would be back so early in the year we could have been back to our normal staffing.”

  “No use crying over spilt milk,” Mrs. Cameron told her bracingly. “I’ve told Mary to get her sister up here as soon as may be. She was planning to go into service in another year or so, and she can just get her feet wet now.”

  Mrs. White brightened at the news. ‘That was a very good thought, Mrs. Cameron.”

  Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of the green baize door swinging open, and the trio turned, expecting to see James and eager for any news.

  Instead, the Earl came into the warm room, and his three retainers leapt to their feet. Mr. Carr retrieved his coat from a hook on the wall, and hastily slipped his arms into it.