by Rebecca King
“Take Edwards with you when you leave,” Aidan ordered coldly. “I shall not have that woman involved in my recuperation a moment longer, and that is my final say on the matter.”
“I cannot,” the dowager replied challengingly. “She has been employed until the end of next month. That should be sufficient time.”
Aidan’s head snapped around. “For what? Her to entrap me? Or for you to spread malicious rumours about her and me, and the unsuitability of us being together in this house?”
He knew he had hit the nail on the head when the dowager couldn’t hide her guilty expression. Rather than give him a reply, she hurried to the door without saying a word.
“I shall throw her out on her ear myself so get a spare room ready for her,” Aidan called after her as he turned his cold gaze toward the window. “She will be with you in a thrice.”
Not deigning to answer him, the dowager let herself out of the room.
CHAPTER SIX
Once she had gone, Aidan contemplated his mother’s behaviour. It was clear that she was, once again, going to do what she wanted. Regardless of what was best for everyone else. He just had no idea how to get his point of view across to her. It hadn’t been enough for her to have ruined Jerry’s life by bullying, pushing, and harassing him into marrying someone she considered suitable. In spite of the fact that it was evident to anybody with eyes in their heads that Jerry and Alice weren’t a suitable match, the marriage had been forced upon them, anyway. As a result, the four years of their union had been laden with misery, upset, and a complete lack of regard for each other.
Right up until the day that Alice had fallen down the stairs and died from her injuries.
Thankfully, Jerry had been in London at the time, but the questions as whether she had actually fallen or had jumped still remained unanswered. Her husband’s absence from the house had proven his innocence in the entire affair. Unfortunately, it had done little to eradicate the lingering memory of the darker days of the family’s past.
Having witnessed just how much despair the whole ordeal had subjected his beloved brother, Aidan was determined to be the one to choose his bride, as any man should do. At the moment, he didn’t want to get married. As far as he was concerned, that was the end of the matter. He just wished the dowager would take the hint.
He was still mulling the problem over when Jerry appeared an hour later.
“Should you be there?” he asked when he saw where Aidan was sitting. He sauntered casually into the room and glanced at the empty bed as he passed it, but shrugged and continued across the chamber to sit in the window seat.
“I have to get up and about,” Aidan replied absently.
“How did you get there? Don’t tell me you persuaded Edwards to do something for you for a change?”
Aidan snorted. “I don’t want that woman doing anything for me.”
“So?” Jerry prompted when Aidan didn’t tell him. “How did you get from there to here? The last I knew, you were barely able to stand up.”
“I had a little help,” Aidan replied with a small smile.
They were suddenly interrupted by Petal, who arrived carrying a large tray full of food. She didn’t hesitate as she crossed the room and slid her burden onto the table beside him.
“I am really not hungry, Petal,” Aidan murmured, eyeing the tray warily.
“Do you want to get back into that bed by yourself one day?” she countered, completely oblivious to Jerry, who had yet to speak.
Aidan watched Petal lift the lid off the serving dish and almost groaned when the delicious scent of meat and gravy teased his senses.
“You can at least try a small piece,” she said firmly, refusing to give up.
Shaking his head in disbelief, Aidan couldn’t bring himself to be angry with her. This gentle yet relentless nudging was by far the complete opposite of his mother’s rather stringent determination. He was a little bemused by it, and helpless to deny her.
“I will try some. How about that?”
When Petal beamed at him, he did a double take and stared at her in disbelief.
Petal took the opportunity to hand him a plate heaped with pie, steaming vegetables, and lashings of gravy. He took it off her absently but when he opened his mouth to protest, he closed it again and watched her lift the lid off a large slice of seed cake.
“Right. I will be back in a little while to fetch the tray,” Petal declared, gathering the abandoned tea things up. “I will bring you some fresh tea then.”
“Brandy,” Aidan corrected as he skewered a piece of pie with his knife. “I cannot abide tea. Bring me the brandy bottle instead.”
Pleased that he was at least eating now, Petal nodded and scurried out of the room.
Jerry couldn’t hide his smile as he watched them. He was intrigued by what he had just seen. Not just the easy-going familiarity between Aidan and the maid, but the brisk, no-nonsense efficiency in which she did it, without Aidan even appearing to notice. Petal had gotten what she wanted; Aidan eating a hearty meal, and she hadn’t put him out of sorts to get her own way. Jerry suspected she was the one responsible for Aidan’s new seating arrangement as well.
He waited until Aidan had eaten most of what was put before him, and Aidan poured them both a brandy from the bottle Petal delivered to the room.
“I have eaten, thank you, Petal,” he assured her when she asked if he would like something to eat.
Petal quietly left.
“What is it?” Jerry asked as he took a look at the worry frown on his brother’s face.
He gathered up the plates Aidan had just emptied, and put them onto the tray before he resumed his seat. As he did, so he studied the room, half expecting a dragon, or his mother, to appear.
He realised then what had happened. “She has been here, hasn’t she?”
They both knew who ‘she’ was.
Aidan nodded.
“That damned nurse is connected to a Lord Atterton, but she won’t remove her. She says she has paid her up until the end of next month. The woman is causing trouble with the staff and has terrible delusions of grandeur.”
“Who? The dowager or the nurse?” Jerry countered.
“Both,” Aidan snorted. “Edwards is the only one who dares to argue with the staff.”
“If she is one of the Atterton clan it is little wonder that she hates being below stairs,” Jerry murmured with a frown.
“How do I get rid of her?” Aidan asked with a sigh. “I wish I could pack her things up and march her out of the house. If I do, the dowager will just bring her back, and Edwards will be incorrigible, especially with mother’s support. She will give the servants a difficult time, and it will then be next to impossible to get her out of the house without offending her relatives. Given who she is connected to, I can hardly toss her out on her ear now anyway. She has to go to Abbeygate, but mother won’t hear of it.”
“Mother is quite prepared to take advantage of your current incapacity, and her status, to pressure you into accommodating her,” Jerry replied.
“What do I do?”
For the first time in his life, Aidan was stymied to come up with an adequate plan of action, and it was something he was completely unused to. Usually a man of action, he was familiar with being able to get up and go where he wanted, when he wanted, with nary a word of caution or momentary doubt. Now, he seemed to be riddled with doubts, problems, and worries, and was helpless to do much at all to physically deal with them.
“It is a pity you cannot just announce yourself engaged, or something.”
“If mother got even a slight hint that I was interested in getting married, she would be relentless in pushing forward someone she considered I needed to marry. You know that, Jerry,” Aidan reported.
Jerry frowned as he studied the carpet. Just the thought of marriage left him feeling as though he wanted to tug at his collar. He swiftly turned his attention away from the lingering darkness of the past and turned his attention back to
his brother and his problems.
“She would demand to know who my betrothed is, what their connections were, and would only pick the union apart until she achieved a break-up.”
Jerry nodded. “She would push you to marry someone who embraces life amongst the ton, and would insist on your taking them there.”
“It’s perfect for the dowager.”
“But not so perfect for you.”
“This accident gave me the perfect opportunity to turn my back on the lot without too much in the way of protest from the dowager. I just didn’t think I would be backing myself into a proverbial corner. I adamantly refuse to concede to her demands. I don’t know why she just doesn’t stand me up at the horse market and sell me to the highest bidder.”
Jerry snorted and threw his brother a teasing look. “I don’t think you would get much.”
Aidan smiled in spite of his ill humour. At that moment, Petal re-entered the room.
“Sorry. I just came to collect the trays,” she murmured quietly.
Aidan nodded. “It’s alright Petal. Has the dragon gone?”
“The dragon?” She frowned and stared at him in confusion.
“The dowager. Has she cleared the building?”
“Yes, she has gone,” Petal replied, picking up the tray and studying the plates as she did so. Aidan had eaten more than she thought he would, and it was immensely reassuring.
“You did well,” Jerry remarked to her.
Petal jumped when she realised he was talking to her. “Pardon?”
“That is the most I have seen him eat in nearly a month.”
“He needs to get his strength back,” she replied with a gentle smile.
“Excuse me, I am here, you know,” Aidan protested without heat.
“I will be back in a while to put more wood on the fire,” Petal replied, feeling inordinately proud of her accomplishments this afternoon. Especially when she watched Aidan yawn widely, and eye the bed longingly.
“I will help him get back to bed,” Jerry assured her.
“Where is Edwards?” Aidan called after her when she was half-way across the room.
“Downstairs arguing with Mrs Kempton again,” Petal reported casually as though there was nothing untoward with the behaviour. In fact, it had happened so often that practically all the downstairs servants barely even listened anymore. Mrs Kempton always won, and Edwards always seemed to get a little more discontent with life amongst the servants. Still, she didn’t give up.
“What is she causing trouble about this time?”
“She is insisting on being moved up to one of the guest rooms again,” Petal replied ruefully. “Mrs Kempton insists that she is staff here and has to remain below stairs as you told her, but Edwards refuses to accept this. It has been an ongoing battle from day one, and neither woman appears to surrender.”
Aidan laughed at the glint of humour in Petal’s eyes. Jerry’s ears pricked up at the warm look they shared before Petal turned to go. There was nothing overly suggestive in their behaviour; it was just highly unusual for an upstairs maid to be so familiar with her employer.
“She is causing trouble again,” Aidan murmured with a shake of his head. He was relieved that he couldn’t get up and couldn’t get drawn into the shenanigans downstairs.
Coward, a small voice chided him. You need to make your mark on the house and let everyone know that you are the boss, and you know it.
Still, now that he had a pleasantly full stomach, and had spent the better part of the afternoon gazing over the beautiful gardens. In just a few short hours his life had improved tenfold, and it had all been because of one rather a quirky lady: Petal.
“I will have a word with them,” Jerry sighed.
“Edwards has to stay down there. The only staff who are allowed up here are Petal and Rollo.”
“But Edwards is the nurse. She has to come up here sometimes,” Jerry protested.
Aidan shook his head. “I don’t need a nurse. I can get myself to and from the bed with Petal’s help. Edwards keeps trying to give me Laudanum. I don’t want the damned stuff, but I swear she is lacing my drinks or something. Before she left, the dowager muttered something about telling Edwards to increase the medication. I am not taking any Laudanum, because I absolutely refuse to risk being drugged into some sort of compromising situation.”
“Calm yourself,” Jerry soothed. “I really don’t think things will go that far.”
“Don’t you?” Aidan replied smoothly. “Then why did the dowager bring that companion of hers into the bedchamber? Miss Hornsby proceeded to walk around the place as though planning to redecorate.”
Jerry contemplated what he would do in Aidan’s situation.
“I think that for the time being, the only people allowed in this room are Petal and Rollo. You are right about that. The footmen, if they need to fill your bath, and Mrs Kempton, if she has any household issues she needs clarification on. Meantime, we need to get Edwards to do something useless somewhere else. I will find something for her to do, with strict instructions she is to remain out of this room. If she does have to come up here, then Rollo has to accompany her.”
“She won’t like that,” Petal murmured.
“I don’t care what she likes,” Jerry replied, surprised the maid had so much to say about it. However, having witnessed what had happened this afternoon, she had done far more for his brother than the nurse ever had. Usually, all Edwards did was take up position in the seat in the corner of the room, and glare at everyone who dared enter. She had done nothing to get Aidan up and moving about, or eating properly. It made even him question why the woman was in the house.
Petal, meantime, seemed to be a co-conspirator, and he couldn’t quite be certain whether that was a good idea or not. Still, Aidan appeared to like her. In fact, Aidan seemed to relax imperceptibly in her company. He frowned as he looked at the way they kept glancing at each other. He would swear they were having a silent conversation, but it was absurd to even contemplate that was possible.
There was something in those telling gazes that warned of a deeper connection than that of employer and employee. Unable to understand what was going on, Jerry warned himself that he had to visit more often.
“Now that we can move on from the dowager’s rather rude interruption,” Aidan began. “Leave clearing up for a moment. Petal, I want you to read the rest of this chapter to me.”
“Let me settle you back into bed first,” Jerry offered. “Then, if you fall asleep, you won’t do yourself a mischief.”
Petal followed the men toward the bed, pleased that Aidan did seem a little stronger.
“How did that feel?” Jerry asked, surprised that Aidan had taken most of his weight as he had walked across the room. His support had only seemed to help Aidan maintain his balance. He understood now how Petal, with her slighter frame, had managed to help him as she had.
“It is much better now that I have had something to eat. Petal is right. I needed to eat a proper meal,” Aidan reported as he slid into bed.
All things considered, his injuries had improved considerably more than he had realised. He just needed to get his appetite back, and he would be back on the road to recovery, and it was all thanks to Petal. If she hadn’t bullied him into eating his favourite food, he would have undoubtedly still been battling the awful dizziness that assailed him on the journey over to the window.
Once Aidan was settled, Petal took a seat beside the bed and began to read.
Aidan yawned widely and settled down against the pillows and gazed sightlessly out of the window while listening to the melodic tones of her voice. Within seconds, he was fast asleep.
Jerry watched from his position on the opposite side of the bed and shook his head in stunned disbelief. If he hadn’t just seen them with his own eyes he would never have believed it had happened.
A few minutes ago, Aidan had been almost apoplectic with rage. Now, he was sleeping like a baby.
Jerry frowned
at the book she was holding. It didn’t sound that boring to him.
“How long have you been reading to him?” he whispered.
“I started last night. He fell asleep then as well,” she replied with a soft smile. Placing the book carefully on the table beside him so he could reach it if he chose to read later, she picked up the tray and made her way to the door with Jerry hot on her heels.
“And you did it again this afternoon.”
“Yes, until the dowager turned up. I told him that I could get into trouble for doing it, but he insisted.”
“God, you two,” Jerry murmured, but felt his lips quirk, anyway.
There was something almost wild, if a little reckless about her, but it was encompassed by a soft and feminine sort of casualness that made her waywardness cheeky rather than offensive. He wasn’t entirely sure how she did it, but he couldn’t find any anger toward her. She had helped his brother across the room so he could sit in the sunshine beside the window, and stepped away from her duties so she could read to him. There was nothing wrong with that, especially when he had asked her to do it.
Who am I to argue? Jerry mused as he followed her down the hallway.
She was there to make sure the master of the house got what he needed, and she had. Even though what she had done had gone far beyond keeping the fires in. It was about time someone took good care of him. He just hadn’t expected Petal to be the one to do it.
As far as he was concerned, as long as Aidan was happy then what harm could there be in it?
Relieved that she wasn’t going to lose her job for overstepping the boundaries of propriety, Petal returned to work.
“I am warning you now that if I ever see you being so familiar with him again, I shall have you fired from this house as fast as you can blink,” Edwards snarled as soon as Petal entered the scullery.
Petal slid the heavy tray onto the dresser beside the sink. Rather than look at Edwards, she blithely ignored her and forced herself not to rise to her scorn. Instead, she began to stack the pots in the sink.