The Earl Next Door

by Amelia Grey

  Besides, as far as she was concerned the earl’s erratic actions showed he was more undisciplined than girls at play.

  Suddenly Adeline blew out a soft laugh. Maybe in retaliation she would have the girls come outside at eleven o’clock every morning and scream to the high heavens. That would be fitting for the late-sleeping earl. To bother him as much as he had her would bring sweet satisfaction.

  It felt good to think of the possibility of such an action, but she would never do it. That wouldn’t be advantageous. Adeline was rational enough to know that if Lyon was disturbed by the girls playing, others might be, too. It was important that the school become a part of the neighborhood and blend in. Not disrupt it and cause problems that would be difficult to settle. It was best she take care of this now. She would speak to Mrs. Tallon and tell her to take the girls to St. James Park three times a week to play and run to their hearts’ content. And she should come up with another respite they could do each day. Singing would probably be a good pastime. That shouldn’t annoy anyone, including the earl.

  She laid her head against the siding of the house and closed her eyes. Maybe if she shut out the light of day, she could also resist the temptation to foster more thoughts about her infuriating neighbor. How many times would she have to tell herself there were more important things to dwell on than a man who not only jumped to conclusions before he had the facts but also disliked children?

  Peace wouldn’t welcome her.

  She kept seeing his intense gray eyes searching hers and the way his uncombed hair fell attractively around his forehead and face. The light stubble of beard on his cheeks and chin had enhanced his roguish good looks. He really should have had on a collar so she couldn’t see his strong neck and the intimate hollow of his throat.

  Dash the man. Did he follow any of the acceptable rules of proper behavior?

  Adeline knew her knowledge of men in general was limited, but she was fairly certain disagreeable, insufferable aristocrats weren’t supposed to be as attractive as the earl. Lord Lyonwood made her feel anger and outrage, but he also made her want to explore the warm and delicious feelings he caused inside her. Whenever she looked at him she felt as if her insides were melting into a hot swirling pool of anticipation and she didn’t understand why.

  It was obvious he didn’t like her. She didn’t like him. He didn’t like children, and he probably didn’t like dogs or cats, either.

  She smiled to herself. It might be going a little too far to think Lyon didn’t like animals, but he clearly had no patience when it came to children. And no respect for a lady’s privacy.

  That last thought brought other memories to mind. The concentrated pressure from her husband to produce, the criticism from him because she didn’t, and the hurts and feelings of inadequacy for not measuring up to what her husband had expected of her when they married.

  A wife to give him children.

  Wake never believed she was as devastated as he was by her inability to conceive, but she was. That was the reason she agreed to all the things he made her go through. Things that were supposed to ensure she would have a babe.

  Only after they married did she learn that Wake had picked her out of all the young ladies making their debut that Season because he thought she appeared to be the most favorable to give him a strong, healthy son. He didn’t charm and woo her so diligently because he thought her the most beautiful or wittiest, or even for her generous dowry. No. It was because she appeared to him to be the best young lady to withstand the rigors of childbearing.

  All that was behind her now. In the past. Where it would stay.

  Determined to keep the invading thoughts from lingering, Adeline tried to settle more comfortably into the bench, wanting only to breathe deeply and relax. It would have been much easier to accomplish if the seat had cushions. She made a mental note to ask Mrs. Lawton to put some out every morning. The days were getting warmer and there was no reason she shouldn’t come outside and enjoy the spring air—while reading a book, or stitching a flower on a handkerchief, or having her morning tea.

  A shadow fell across Adeline’s face. She thought perhaps a thundercloud had eased across the sky. Or maybe Mrs. Lawton had come outside to check on her. What if the earl had returned? Her eyes popped open. Startled, she saw a little girl standing over her.

  Adeline jumped to her feet.

  “Good heavens. What’s wrong?” Adeline asked. “Did the earl return?”

  The red-haired child with freckles sprinkled across her nose and crest of her rounded cheeks innocently glanced from one side of the house to the other. “I don’t see him anywhere.”

  The girl didn’t look distressed, but Adeline bent down to her level and said, “You don’t have to be frightened. I’m going to make sure he doesn’t bother any of you again.”

  “He didn’t frighten me,” she said confidently. “I’m not given to fits like some of the other girls who are living here. I only screamed because they were. He seemed like a nice man to me.”

  That wasn’t an answer Adeline expected. All the girls were shrieking in terror as loud as humanly possible when she came out. “Then what are you doing here?”

  “Looking at you.”

  Squelching her first instinct to show her displeasure at the simple answer, Adeline reminded herself she was talking to a child not more than ten years old and then cleared her throat and smiled. “That was quite obvious. I meant to ask why you aren’t in the schoolroom having tea with everyone else?”

  “I don’t care for tea,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

  “I see,” Adeline said, though she really didn’t. She didn’t know of anyone who disliked tea. There had to be another reason she was out of the school building. The thought that she might have been thinking about running away concerned Adeline. She didn’t have on her coat, bonnet, or gloves, though. “Your name is Fanny, right?”

  She nodded and clasped her hands to the back of her skirt and gently swung her body back and forth.

  “Did Mrs. Tallon or either of her helpers give you permission to come out here?”

  “No,” she admitted calmly. “But I didn’t ask them.”

  At least she was honest about it. “Don’t you think you should have sought someone’s consent before you left the school?”

  She shrugged.

  Fanny certainly wasn’t giving the appearance of a child who was trying to run away, but she wasn’t saying much either. Adeline asked, “Did you have plans to go anywhere in particular when you came outside?”

  “No. I’m curious and just wanted to look around. Mum said it’s good to be curious. That’s how you learn things.”

  “Fair enough. I can understand that. All your surroundings are new to you. It’s natural to want to see everything. We won’t worry about that this time, but I’m curious about something. How did you get out of the schoolroom without Mrs. Tallon knowing?”

  “I was real quiet.”

  Adeline made a mental note of that.

  “And her back was turned to me. Irene was crying and Reba started crying, too. And another girl.” Fanny rolled her eyes. “I don’t remember her name. Mrs. Tallon was busy with them.”

  Adeline’s heart constricted for all the girls and what they were going through. This change in their lives wouldn’t be easy, but the difference it could make in their futures would be immeasurable. That is what she had to focus on. The girls and their families had to make the sacrifices today so they would have a chance at better lives tomorrow. Boys went to boarding schools and managed it and ended up well educated, and so would these girls. They would realize they were just as strong and capable, and do beautiful seamstress work one day, too.

  “I know this may not be the easiest of paths, but it will be the most rewarding for all of you,” Adeline said, feeling quite somber at the depth of her undertaking. “I wish I could hurry it along, but it can’t be done that fast. Learning to read and write and be good at a trade takes time.”

  “
I’m in no hurry,” the little girl offered as she looked around the garden. “I like it here. I think it’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.”

  That appeared to be the case for Fanny. She didn’t seem at all disturbed. Maybe it was only mere curiosity that caused her to leave the school building.

  “When I met all of you a few minutes ago, I noticed you were holding hands with one of the other girls. Was it Irene?”

  As she shook her head, her long red curls bounced. “No. That was Mathilda. She doesn’t cry. She’s brave like I am and doesn’t mind being here either.”

  “That’s good to hear.” If some of them were coping already, there was hope in time all of them would and without too much trauma in the meantime.

  “We haven’t done much sewing or learning, yet, but I liked seeing the workroom. It has a lot of thread in it. I wanted to touch the spools but Mrs. Tallon told me I couldn’t. I didn’t know there were so many different colors. I could look at them all day.”

  Her comment pleased Adeline. The room was also full of most anything they could want or would need to add frippery to all types of clothing, hats, and bonnets. Mrs. Tallon had stocked the room with various colors of embroidery and tatting threads, yarns, lace and ribbons, and many different kinds of trim. There were feathers, dried flowers, and jars of beads lining several shelves.

  Though the headmistress had argued against it because of the cost, Adeline insisted a few lustrous fabrics must be included with the many bolts of inexpensive muslin that had been purchased for teaching. The girls needed to appreciate the texture differences among a coarse, worsted wool, heavy cotton, and a fine silk tulle or lightweight brocade when pushing a needle through it or cutting it from a pattern.

  “You’re young enough that you’ll probably have the opportunity to use every shade that’s in there before you are ready to be employed by a dressmaker.”

  “I hope Mrs. Tallon lets me pick the colors I get to use first.” Fanny scrunched her nose and then twitched it a time or two. “But she probably won’t.”

  “That will be up to her.”

  Adeline wasn’t getting any closer to finding out what Fanny was really doing outside the schoolhouse. If it wasn’t fear of the earl, or that she wanted to run away, perhaps it was …

  “Tell me about Mrs. Tallon and her helpers? Have they been kind to everyone?”

  Fanny hesitated as if she wanted to study on what she wanted to say. “Mrs. Tallon says I need to answer her when she speaks to me, but sometimes I don’t have anything to say. Mum says I don’t talk enough either.” She breathed in deeply and shrugged.

  Adeline couldn’t help but think of herself and Lyon. They probably said too much to each other and could take a lesson from Fanny and just be quiet. “I’m sure you miss your mother and that she misses you, too.”

  Fanny nodded. Her blue eyes continued to gleam confidently. “But I need to be here. She said I’m going to learn how to read and write my name. I already know how to sew.”

  “Really? Well enough to cut up an entire piece of fabric and make a dress out of it?”

  She shook her head. “Not that much. I can’t make a fancy dress like you have on, but I can sew on a button, hem a skirt, and darn a hole in the elbow of a sleeve.”

  “That’s quite impressive for someone your age.”

  “Mum says I’m good help to her but she wants me to learn how to read.” Fanny’s lashes suddenly lowered. “Papa knew how. He used to read to us when he was home, but he’s been in Heaven a long time now.”

  Adeline swallowed down a lump of sorrow that sprung up in her throat. She supposed two years was a long time for a child. “I’m sorry he can no longer do that.”

  “That’s all right. I’m going to learn so I can read to Mum the way Papa did, and then she won’t be so sad. Papa will be happy when he knows I can read, too.”

  “And it will bring a smile to your mother’s face when she hears you reading to her.”

  “Papa will be watching from Heaven.”

  “I believe he will,” Adeline said with a smile. “I’m glad to know you want to be here and you weren’t trying to run away from the school when you came outside.”

  Fanny unclasped her hands and held them up as she shrugged again. “I don’t have anywhere to go.”

  “All right. Let’s start heading you back to the school. If Mrs. Tallon realizes you’re gone, it would worry her.” Fanny fell in step with Adeline. “You do know you can’t be walking out of the schoolhouse again without Mrs. Tallon’s permission, don’t you?”

  “Why, if I’m not going to do anything but walk around and look at everything?”

  “You might accidently walk too far away and get lost. That would concern all of us. And, you might miss out on an important lesson she’s teaching. You wouldn’t want to do that, would you?”

  Fanny shook her head again, causing her curls to bob across her shoulders. “Mum told me it was very important that I mind all the rules and eat all my food when it’s put before me whether or not I like it and don’t say a word.”

  “She sounds very wise.”

  “I’m not to give anyone any trouble so that I have to come back home before I’m properly schooled.”

  Feeling quite pleased, and hopeful about the future success of the school, Adeline smiled. “I agree with your mother and that’s not going to happen, is it?”

  “No, I’m going to be a good girl. She made me promise to do everything I’m told to do and not to be hitting anyone or pulling any girl’s hair.”

  Adeline considered what Fanny said for a moment and then she stopped, bent down once again to be on Fanny’s level, and said, “You haven’t done anything like that before, have you?”

  The little girl looked at Adeline with sparkling, mischievously calm eyes. Her lips pursed together and she shook her head, swinging her shoulders as she did so.

  Finally she said, “No, my lady. Not since I’ve been here.”

  Chapter 8

  Lyon walked through the door at White’s, swinging his cloak off his shoulders. He handed it and his hat off to the attendant and headed straight for the reading room. A quiet place to peruse the day’s newsprint was just what he needed. After his unusual start to the morning was disrupted, he wasn’t sure he’d get that at his house. His club was the next best place. It was early enough in the day that he had no reason to believe many of the members would be gathered for their afternoon card games or billiards.

  White’s had a grand history as far as gentlemen’s clubs went. Only the elite of male Society had ever made it past the front door—according to tradition. But, there was legend that contradicted that long-held belief. He’d heard rumors that in the past there’d been a few occasions where ladies had managed to slip inside the hallowed rooms by donning gentlemen’s clothing and either putting on a wig or cutting their hair in a short, manly fashion. One lady was said to have posed as a server rather than as a member or guest.

  He wasn’t sure he believed any of the rumors had truth to them. To Lyon, it didn’t matter the size, height, or age of a woman. And certainly not how she was dressed or the style of her hair. Women and ladies alike had a softer look about them, a different way of walking and talking. They had an undeniable demeanor that spoke of feminine qualities that couldn’t be hidden beneath the trappings of a man no matter how clever a disguise.

  After a hearty breakfast of ham, eggs, and several pieces of toasted bread smothered in a tasty mixture of preserved figs and butter, his headache went away, though in its place came the remorse that he’d scared a dozen girls so badly they’d probably not want to go to sleep tonight and would have horrific nightmares when they did. He’d considered going over to apologize for interrupting their playtime but decided that could frighten them all over again.

  He’d paid a call to his solicitor only to find the man was out of his office for the day taking care of another client. Perhaps he should look into the possibility of hiring a different solicitor. L
yon had been annoyed Mr. Burns had all winter to have the account books and ledgers in order and ready for him to review last week. Four months and the man hadn’t managed to accomplish it.

  For now, Lyon would see the man tomorrow. He wanted to find out all he could about how the lovely but contrary Lady Wake ended up next door to him with a boarding school in the back half of her garden. As well as whether or not there might be the possibility she could be convinced to move the school elsewhere. Knowing the fearless Lady Wake, she would probably insist he should be the one to sell and move away.

  Hell would freeze over first. His house had been in his family more than fifty years.

  A low laugh rumbled in Lyon’s throat as he entered the doorway of the reading room. He paused and tapped the side of his leg with the newsprint he’d picked up from the front room.

  This was not his day.

  The Marquis of Marksworth had already seen him, so there would be no chance of ducking out quickly and heading to another club to avoid him. Lyon nodded to his father and he returned the greeting. Lyon might as well pick out a spot that had two empty chairs. Marksworth would be joining him as soon as he finished his conversation.

  Aunt Delia was right about his father, Lyon observed, deliberately walking in the opposite direction of the group of men engrossed in a quiet discussion that seemed to be of some importance, considering the apprehensive expressions on their faces. The tall, strapping marquis, with a physique most young men would envy, looked half his true age of near fifty. It was never more prevalent than when he stood beside gentlemen his own age. Unlike the rest, there were no wrinkles making deep trails around his eyes, not a hint of pudginess around his middle, and seemingly not a hair lost from his head. Lyon had long grown used to hearing that he and his father looked more like brothers than father and son.

  But in the way they lived their lives they couldn’t be more different.

  The Marquis of Marksworth wore his title, privilege, and wealth with a gusto few gentlemen could match. Sharing the Prince’s love of art and other cultures, as well as having the Regent’s ear for local and foreign political matters, made the marquis sought after by friends and foes alike for any piece of advice or warning he might dole out. Marksworth relished the power and attention the friendship with Prinny gave him and took pride in the advantage of being so noted. That he had conspicuously taken care of three mistresses for years also elevated his standing in the difficult-to-impress gentlemanly community of the ton and made him the cause of much envy and awe. The marquis embraced and enjoyed his status as London’s most lusty swordsman.