Footsteps echoed on the stair interrupting her line of
thought. The man who entered the inn with the doctor appeared in the doorway.
Emily raised her eyes and connected with the pain in his expression. For some
strange reason, her heart skipped a beat, and she felt the urge to try to fix
all this man’s troubles.
He was perhaps twenty-six to Emily’s twenty-one if she had
to guess. A few strands of his tousled, dark brown hair had come free from the
tie and were scattered across his worry-strewn forehead. His chin was solid,
and bristles were beginning to show along his cheeks. Unlike Stephen, his
waistcoat and cravat were neat.
“How is Grummel, Marcus?” Stephen asked gravely.
The man shook his head. Emily was disappointed that he did
not notice her, but she was unsure why she should be. She realized the brothers
had far more on their minds than a lowly governess in an inn’s common room. As
she sipped her tea, she could not keep her curious ears from listening to their
conversation.
“The doctor says he will not make it through the night with
all the agitation he is exhibiting. He is completely distraught and fully aware
that he won’t rise again from that bed. However, he is more upset that Algernon
will inherit the estate and throw it away on the gaming tables than he is about
the fact he will soon be with his parents. He is desperate for any woman to
marry him. He even asked if he could marry the inn’s maid! It is a shame Penelope
married before Lucy came into his inheritance. If she had only a little more
patience…”
“Here’s a woman,” Stephen interjected, “– a lady none the
less. Brother, may I present Miss Emily Radford of London. Miss Emily, my
brother, Lord Marcus Duval, Earl of Berkshire.”
Stephen lowered his voice to a
loud whisper and leaned toward his brother’s ear, “She says she is a governess,
but she isn’t stuffy enough, so her employers changed their minds.”
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