The Earl's Encounter (Regency Rendezvous Book 7) Page 5

  Milly took a step back as his hands reached for her coat.

  “Unless you are wearing only chemise under there, I fail to see what the problem is?”

  “I’m sure it is highly improper of you to mention that word,” Milly said, retreating another step as he advanced. “And I am not sure why you are speaking to me in that... that intimate manner.”

  Dear Lord, surely he was not one of those men who preyed on servants? She’d encountered such men, those men born to rank and privilege with the belief they could have any woman they chose, even if she was unwilling. Joseph was not one of those; she could not believe he had changed so much.

  “I think I told you last night that your virtue was safe with me. I have no intention, Miss Higglesworth, of taking off your clothes and ravishing you.”

  His drawled words made her fists clench. When had he changed so much that he could speak in such a cavalier, vulgar way to her... a servant?

  “I must go.”

  “I don’t think so.” He stepped closer, so she retreated. Never had she believed a day would come where he intimidated her, and yet it seemed today was that day.

  “Firstly, Miss Higglesworth you insult me. If I’d thought like that, then last night I would have taken advantage of you. Secondly, I do not use my position to intimidate servants.” His dark brows lowered as he looked at her, and she saw anger in his eyes.

  Relief washed through Milly. She had not misjudged him. Perhaps the years that had passed, and responsibilities he now had, had merely changed his demeanor?

  “Forgive me if I was rude, that was not my intention, but as you can understand, this is highly improper.”

  “Possibly. But then it was improper of you to ride before me last night with no chaperone also.”

  “I need no chaperone, my lord, as I am a servant.”

  “Yes, yes, I know you are a servant, there is no need to reiterate that fact.”

  Joseph could see she was nervous. She was moving from foot to foot, her eyes settling anywhere but on him. Was her fear of exposure, or of him and his intentions? Did she really believe the man she had once loved capable of such behavior? The thought was not a pleasing one, but then nothing about this entire encounter with the woman he now knew as Milly was. In fact, his impulse as she stood there trying not to look at him was to shake her. The anger that he had experienced on realizing her identity had raged last night and not receded by this morning.

  He’d kept his expression calm when she entered his study, letting her believe he had no idea of her identity. In truth, had he not seen her last night without her disguise, he would not have recognized her. There was definitely padding in her cheeks today, and by the size of her breasts and hips, he’d say they were padded also. Her hair was bundled inside her bonnet, and her eyes hidden behind glasses. What had forced her to don such a disguise?

  “Take off your coat and bonnet, Milly.”

  She didn’t want to defy him, and yet she also didn’t want to do as he asked. She looked over her shoulder to the door in the hopes of escape, but Joseph simply cleared his throat, and held out a hand.

  “Come now.”

  “I will take tea with the servants as is proper.”

  “Yet I wish you to take tea with me, so you will do as I wish.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I am an earl, and as such have said it will be so.” Joseph deliberately played on his position now to get what he wanted. Her lips thinned, and he was fairly sure she was swallowing down several heated words.

  Her fingers were slender and long. They took seconds to force each button through its hole. Her bonnet followed. Beneath was a thick, ugly lace cap that covered her entire head, with two flaps that fell over her ears. It was something his grandmother would have worn. Giving the offensive item a last look, Joseph placed her things on a chair, and then motioned Milly to the fireplace, where she sat on the edge of the seat across from him.

  His study was his escape here at Greyton. His father and grandfather had loved this room, just as he did. The desk was wide and old. There were nicks and even a deep scar from one of their ancestors, who in anger had driven his knife into the wood. He could open a drawer and see his father’s handwriting on a piece of paper, or look out the two huge windows and enjoy the rolling landscape. This place usually brought him peace. Looking at Milly, he thought today may be the exception.

  Her clothes were worn and she had an air of desperation about her that he saw more clearly in the light of day. Joseph ignored the ache in his chest that suddenly burned there. It was anger, of course, and seeing her dressed that way, it was threatening to rage to life.

  Lady Millicent Lawrence had been one of society’s brightest lights. A Marquess’s daughter. She had dressed to dazzle, and her smile had stopped men in their tracks. But it had been the smile she gave Joseph that had been the most precious of all. Only when it had been turned on him was it soft and alluring. He’d believed she loved him, but that had been a lie.

  What course has her life taken? Where is the man she left me for?

  “That is a hideous cap. Surely you are not required to wear such a thing in your status as a companion?”

  “It is right that I do.”

  “Who said it was right?”

  She sat with her ankles crossed, hands settled in her lap, as he had seen her do many times before.

  “It is highly improper of you to question me on this, my lord.”

  It must take a great deal of practice to remember to lisp constantly, Joseph thought, but it was highly effective. He doubted that Millicent’s mother, were she still alive and seated across from her right at this moment, would recognize her.

  “Is there anything you wish to tell me this morning, Miss Higglesworth?”

  “I-I… pardon?”

  Her hands moved to clench on the arm of the chair as she started to rise.

  “Your dog snores, Miss Higglesworth, I have struggled to get any work done. A little forewarning would have been nice.”

  Relief had her sitting once again. He ignored the guilt he felt for taunting her, and leaned closer as she turned to look at the dogs. She definitely had some padding in those cheekbones.

  “Do you know anything about the Wimplestow family, Milly? Because I should warn you, they are not like other families of noble birth.”

  He watched as she poured tea a maid had just brought in. The way his sister had done many times before.

  “Are they criminals, my lord?”

  “No.”

  “Dangerous thugs?”

  “No again.”

  “Will I be in danger in their household?”

  “That depends on the danger,” Joseph said. “They are good people, just—”

  Milly lifted her hand to stop him speaking. If only she knew, they were not the actions of a servant.

  “Then I wish you to tell me nothing, Lord Ellsworth. I will see for myself, and make up my own mind when I arrive there.”

  “I think you should take a position in my household. You will be safe here, and comfortable. In fact, my housekeeper has been laid low. You can take her place until she is fit once again.” The words left his mouth before he could draw them back.

  What the hell are you doing?

  I want her where I can keep an eye on her while I decide the best course to take, he reasoned with himself. It would be better if he simply confessed, and told her he knew her identity. He could then tell her what he must. But then she would run again, Joseph was certain of that, and he wasn’t entirely sure why that bothered him so much.

  He was not an indecisive man, but right at that moment he could not make a decision about how to handle the woman seated before him.

  “Thank you for the offer, my lord, but I have no knowledge of how to be a housekeeper. I shall be happy as companion in the Wimplestow household.”

  “You seem intelligent enough, you will pick it up.” He watched her shoulders draw back as he insulted her again, but she did not ret
aliate.

  “Thank you again. I’m sure your praise is most welcome. However, I have a position and am more than happy with that.”

  Her refusal was, of course, for the best. After all, his siblings were due to arrive shortly, and surely one of them would recognize her before he was ready for that to happen. Why then, was he still tense and worried? Why then did he feel a need to lock all the doors and keep her here at Greyton?

  Chapter Six

  Joseph left Milly taking tea, and went to call the carriage. He could have simply pulled the bell, but he needed the distance. Where was the man she had left him for? This thought kept churning inside him, along with the doubts that had begun to plague him after he had received those papers from her father.

  Daughter, I must beg your forgiveness.

  Lord Lawrence’s words had played over and over inside Joseph’s head for weeks.

  After speaking with Bailey, Joseph went to his room to collect his things. When he returned to his study, it was to find Milly gone.

  “God’s blood!” Storming from the room, he found his carriage ready, and Bailey waiting outside his front door.

  “Miss Higglesworth was most insistent she walk, my lord. In fact, she said an earl should not be carting about a governess.”

  She was right, but as she was no governess, Joseph simply grunted, then got into his carriage. He leaned out the window as they reached the gate at the bottom of his driveway, and found her striding along with her little dog at her side. Rapping on the roof, he leapt out after the carriage stopped several feet up the road.

  Joseph watched her eyes turn left and then right. When she saw no escape route, she squared her shoulders and faced him. Commendable, and yet it did nothing to ease his temper.

  “I am not used to people, especially servants, disobeying my orders, Miss Higglesworth. Please get in the carriage.”

  She didn’t retreat as he stalked toward her, only stopping when he could see the flush in her cheeks.

  “I had no wish to put you to any trouble, Lord Ellsworth.”

  “And yet I have told you I have an appointment with Lord Wimplestow, therefore it is no trouble.”

  “So I must obey you?”

  “It would be extremely foolish to walk when I am driving.”

  “But you have already done so much for me.”

  He looked down into the round face, padded with God knew what, and felt his conscience twitch.

  “Perhaps I am one of the few good noblemen, Miss Higglesworth.”

  “I’m sure there are more than just a few, my lord.”

  “You are a tiresome woman.”

  “It was not my intention to annoy you, my lord. However, as I see no way to win this argument, I shall yield.”

  She then gave a short nod, and walked past him and into the carriage. He took a few seconds to look skyward, for no reason other than to calm his breathing, then followed, and soon they were on their way once more. Milly, as he now knew her, sat across from him, pressed into the corner, looking out the window. She was no longer Millicent. That name was reserved for the woman she had left behind in London.

  The day was gray, and snow continued to swirl in the air. Darkness would fall early now, and Joseph had no problem with that. He was more than happy to be huddled beside his hearth with a brandy and book before it did. Where would Milly be as day turned to night? In the Wimplestow household, he knew, but doing what? When would her workday finish? What had she been forced to do in the last four years? What was her story?

  Christ, these thoughts had to stop, they were like a never-ending carousel inside his head.

  “Do the Wimplestow family know they are getting you and Mugwort?”

  The little dog was sitting on her mistress’s lap, snoring blissfully as Milly stroked her spiky fur.

  “As to that, my lord, I had not planned to... ah—”

  “Add dognapping to your resume?”

  “I shall find another home for her if the Wimplestow family do not want her in theirs,” she added, ignoring his accusation.

  “I will take her,” Joseph said, before he could stop himself.

  Her smile was so bright he nearly blinked, and suddenly there was the woman he had once known. Millicent Lawrence. A young, carefree girl he’d wanted desperately to be his wife.

  “I-I’m not sure why you are helping me, Lord Ellsworth, but that is an offer I would be foolish to refuse.”

  How could she believe that some padding and a pair of glasses would stop him from recognizing her?

  “I have the room.” He dismissed her words. “It will not inconvenience me. The servants can care for her.”

  She nodded, and then returned her eyes to the window, leaving Joseph alone with his thoughts, none of which were pleasing.

  The village of Spindle lay thirty minutes from Stonleigh, and to Joseph’s mind was not as pretty. The main road was flanked by shops, and unlike Stonleigh, the entrance was not lined with tall, established trees, and a river did not flow along its edge. The Ellsworth carriage drove through the center and continued on for a further ten minutes.

  “Do we have far to go, Lord Ellsworth?”

  “We are no more than two minutes at the most.”

  “Is the driveway signposted?”

  Joseph nodded, wondering where she was going with this.

  “Then I would ask you to stop the carriage here, please.” Milly rapped on the roof before he could stop her. “I have no wish to arrive with you and be faced with a barrage of questions I cannot answer.”

  “Milly—”

  She had the door open before he could stop her, and stepped down with Daisy and her bag before he could utter another word. Joseph then heard her direct his driver to continue on. Looking out the window, he saw her marching along with the ugly little dog at her side. Gnashing his teeth, he vowed not to let her best him again. The woman had certainly changed in the last four years from the gentle creature he had vowed to wed.

  Why the hell she thought she could carry off her charade, he could not fathom. She was the least subservient servant he’d ever met. Which was strange, as the woman he had known had been exactly that.

  When the carriage stopped minutes later, Joseph was no closer to answering this question, so he put it to one side for now with the others. Opening the door, he stepped down into a courtyard filled with squawking chickens, honking geese, and their excrement. Weeds had forced their way through the cobbles, and were also strangling any plants that had the misfortune to be in the gardens.

  The house was large and rambling toward the east and west, in cream stone. Like its owner, it was a hodgepodge of mismatched shapes and heights. He’d been here often. The Spindle hunt started from here, after all, and while he liked Lord Wimplestow, he’d questioned his hygiene on more than one occasion.

  “I thought that was your carriage, my lord!”

  Joseph watched the rolling form of Baron Cedric Wimplestow lumber toward him from the direction of the stables. The man was large in every way, right down to his personality. He wore baggy breeches that wrinkled at the knees and curved outward midthigh. His jacket was faded green, necktie and shirt a grubby gray, and on his head he wore a woolen cap pulled low. A few of the longer hairs in his eyebrows curled upward into the wool. Had he not known the man’s intelligence, he would think him quite mad.

  “I told my Angus just this morn, I would take the horse to you, but it seems you cannot wait.”

  No one bred horses like Cedric Wimplestow. Joseph shook the man’s hand and looked around him to check on Milly’s location; as yet she had not made an appearance.

  “Indeed, I am looking forward to seeing him.”

  “You’ll stay to take our midmorning meal.”

  “Ah... midmorning meal?” Joseph said, wondering how the hell he could get out of it. He had only been in one parlor inside the Wimplestow house, and the main dining hall, and the memory remained etched inside his head

  Joseph did not believe his standards ex
acting, but eating with the Wimplestow family was enough to put him off his food—not an easy task, it had to be noted.

  “It’s the one before lunch, Lord Ellsworth, and of vital importance. It keeps the body and soul together before we sit down at midday.”

  As the man didn’t appear to be joking, Joseph merely nodded, and looked once again to the driveway.

  “It seems you are about to have more company, Wimplestow.”

  The man’s bushy red brows lowered as he stared at Milly, who had just arrived.

  “Good day to you!” he bellowed, making several chickens milling at their feet squawk and scatter.

  Milly hurried closer, her large bag bumping against her legs, and Mugwort on her heels. He dug his toes into his boots to stop from going to meet her and taking the bag. She looked small and vulnerable, and he did not like the feeling that created inside him.

  She had left him for another. Or had she?

  “My name is Miss Higglesworth. I am here early, to take up the position of governess to your daughter.” She sank into an elegant curtsy.

  “Are you indeed. Well, I can’t say I’m not pleased to see you. The ball is only four weeks away.”

  The annual Stonleigh ball was held every year at Skelton Manor. Joseph and his family always attended.

  “If you will excuse me, I shall make my way—”

  “Is this your dog?”

  Milly stopped at Wimplestow’s words.

  “Yes, she has been with me since a pup, and I am very fond of her.”

  Joseph raised a brow at Milly’s distorted version of the truth, but she did not meet his eye.

  “Well, as you can see, we like animals, so I see no problem with the little animal staying, if she can hold her own among ours.” Lord Wimplestow laughed after he had spoken, as if his words were a wonderful jest. “We shall eat now, and then I will show you the horse, Ellsworth. You too, Miss Higglesworth.”

  “I have—” Joseph said.

  “Oh, but—” Milly said

  “I won’t take no for an answer. You’ll both be our guests!” Wimplestow bellowed. “Perfect time for you to meet the family, Miss Higglesworth. We do not stand on ceremony here.”