Lord to Love Again: A Sweet and Clean Regency Romance

by Grace Sellers

  But she did not tell him that.

  What had she been thinking, hoping a match between these two could happen magically in a summer fortnight? Love never worked that way. The only time it did was when it was two people who weren’t supposed to suit; then they fall madly and immediately in love.

  Caroline dabbed her eyes with Wolfolk’s handkerchief and excused away her tears. He seemed to thaw somewhat then.

  She understood he was reluctant to take another wife after losing his first. Her throat tightened a bit just thinking of how heartbroken he must have been. Still was, obviously. It even justified his sour moods. But if he didn’t want a wife, then what was he doing here?

  She had learned long ago not to question men’s motives with logic.

  She watched his shoulders as he meandered under the tree and bent down to examine something on the ground.

  Maybe he wasn’t so terrible after all.

  It was not yet a quarter of an hour later that a female shriek arose from one of picnic guests. Caroline looked up from the embroidery she had busied herself with and knew it was Nelly, who was now standing near Wolfolk and Lady Stanwyck, reacting to something in his hands. Caroline stood up and walked to where Nelly cowered. What in God’s name was he doing now? She noticed Sutherland suddenly appeared as well.

  “Oh! Take it away!” Nelly cried.

  She should have been watching her charge closer. She had not even seen Wolfolk approach her.

  “It’s an infant squirrel!” Lady Stanwyck exclaimed.

  Wolfolk held his bare hands cupped together.

  “Poor jot was under the tree. I think maybe it fell from a nest. I thought Miss Featherton may want it as a pet.”

  She glimpsed a small brown thing in his hands. It was tiny, having pink skin and brown fur, and it fit neatly in the palm of his wide hand. Its small, bushy tail curled up around its sleeping body.

  Nelly had shut her eyes, refusing to look at it. Then its body moved and its small mouth opened in a yawn. Hardly anything to fear.

  “That was very thoughtful of you, my lord,” Caroline said, despite Nelly’s reaction. “Nelly, I think you can stop screaming now.”

  Sutherland had one hand protectively covering his chest as he inched forward to peer into Wolfolk’s hands. Good lord, you’d think he was holding a fire-breathing dragon. Men are heroes, indeed.

  Sutherland held his other hand in front of Nelly.

  “Why don’t you simply put it back, Wolfolk? Maybe its mother will take it back in the nest.”

  “I think it would die if left on the ground. It certainly would be open to hawks or dogs coming by,” Lady Stanwyck said, eyeing Louie, the dog.

  “Would you like me to do away with it for you, Miss Featherton?” Sutherland asked calmly, his blond hair tousled by the wind. “I could put it out of its misery with a rock.”

  “No!” Caroline and Lady Stanwyck said at the same moment. Caroline grabbed a nearby basket.

  “I will take it in the basket, and we will bathe and feed it until it can be returned to the wild or be someone’s pet.”

  Sutherland’s face lit up. “Its tail could grow into a lovely tippet.”

  “No,” Caroline said again, horrified that someone would raise an animal only to wear its coat. “Perhaps one of the other ladies or a groom here would like him or her as a live pet.”

  “That is a wonderful idea,” Lady Stanwyck agreed. Already other young children were peering in to look at it.

  She shaped her shawl into a nest and held it open while Wolfolk set it inside. Wolfolk delicately lowered the animal into its nest. As he did, the wind ruffled his dark hair into waves and curls around his face. It was oddly charming to see such a large man be so gentle with a small animal.

  “It...looks like a rat,” Nelly said. “Are you sure it’s not?”

  Sutherland shook his head knowingly. “No, no. As children, my brother and I used to use rats for target practice. That’s definitely not a rat.”

  Wolfolk gave Sutherland him a withering look. “Perhaps talk of target practice could be saved for another time. When the ladies are not present.”

  “Right, old boy.”

  Lady Stanwyck smiled. “One of our lady’s maids is quite good with animals. I’ll bet Miranda would be happy to help clean the fellow up.”

  Caroline hooked the basket on her arm and allowed Nelly, Sutherland, and Wolfolk to walk ahead back to Howsham.

  Wolfolk was grateful Caroline had smoothed over his gift to Miss Featherton. He should have guessed Nelly was not an animal lover. He had known plenty of well-born ladies who kept squirrels on long gold chains as pets and pampered and treated the animals as babies. He found the whole thing a bit silly, but then he supposed young ladies did need to practice for motherhood as well as men did for war.

  It was a tiny little creature, anyway. He certainly didn’t want Sutherland to kill it. He’d been so pleased that he had found the thing lying on the ground near the tree so that he could present it to Miss Featherton. But he hadn’t considered she may not want it. Blast. Another deuced miscalculation.

  Eugenia would not have wanted a squirrel either. She disliked animals and even insisted that his beloved pointer, Banquo, spend nights outside his master’s bedroom when they married. Wolfolk had allowed his new wife to have her way until she began sleeping exclusively in her own bedchamber. Then he allowed Banquo back in so the beast could snore away on his carpet as he had done nearly every night of his life. He thought he was getting the better end of the deal: trading his wife for his dog’s company. Remembering Eugenia made his stomach ache.

  Perhaps he had been wrong about Miss Holland being forward. It seemed she was actually a well-bred, considerate woman. He should mention that to Stanwyck so that it gets back to her employer. She also was pretty in her own quiet way. Too bad she wasn’t in his social station and was out of the question for an earl. He could only guess what his friends would say if they thought he fancied her. The Silent Earl and the Lady’s Companion. It would be the gossip of the ton. That was more attention than he wanted. Some men may be up for that challenge, but not him. Besides, taking someone like that for a wife would ensure that some social doors would shut, although he had never cared about that sort of thing before.

  He knew the kind of woman he had to marry. Someone like Miss Featherton, a lady who had been trained by birth to be his wife. And, frankly, someone who’s money could help keep his estate humming along. That was the less pretty side of it, one needed to have money to earn money. Only since his father’s death had he realized quite what a precarious situation his family seat was in.

  He needed to give Miss Featherton a better chance to get to know him.

  “You don’t think it looks like a rat?” Nelly’s blue eyes widened as she and another girl sat near the basin and watched Miranda, the maid, gently pour warm water from her hand down the baby squirrel’s backside. The small rodent stretched its tiny limbs on the basin but did not seem to mind the water. After a moment, it seemed to be trying to swim.

  “Don’t be bacon-brained. It’s a squirrel,” Caroline heard Nelly’s new friend, Alice say.

  “Aye, squirrels and rats are very different creatures,” Miranda said in her Scottish brogue. “Squirrels tame easily and make good pets.”

  “Yes, I have seen ladies with pet squirrels. La, you should get a jeweled leash to carry her around,” Nelly’s friend, Alice, continued.

  “Maybe.” Nelly seemed to be reconsidering her attitude towards rodents.

  “Can I pet it?” Nelly’s friend asked. Miranda nodded, running her fingers over the squirrel’s damp fur and bushy tail. “She’s so soft! What are you going to name her?” She did not wait for Nelly to answer. “You should call her Jezebel.”

  Jezebel the squirrel chattered something that seemed to indicate approval of the name and went about rubbing the water off her head with her tiny pink fingers.

  “She likes the water,” Nelly said. Perhaps she was beginning to
come around to the idea of pet ownership.

  “That she does,” Miranda agreed.

  “What does a baby squirrel do?”

  “Mostly sleep, like all babies. And eat. She’ll need regular feedings of milk so she’ll grow strong,” Miranda said. “And to stay warm.”

  After the bath, Miranda wrapped the baby in a small bath towel, and she quickly fell asleep in the basket.

  The next morning was unspeakably humid, Caroline noticed as she opened her eyes. A breeze blew in the window, but it was damp and warm and only increased her discomfort. She guessed today’s plans for riding would be canceled or the riders would be boiled alive.

  Caroline vowed to find a book in the cool library and to wait out the heat there. She would do everything in her power to ignore the other guests of the party.

  A female shriek came from Nelly’s bedchamber.

  Caroline rushed in, afraid her charge was being disemboweled.

  “What the devil?”

  There at her vanity glass, sat Nelly in her dressing gown, her long hair unbound and her fingers touching a spot between her eyebrows.

  “It’s horrible!” Nelly sobbed as though her entire family was being murdered before her. Tears welled up in her eyes. “Look at my face! How can I go down to see the other guests looking like this?”

  Caroline looked closer. Nelly Featherton had an angry, red blemish right between her eyebrows.

  Caroline suppressed her smile and sat down on the girl’s bed and patted her back.

  “Oh, Nelly, it’s not so bad. It’s hardly noticeable.”

  Nelly leaped away at her touch. “It is! I am practically disfigured. I can’t leave my room!” Tears ran down her otherwise spotless cheeks. “I look like a leper!”

  “Don’t be silly. If you put a warm cloth on it, you may decrease its size. Also, I’m sure Mathilde can disguise it.”

  Nelly’s sobs finally slowed when she heard that name. “Yes, maybe M-Mathilde can help.”

  “Maybe she can set your hair in a way to hide it,” Caroline offered, although she wasn’t sure how that was possible. “Don’t cry. We can see what Lady Stanwyck’s lady’s maid can suggest. She must be very good to work for her.”

  Nelly wiped her eyes and considered this.

  “Yes. We need to call her here right away,” Nelly said gravely.

  Caroline nodded. “I will go downstairs and speak to her now.”

  Nelly grasped her hand as Caroline started to walk away, tears again threatening her eyes.

  “Please have Alice come to my room immediately and send up a breakfast tray. Do not breathe a word of this to anyone!”

  Nelly look mortified. Caroline placed her hand on Nelly’s.

  “Of course not, Nelly.”

  Caroline was glad to no longer be as young as Nelly when she saw how she reacted to this latest crisis.

  Wolfolk could hear fans swatting even before he stepped into the breakfast parlor. He was not surprised to see that nearly every guest at breakfast, including Lord and Lady Stanwyck, sat at the table, fanning themselves. Caroline and Nelly were not yet downstairs, he was pleased to see. He wasn’t sure he yet had the stamina to face them.

  “It’s ghastly, and it’s not even noon yet,” Stanwyck complained. He had removed his topcoat and stripped down to his waistcoat and shirtsleeves. “Wolfolk, what shall we do to make this day tolerable?”

  “Sea bathing?” Wolfolk said although he knew they were too far from the coast for that to be practical.

  “That would be sublime.” Stanwyck unfolded a handkerchief and wiped his brow with it.

  “Stanwyck, please.” Lady Stanwyck said managing to both hold a child on her lap and gesture at him. “We have guests.”

  Stanwyck put his handkerchief away and frowned.

  Wolfolk sat down, and an already sweating footman served him eggs. His appetite, already poor, dwindled. It was too hot to eat. Somewhere nearby a fly buzzed.

  “What are we going to do with eight guests in this heat? I cannot have Cook serve ice cream all day long.”

  “That is all I have the stomach for, I’m afraid,” Stanwyck said.

  Lady Stanwyck brightened, and she put her hand on her husband’s arm as though she had just reached a conclusion.

  “We may not be able to go to the coast, but our guests could make a trip to the Hawkshead lake, could they not? It is less than half an hour walk, but it’s bound to be cooler in that direction.”

  Wolfolk remembered there was a lake on the property. He stalked past it multiple times in winter but had only seen it frozen and snow-covered. It was a large, deep lake, the type to remain cool even in summer’s heat.

  Stanwyck lifted his head from his arm where he’d thrown it dramatically a moment ago. “That is a wonderful idea, my pet,” he kissed his wife on her blonde head.

  “Wolfolk, don’t you agree? Let us form a lake-going party. It will give you a chance to converse more with Miss Featherton.”

  Wolfolk was not enamored of walking in the heat, particularly with all the other guests, but the idea of the lake did sound refreshing. And a trip would give him a chance to spend more time with Miss Featherton.

  And hopefully, avoid interaction with Miss Holland.

  7

  The heat only increased as the day went on. The wind continued to blow, but it was so warm it felt like an oven to Caroline. She held a parasol for Nelly and a small basket of treats as she trailed behind the group of guests walking ahead.

  She’d managed to avoid Wolfolk—including eye contact—when they came downstairs, which she considered a small triumph. When she saw him earlier in the breakfast room, she averted her gaze, took the tray up to Nelly, and ignored him. Now she was glad to hang back and feel invisible. Thankfully it seemed as though none of the guests had noticed her.

  Mathilde had done a remarkable job of tending to Nelly’s blemish. It looked smaller and less red. Caroline noticed that Nelly kept her face mostly sideways when she talked to anyone, particularly men.

  Today Wolfolk walked next to Nelly at the front of the small group, led by Lady and Lord Stanwyck. Sutherland also walked nearby. The men had all removed their topcoats and wore light colors to be cooler in the sunshine, and all the ladies wore brimmed hats to protect them from the sun.

  Her own straw bonnet was not doing much good. They trudged through sun-parched grass and over stumps and rocks, and within a quarter of an hour, everyone suffered in the heat. Caroline huffed along at the end of the path, grateful she was away from the men so they couldn’t see her indelicacy. She was in the lightest muslin she owned, but still, she felt sweat pooling under clothes.

  As they came over a hill and closer to the lake, the air changed and turned cooler and damper. The temperature dropped several degrees and clouds smudged over the sun. Soon enough, she could see the water, which shimmered blue-green oasis in the distance. It was a magnificent sight: calm water trimmed all around by green hills and trees.

  Thank God they were finally to the lake.

  The walk there had a been a blazing, sun-scorched hike of tedium for Wolfolk, and Nelly’s nattering had only made it longer. But he did manage to keep Sutherland away from her for most of the trip, which he considered a success.

  But the sight of the cool water lifted his spirits.

  The children began to run ahead when they saw the water, despite Lady Stanwyck’s reminders to slow down.

  “Mary, my dear, please do not run,” she told her cousin, but the girl was already joining Nelly and Alice as they trotted to the water’s edge.

  “It feels so cold!” Adam, one of the younger boys, had his shoes and stockings off and was already ankle-deep in the water. The other children shrieked and joined him. Indeed, the men were doing likewise. Wolfolk felt tempted to do the same, but instead, crouched, reaching his hand to the fresh water and splashing some on his face. It was deliciously cold. He cupped some with his hand and poured it into his mouth.

  “You need to be careful i
n the water, especially with the younger ones,” Lady Stanwyck told the children sternly.

  Wolfolk noticed Caroline was there and helped the boys off with their shoes and stockings.

  “I will watch them,” she offered, and Lady Stanwyck gave her a grateful look as she hoisted her middle child onto her hip. Damn her, but she was a helpful woman. He decided not to dwell on that.

  “Can we put our feet in the water?” Cousin Mary asked. The other girls looked at her hopefully.

  An older female guest who’s name Wolfolk didn’t catch looked shocked. In his head, he referred to her as Mrs. Buffalo.

  “Certainly not. Young ladies must not reveal bare skin in mixed company,” Mrs. Buffalo said.

  Lady Stanwyck sighed. “On a day like today, I see nothing wrong with both men and women cooling their bare feet in the water. If we all do it, there is nothing indecent about it. The Lord put water here for us to enjoy. But ladies, do mind your hems.”

  The girls shrieked with joy, which made Caroline and Lady Stanwyck exchange a smile.

  “Well, I’ve never seen anything like this,” Mrs. Buffalo said, sitting on a rock and frowning.

  Soon enough, all the children were standing or walking ankle-deep in the cool pond, joined by the men and most of the women. Master John flicked water at Lord Stanwyck, wetting his shirt.

  “Why, you weasel!” Stanwyck promptly picked up and threw his brother into the deeper water with a messy splash to the shrieks of the guests. John resurfaced, spouting water at his brother. Stanwyck stood with his trousers rolled up in the water and splashed Wolfolk who stood onshore.

  “Will you be joining us?”

  “Only if I may drown you,” Wolfolk called back and sat on the banks and pulled off his boots. Even Stanwyck’s mother had her shoes removed and sat in a teak chair with her feet in the water.