The Marquess In Her Bed (Steamy Historical Regency)

by Olivia Bennet

  The butler nodded. “Of course, My Lord.” He turned from Allan and walked towards the side hallway, which connected that wing of the house with the other.

  Allan knew it would be some time before Oliver would arrive, so he decided he would absorb himself in some work. After all, he had been so distracted earlier, that he could certainly spend some time catching up on tasks he had neglected.

  * * *

  “My Lord?”

  Allan was sitting at his desk fully engrossed in his paperwork. He looked up and his butler was standing before him.

  “Yes, Clark?”

  “General Blackmore has arrived. I have shown him into the sitting room.”

  “Very good, Clark,” said Allan with a smile. “I was just wondering when it would be appropriate for a break.” Focusing on something other than his past had put Allan in a happy mood. Though, seeing Oliver always temporarily made him flashback a bit. “Please let the General know that I will join him in a moment.”

  “Yes, My Lord,” Clark said, then he walked out of Allan’s office. Allan placed the papers which he had been reading in a neat pile and turned down the lamp. He was done working for the day. He neatened his shirt and cravat and wiped off his boots with his handkerchief. Oliver was a regimented military man, and even though he and Allan were close friends, Allan always liked to make sure to look his best when around his war contacts.

  Satisfied that he was well put together, Allan opened the office door, which was located on the second floor of his home, and walked towards the stairway, which would lead him to the entrance of the sitting room once he descended them. As he approached the sitting room, a waiting footman opened the door and Allan walked in.

  Oliver was standing facing the window, his back towards Allan. “General Blackmore,” said Allan in greeting. Oliver turned at the sound of Allan’s voice, and smiled. The men shook hands and exchanged greetings.

  “I’m happy you could take some time to visit,” said Allan as he gently slapped his friend on the shoulder. “It’s great to see you, Oliver.”

  “And you, Allan,” responded Oliver. “I was happy to see your invitation. It has been too long since we have seen each other.”

  “Yes, it certainly has,” exclaimed Allan, as he was approached by a footman with a tray carrying two glasses of red wine. Allan took a glass, had a sip, and watched as Oliver did the same.

  There was always a bit of unnecessary awkwardness between the men when they reunited. Allan simply never knew how to act around the man who had literally saved his life. He would not be standing in the sitting room at all if Oliver hadn’t put forth some very heroic efforts on the battlefield. As Oliver always said, though, Allan would have done the same thing for him if he had seen his comrade’s body flying through the air after the blast.

  “Please, have a seat, friend.” Allan gestured towards the ornate sofa in the center of the room. “Join me for a conversation.”

  Allan watched as his friend sat down, and once settled, he began to speak. “How have you been?”

  “I have been well,” Oliver responded. “And you?”

  Allan paused briefly. He wanted to tell Oliver about his flashbacks but was hesitating. He knew if anyone would understand, it would be Oliver, but he also didn’t want to seem weak. “I am wonderful,” said Allan with a bit too much gusto.

  Oliver didn’t look convinced, but Allan kept talking. “There are many reasons to be content. For instance, my cousin Edward, the Duke of Daftwood, is to be married. It will be a delightful occasion, to be sure.”

  “I have met him,” said Oliver. “He has a brother, also?”

  “Yes, Harry is his brother,” explained Allan. “They are both my cousins, of course, but I have always been closer to Edward. He is an upstanding gentleman and a man of good morals. We have always gotten on very well. His brother, however, and I have never quite seen eye to eye.”

  “Family relations can be difficult,” agreed Oliver. “But family does have meaning. Look at your situation. You no longer have your parents, and you have no siblings, so it makes sense that you would grow close with your cousins.”

  “Yes,” stated Allan. “And I have close friends, like yourself.”

  “Ah, yes,” responded Oliver, lifting his wine glass in a small toast and smiling.

  “Speaking of friends,” said Allan, “Do you remember Miss Bridget Crampton? The physician’s daughter from the war who helped me recover?”

  Oliver thought for a moment, and then said. “Of course. I could never forget a gorgeous woman, especially one who saved my friend’s life.”

  Allan smiled. “I was thinking about her today.”

  “Oh?” Asked Oliver. “What made you think of her?”

  Again, Allan was silent on the fact that his flashbacks had been occurring with a vengeance. “I’m not sure,” he said, trying to look as sincere as possible.

  “Perhaps it’s just the fact that it is time for you to settle down with a wife,” said Oliver. “After all, it may not be a coincidence that you would think of Miss Crampton on the same day you received your cousin’s wedding announcement.”

  Allan must have had a strange look on his face because Oliver quickly added, “I didn’t mean that you had marrying her on your mind, of course.”

  “No. I have no plans to marry the physician’s daughter,” said Allan with an uncomfortable laugh. “Though, perhaps you are right. It is something I must do…settle down, I mean.”

  “There will be time for that, friend,” said Oliver. “Perhaps you will meet a lovely lady at your cousin’s wedding.”

  Allan chuckled now. “Perhaps, but I wouldn’t place a bet on that.”

  Chapter 2

  In all of her five-and-twenty years, Lady Esther Nott had never allowed society to tell her what to do. As her peers aged into adulthood, met their husbands, and started to have children, Esther was spending her days caring for orphans and living a life devoted to charity.

  She was the eldest daughter of the Duke of Aishling, and being the daughter of a Duke afforded her the luxury of being able to spend her time as she pleased. Yet she knew that others believed that she should have taken a different path in her life, similar to the one her sisters were leading. In fact, her sister Mary was preparing for her upcoming wedding to Edward, the Duke of Daftwood.

  With Mary’s wedding at the forefront of family conversations, Esther was constantly reminded that the choices she had made were unconventional. This might have bothered other ladies, but Esther was not like most ladies.

  Both she and her sisters were pretty, and they had many opportunities to find a suitable partner. Esther had thick, flowing chocolate brown hair and amber eyes, which could easily calm anyone who chose to look into them. She was full-figured, yet well-proportioned, and tall.

  Mary had found her partner, and Esther’s youngest sister, Ruth, had begun courting the oldest son of an Earl. Yet, Esther remained focused on her charity work, and her mind was still very far from marriage.

  “Esther, will you help me with writing this letter?”

  Esther and Mary were sitting at desks in the morning room in their father’s home. It was mid-morning and the ladies were reading their correspondence and writing letters as they waited to break their daily fast. Esther was sipping on a cup of tea and reading a letter from a former orphan she had worked with a couple of years ago.

  “What do you need help with?” Ester asked her sister.

  “It doesn’t sound right to me,” Mary responded. “I want to write a letter to Lady Booth, and I want to ask her and her daughters to attend a dinner party after I am married. However, I am new to all of this.” She giggled and slid the half-written letter over to her sister. Like Esther, Mary was tall with chocolate brown hair, though she was very thin. The sisters resembled each other, and when they were young, could almost pass as twins.

  “What makes you think I can help?” Esther asked, as she reached out to pull the letter towards her. “I don’t hav
e any experience being the lady of the house.”

  “You are quite smart, though,” said Mary, as she reached for a small piece of toast brought to her by a footman. “And you write a great many letters.”

  Esther smiled. “Yes, I do tend to write many letters.” With Esther’s work with charities, she was often reaching out to the fortunate to fund her efforts with the poor.

  “See?” said Mary. “You can be quite persuasive. There is no telling how much you have raised to help your orphans.”

  Esther cringed. She hated when people referred to the children and families she helped as “her orphans.” To her, they were simply children and families who needed help. Calling them orphans made them seem as less worthy than others, which bothered her.

  “Quiet,” she said to her sister with a bit of annoyance in her voice. “Let me read.”

  Esther began to read through the letter that Mary had written. It began with the common niceties that are always exchanged and mentioned that it would be an honor for Mary and her new husband to host her guests. It ended quite abruptly, however, and Esther knew that Mary needed a good closing.

  “Why do you want to invite these people to your home?” Esther asked. The truth was, she greatly cared for her family and close friends, yet when it came to strangers, she was a bit cautious. She simply didn’t trust people very much, as she had seen in her chosen line of work that some people could be very bad.

  “Lady Booth is one of the most prominent ladies in the area, and though I am marrying a Duke, I think it would be prudent to get into her good graces,” explained Mary.

  Esther rolled her eyes. Her sister was always wanting to fit into the mold that society had created for her, so it didn’t surprise her one bit that Mary would be greatly interested in becoming more friendly with the likes of people such as Lady Booth.

  “Well,” said Esther, very uninterested in the musings of class, “I suppose you could add something a bit less blunt about getting into her good graces. If she is like most ladies of standing, she probably enjoys others flattering her.”

  “Esther!” said Mary in a shocked tone. “Don’t say things like that. Besides, what do you think you are?”

  “You know as well as I do that the statement is true,” replied Esther quickly, ignoring the part where she too, was a lady of standing.

  “Maybe some of them,” said Mary, conceding to her elder sister. “But that isn’t very nice to say, either.”

  Esther smirked. Her sister Mary was always the “nice one” of the three daughters of the family. Esther was known as the passionate and opinionated one, while Ruth was always the fun sister.

  “Since you are marrying a Duke, I wouldn’t imagine that you need people in your life like Lady Booth,” said Esther with a smile. “But if you insist, you should follow my advice.”

  Esther pushed the letter back across the desk to her sister, and Mary pulled it towards her. Esther watched as the soon-to-be-bride turned her attention to the letter.

  “As soon as I finish this letter, I must focus on final plans for the wedding celebration,” said Mary to Esther. “Do you have any interest in helping?”

  “No,” said Esther, “though you only have two days before the wedding. I would hope that most of your planning is done.”

  “Well, you know how it is. There is a bit more planning involved than I thought,” replied Mary. “Only family and a few friends will attend, but we have invited several people to the wedding breakfast following the ceremony.”

  “It sounds lovely, Mary,” said Esther. “You have a lot to be happy about.”

  “Yes,” agreed Mary, as she finished up her letter, “and we are joining a family with ours, which is beneficial to all of us.”

  “I suppose that is true,” Esther responded. Though her father was the Duke of Aishling, that didn’t necessarily mean that all was well in their world. Even Dukes have their struggles, and her father was no exception. The marriage would be very advantageous to their family.

  Esther finished her tea in silence and watched as Mary finished writing her letters. She glanced at the clock and knew that she would be needed at the district orphanage soon.

  Several days a week, Esther would take a carriage to the district orphanage and make sure that all was well with the children. Though she grew up far from the dingy walls of those places, there was a big part of her that really cared about what happened to the children who had nowhere else to go. In fact, she cared for them so much that she had dedicated her time to helping them instead of dedicating it to things that normal ladies in her position would do, such as painting, singing, gossiping with like-minded ladies, or, of course, finding a husband.

  Esther turned to Mary with a smile and said, “I am leaving for the day. Good luck with your planning. I am very happy for you, and I am looking forward to your wedding celebration.”

  Esther then stood from the desk and placed the linen napkin that she had draped over her lap next to the empty tea cup. She turned to walk out of the door of the morning room and a footman opened the door as she passed. She knew that her carriage would be ready for her outside of the front door, so she made her way through the hallway that connected with the entryway. There, she met her lady’s maid, who would chaperone her.

  Esther approached the door and she and her maid walked out into the sunny day. As expected, the carriage she would take was waiting, and the coachman was standing next to it, holding open the small door.

  “Good morning, My Lady,” he said with a smile.

  “Good morning,” Esther responded. The coachman held out his hand to assist her into the carriage, and she took it to keep her balance. She crouched down and entered the carriage, settling down next to the small window, which allowed her to watch the countryside as she traveled to the orphanage. The coachman closed and secured the door, and she could hear him walking around the back of the carriage. The vehicle lurched gently as Ester’s maid climbed into the front and sat on the bench. One more lurch, and the coachman had taken his seat. There was one final lurch, and the coach was in motion with a footman on a horse on either side.

  It was about fifteen minutes in the carriage to get to the orphanage, so Esther had time to think. She always liked to reflect before seeing the children. They lived in tough conditions, and Esther, living on her father’s estate, was surrounded by a luxurious environment.

  Esther and her sisters had grown up very differently from the orphans she would soon see. Her childhood had been filled with learning how to paint and sing, while the children she watched over at the orphanage had childhoods filled with work and tears.

  There were many sad stories about the children she met. Some of them were true orphans, whose parents had tragically died in terrible accidents, often sent by their families. Some were foundlings, who were simply brought in…or found. Yet…the saddest cases were children brought in as babes, who never knew any sense of family. That’s what happened to Julia.

  Julia was a young girl, only five years old now, who was brought into the same orphanage that Esther was on her way to visit. In fact, Esther was there the day the infant appeared, simply left on the doorstep. Over the past five years, Esther had watched Julia grow from a small babe into a young child. Though she cared about all of the children she worked with, Julia was certainly her favorite.

  Esther was a bit worried about Julia, though, as she knew that now she was five years of age, she would soon be learning a trade. Many of the children ended up in the workhouses doing dangerous jobs, and she certainly didn’t want that for Julia. Instead, she hoped that the sweet child would start learning a trade such as domestic work.

  As the carriage got closer to the orphanage, the buildings became closer together and Esther could see people walking around and working. Her father’s estate was on many acres of land outside of the town, in contrast to the hustle and bustle of these roads. She was used to this scene, as she had come here for so many years, but still enjoyed the views from the window.<
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  The orphanage was located near the heart of the mid-sized town of Westery, and it only housed girls. As the carriage got even nearer to the center of town, people began to notice the ornate transport, and Esther could only deduce that they were wondering about the occupant. Most people in the town knew of Esther’s charity work, but were also curious about the upcoming wedding of her sister, which she was sure most people were aware of.

  Esther knew that this marriage was an important one, and for a brief moment, she wondered if she should have, perhaps, focused more on finding a husband for herself. As the eldest daughter, she was groomed to marry a well-bred man, but so far, life hadn’t brought anyone special to her, and she was so focused on her work that she wasn’t much interested in looking.

  The carriage pulled up in front of the orphanage and stopped. Esther waited whilst a footman pulled down the steps attached to the carriage, and then opened the door. He held his hand out to her.

  She took his outstretched hand and stepped out of the carriage onto the street. It was dirty and dusty, and there were people milling about as they went through their day-to-day lives. None of them paid much attention to Esther, short of a couple of stares. The orphanage stood in front of her, a large, imposing building with multiple windows and a large door.

  She nodded to the footman and began walking through the courtyard and towards the door of the orphanage, accompanied by her maid. As she got closer, she could hear the dim sound of children crying and yelling. She always paused a bit when she heard it, as it made her heart feel sad knowing that these children didn’t have a proper home nor family.

  Esther was almost to the door of the orphanage when it burst open and two young girls ran out. They darted across the courtyard chasing each other, and Esther was a bit surprised by their behavior. However, she knew that they didn’t have much discipline, and they certainly were not raised with the rules of society in place.