by Amelia Grey
“Here, you hold her.”
Loretta looked at her white gloves and wished she didn’t have them on so she could feel the softness of the fur. Lady Adele hadn’t bothered removing her gloves, so Loretta took her lead and took the puppy in both her hands. She lifted it up to her face and smiled. The pup tried to bark but hadn’t yet found her voice and sounded more like a goose. She squirmed a little but didn’t fight to be put down.
“Oh, you must have just eaten!” Loretta laughed, as she smelled the distinct puppy breath. “Your stomach is so round and firm.”
She put the puppy’s head up to the bare skin of her neck and cuddled it. The fur was silky soft, and its body so warm. With her hind paws, she tried to climb up higher on Loretta, and she laughed when the puppy started to nibble on her chin with sharp teeth and licked her neck.
“I can’t decide what to name her,” Lady Adele said. “I was thinking maybe I’d call her Cocoa. Not only because of the beautiful coloring, but she reminds me of a delicious dessert that we sometimes have that’s creamy chocolate and divinely sweet. What would you name her if she were yours, Miss Quick?”
“Cocoa is a very clever name and certainly seems to fit.”
Loretta continued to rub silky fur against her bare skin and delight in the warm, squirming body next to her. “She’s so lovable. I wish I could take her home with me.”
“I’m sorry, Miss Quick, I would give you one of the other two, but they’re already promised out to others.”
“Oh, of course. I only meant how loving she is,” Loretta said, looking at Lady Adele and shaking her head to dismiss the idea. “I wasn’t asking for one of these. No. I only meant that it would be wonderful to have a dog. Someday.”
“I can save you one from Miss Wiggins’s next litter.”
“In that case, that would be lovely if it works out that you can. Thank you for offering.”
Loretta realized the puppy was chewing on the trim at the neckline of her dress and said, “No, no, little one. We can’t have you swallowing a bead and getting choked.” She pulled the puppy away from her chest. One of Cocoa’s front paws hung in the trim and the other grabbed for Loretta’s neck and a nail scratched her. “Ouch,” she said, feeling the sting as it slashed into her tender flesh.
“Cocoa, what a bad puppy you are,” Lady Adele said. “Are you hurt, Miss Quick?”
“No, I’m fine.” She couldn’t see the scratch, but she didn’t see any blood running down her skin so knew she was all right.
“What ye looking at?”
Startled, Loretta and Lady Adele turned. Farley stood in the doorway.
“Who are you?” Lady Adele asked.
“He’s Farley,” Loretta said softly. “He’s with my staff. Or he is supposed to be. What are you doing here?”
He coughed into his hand a couple of times, and shrugged before saying, “Looking around.”
Loretta handed the puppy back to Lady Adele. “That’s not allowed, Farley. It should have been made clear to you that you aren’t supposed to be in this part of the house. Where is Mrs. Huddleston?”
He shrugged again.
“Let him come see the puppies before he goes,” Lady Adele said. “I don’t mind.”
“No, really. That’s not necessary.”
“Nonsense,” Lady Adele said, brushing aside Loretta’s opinion. “All boys love puppies.”
Farley walked farther into the room and looked down at them. Loretta was surprised the expression on his face didn’t change. Who didn’t smile at the sight of a puppy?
“Aren’t they adorable?” Lady Adele asked him.
Farley didn’t bother to look at her, but without any passion in his voice, said, “They’re dogs. I see dogs in London all the time. ’E looks like the runt of the litter to me.”
Loretta was horrified that Farley had been so disrespectful to Lady Adele, but she hadn’t seemed the least offended by his comment.
“Well, it’s a she not a he and she’s not a runt. She just doesn’t eat as much as the other two. And I’m sure you haven’t ever seen any puppies as charming and playful as these in London or anywhere else you may have been,” Lady Adele said. She then looked up at Farley and with a pleasant tone said, “Would you like to hold her?”
At that, Farley’s eyes lit up like a candlewick that had caught fire. He glanced at Loretta. “Can I ’old ’er?”
At that moment Loretta knew she liked Lady Adele and wouldn’t mind at all if Paxton had fallen in love with her and wanted to marry her. Even after Farley had been rude to her and disparaged her favorite puppy, she brushed it off and was still kind to him.
“Yes, you may hold her.”
Lady Adele lifted Cocoa to him. “Don’t squeeze her too hard,” she prompted as she turned loose.
Loretta watched a look of awe spread over Farley’s face and light seemed to spread into his eyes. He gently cradled the squirming puppy to his chest as if she were a baby. He slowly swung his arms and with one hand stroked Cocoa’s head and back. The dog wiggled and tried again to bark while burying her head in the crook of Farley’s arm.
“Shh,” he whispered as if talking to a baby. “Shh. I won’t hurt you.”
Loretta’s heart melted. It was rewarding to see the softer side of Farley again. She knew she was making a difference in his life. His eyes were bright with wonder, and there was a small, beautiful smile on his face. Loretta decided she would get a dog from somewhere, if Farley stayed at Mammoth House.
“Have you ever held a puppy?” Lady Adele asked him.
Farley shook his head. “But she’s nice.”
Loretta let him rub the puppy a few more times and then said, “We must give him back now.”
She took the puppy and handed her back to Lady Adele. “Thank you for showing them to us. It was lovely to get to hold her.”
Farley looked up at her, and then over to Lady Adele, and said, “Thank ye for letting me ’old ’er.”
Lady Adele smiled, and Loretta was pleased that Farley had remembered to be kind without her urging him to do so. “Please excuse us, Lady Adele,” she said and rose. “I need to get him back to where he belongs.”
“Which way do we go?” she asked Farley when they stepped into the hallway.
“This way,” he said and took the lead. Hawksthorn was huge, and Loretta had already discovered it wasn’t easy finding her way around the monstrous house. She wondered if Farley could lead them back. If not, she hoped they could find a servant somewhere along the way to show them the right section of the house to go to.
After they were well away from the puppy room, Loretta said, “Thank you for being kind to Lady Adele and remembering your manners.” He kept walking down the corridor and didn’t respond to her. “I appreciate you handling yourself so well, but you are not to come to this section of the house again. Mrs. Huddleston should have made that clear to you.”
He stopped walking and looked up at her with big brown eyes. “Ye angry with me?”
She stopped, too. “No, it’s not anger as much as it’s that I’m upset. It’s one thing to do something wrong when you don’t know any better. But you know you were told to stay where you were and not be wandering around this house.”
“What am I to do in that room all the time?”
“Didn’t you bring the toys Mr. Huddleston brought you back from Grimsfield?”
“What do I want with soldiers and ’orses and a wooden dog? Don’t mean nothing to me. Toys are for little boys.”
Loretta asked, “How old are you, Farley?”
He shrugged again. “I don’t know.”
“Do you know how old you were when you lost your mother?”
He stared at her unblinking for several seconds before saying, “Eight.”
“And do you know how many years have passed since she’s been gone?”
He blinked slowly as his face remained expressionless. “Four winters,” he said, then stuffed his hands in the pockets of his trousers, turned, and s
tarted down the corridor again.
So Farley was twelve or possibly thirteen, but small for his age. Probably because he hadn’t had proper food or care. Loretta watched him. He had a shuffle to his feet and a swing to his slight shoulders. He was still young enough for her to help him grow into a fine young man. Already he was nicer than when he’d first come to Mammoth House. She took pleasure in that accomplishment. And there was so much more she could do for him if she was given the time.
The only thing she had to do was find a way to make Farley want to stay and make his home with her. Then she had to get her uncle to grant her wish. That might be the hardest thing to do.
Chapter 18
A gentleman should never press a lady for an answer—no matter what the question is.
A PROPER GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO WOOING THE PERFECT LADY
SIR VINCENT TYBALT VALENTINE
He had a plan to be alone with Loretta.
It wasn’t especially clever or inventive, but it had the best chance of working of all the ideas he’d come up with, including his outrageous thought of just waking her in the middle of the night and kidnapping her. He never knew he had such an imagination until he was trying to think of ways to find some time alone with Loretta. None of them were easy, because none of them were proper. According to Society’s rules, there were no acceptable ways for a gentleman to be alone with an innocent young lady.
So he had to invent some possibilities and settle on the one he thought had the best chance of being successful.
He was going to spend a short time in the drawing room, and then excuse himself for the evening. The plan was to go up to the empty room beside Loretta’s bedchamber and wait until he heard her maid leave. He would then go immediately and knock on her door. Hopefully, Loretta would assume it was her maid returning and open it without questioning who was on the other side.
When he’d returned to London after seeing Loretta for the first time, it hadn’t taken him long to decide he no longer had any desire for a woman or a lady who didn’t speak her own mind truthfully to him without fear. Hawk knew he preferred a lady who was constantly challenging him, not agreeing with him.
Like Loretta. The challenge she presented to him each time he saw her was irresistible, invigorating, and consistent.
Somehow, he’d made it through dinner without resorting to some of the awkward tricks of his youth. He hadn’t tried to rub his leg against hers under the table, nor had he placed his wine on the wrong side of his plate hoping to make an accidental brush of her hand as she reached for her glass. But now the evening had gone long and he was ready to be alone with her. He wanted to talk to her with no one else around. The way they had at Mammoth House. He wanted to touch her, feel her in his arms, and taste her lips beneath his.
Hawk had finished his brandy in short order and had hurried Quick along, too. They were now on their way to the drawing room to join the ladies. He was right in his assessment of Quick. The man was perfect for Adele. And she certainly seemed happy with him. Neither of them had stopped smiling or talking since they’d met. Adele had wanted Hawk to find her a husband, and he’d wanted her to avoid the Season and the possible risk of mischief against her. From the way the two of them had taken to each other, he didn’t think he could have found anyone better suited for Adele than Loretta’s brother.
Quick was a natural pleaser, and that’s what Adele was used to. It was what she expected, wanted, and loved. If she was waited on, listened to, and pacified, all was right with her world.
In the few minutes it’d taken them to drink their brandy, Hawk decided the man’s constant good nature and his penchant not to let more than thirty seconds pass without uttering a word would wear thin in a hurry. Quick had told him it was fine if the earl wanted to handle all the particulars should they go ahead with a contract of marriage. Though Hawk didn’t want to deal with Lord Switchingham, he might not have a choice. He had to remind himself that it was Adele who needed to be happy with Quick, not him.
Hawk walked into the drawing room, immediately noticing that Loretta wasn’t there. Had she gone up upstairs for just a few minutes or had she already retired for the night?
“There you two are,” Adele said, rising from the settee to greet them. “I was beginning to think you had decided not to join us tonight, and that would have been a dour ending to the evening.”
“It has hardly been fifteen minutes since you left the dining room,” Hawk countered.
“That’s a long time.”
“You have no patience, Adele,” Hawk mumbled more to himself than to her.
But she answered, “You’ve told me so countless times.”
“We wouldn’t have left you on your own for the rest of the evening, Lady Adele,” Quick offered. “It was all my fault we kept you waiting so long. I’m afraid I’m the one who had the duke talking so much.”
“Shame on you, Mr. Quick,” she said with a smile of delight on her face. “Didn’t you say you wanted to show me a clever move on the chessboard that would make a match go faster?”
“I’d planned to. If you still want me to.”
“Indeed, I do. I’ve had a board set up for us over here.” She pointed to the far corner.
“Adele,” Hawk said, when his sister turned away. “Where are Minerva and Miss Quick?
“I would assume Miss Quick needed a few moments to herself after dinner, as I did,” Minerva said, coming up behind him.
“Oh, yes,” Adele said. “I didn’t think to tell you she went up to the servants’ wing.”
To check on Farley, Hawk thought, with a mild tinge of aggravation.
“But,” Adele continued, “I suppose she could have decided to go to her room after that. I really don’t know, and she didn’t say. It shouldn’t have taken her this long. Perhaps she got lost.” She turned to Quick. “Our guests often do before they become familiar with the house.”
“Did she say why she was going to the servants’ wing?” Hawk asked, though he was certain he knew the answer.
“To return a boy who had gotten lost. She said he was part of her staff. He found us when we were looking at Miss Wiggins’s puppies. Miss Quick decided to go with him to make sure he made it back to his room without losing his way again.” Adele stopped and frowned. “Now that I think about it, I suppose I should have gone with them, but then I’ve seldom been to that section of the house, either. I might have never found my way back myself.”
“Neither of you should have gone. You should have pulled the bell cord and had one of the servants take him back,” Hawk said, his irritation growing increasingly difficult to control. Though Loretta was perfectly safe in the house, he didn’t like the thought of her wandering through corridor after corridor, trying to get back to the drawing room.
“Should I go look for her, Your Grace?” Minerva asked.
“No, no,” Quick said, striding over to Hawk. “I don’t want to bother either of you with this. She’s my sister; I’ll go find her.”
“I’ll handle this, Quick,” Hawk said in a tone that let the man know arguing would be futile. “It would be my luck you’d get lost, too, and then I’d have to find both of you. Minerva, you need to stay with Adele and Mr. Quick.”
Hawk grabbed a candle off a side table, dipped it into the flame of one of the lamps to light it, and then strode out of the drawing room without further comment. It was best to begin where Loretta had started, at the back of the house where the puppies were kept.
It didn’t surprise him that Farley had wandered off to have a look around the house. Hawk was fairly certain that roaming the streets of London was what Farley was used to doing every day. He also had doubts the lad was lost when he stumbled upon Loretta and Adele. More likely than not, he heard Miss Wiggins or the puppies barking and went to investigate. If Farley had been on his own as long as Hawk suspected, he’d probably learned how to go wherever he wanted with no trouble finding his way back.
The door where the dogs were kept was closed. H
awk opened it, and held the candle up to look inside. Miss Wiggins got to her feet, walked over to a crate, and peered over the top at him. She wagged her tail and licked her chops. “Go back to sleep,” he whispered. “I have nothing for you.” No doubt the dog was used to Adele bringing her a treat from the dinner table about this time every night.
After closing the door quietly, he started down the corridor. At the end of it, he had two choices. Either route would take him to the back stairway, which led up to the third-floor wing where the staff resided. If he turned left, a long corridor and one turn would take him to the stairs. If he went right, he’d have to make two opposite turns and then cut through the staff’s kitchen and dining area before making it to the stairs.
Hawk thought for a moment. He remembered how Farley had skillfully dodged him when he was running from him during the storm. Instinct told Hawk the boy was fairly good at taking turns, cutting through parks, squares, and corners. Hawk turned right and then took an immediate left. He’d gone about twenty-five steps when he saw a shape, and the swishing of a cream-colored skirt coming toward him.
His stomach clinched.
Loretta.
A tremor of arousal gripped him.
He stopped, leaned against the wall, and blew out a huffed laugh of relief. It wasn’t his strategy that had Loretta walking out of the darkness toward him, in a part of the house where they would likely be seen only by servants. It was fate smiling on him, and damned if he wouldn’t take it with a smile.
And use it to his advantage.
Halting in front of him, she casually folded her arms across her chest and with a measured smile, said, “Don’t tell me you just happened to be in this secluded section of the house.”
He stared at her for a long time, drinking in the contentment he felt at finally having her to himself. Candlelight made her eyes sparkle. Her complexion looked as pale as shaved ivory and softer than finest silk. She was the most enticing lady he’d ever met. He was certain no other lady had ever made his heart thump so hard in his chest, and he wanted her to know just how much he wanted her. He had a sudden feeling that she belonged to him and no other. Though he didn’t want to explore the implications of that thought right now.
