The Earl's Inconvenient Wife

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  He sighed. He should have taken the time to check the ledger after his brother died. But how could he have known the steward embezzled the funds? The steward had been a trusted servant. He’d handled the finances while both his father and brother lived. No one suspected any foul play. Had Lord Hedwrett not contacted him directly, he wouldn’t have been the wiser. Well, he was wiser now, and now that he’d settled the debts the steward had made, he could wipe the slate clean and start over.

  He glanced out his carriage window. It wasn’t even dawn yet. The night was taking too long to pass. He shifted in the carriage seat. Maybe he should have stayed at another inn, but he was tired of traveling. Day after day, he ran from one place to another. All he wanted to do was go home to his comfortable bed and sleep for a year.

  He groaned and peered up at the sky, trying to determine how early it was. Not even a hint of light was in the sky, which meant he had little else to do but think. Though he was exhausted, he couldn’t sleep. He had drifted off to sleep as soon as he got in the carriage, but he had a dream that he and Claire had a son, and the son was asking her who he was and she told him he was his father. Then his son asked what a father was. At that point, Nate woke up and hadn’t been able to get back to sleep since.

  Claire wasn’t with child, so there was no son to ask who he was. He fully intended to be in his children’s lives. For sure, he had to teach his sons how to handle the affairs of the estate in case their stewards were dishonest with the finances.

  He drummed his fingers on the seat and glanced out the window again. Still no light signaling that dawn would soon be coming. He shook his head and gritted his teeth.

  Claire was mad at him. He knew it. She hadn’t argued with him, but there was no denying that the last time he saw her, her furrowed eyebrows, thin lips, and piercing gaze were the mark of a lady who detested him. Even on their wedding day when she argued with him as soon as they reached the townhouse, she hadn’t looked at him that way.

  It wouldn’t hurt to go home and talk to Claire, to make an effort to work out a compromise where they could both be happy, or at least content. He wasn’t an unreasonable person, and she probably wasn’t either, given the chance. He sighed and got as comfortable as he could in the seat. By the end of that hour, he was finally able to doze back off to sleep.

  Chapter Fourteen

  After breakfast the next morning, Claire scanned the hallway outside her bedchamber. Good. No one was in sight. She stepped out of the room and hurried to the corridor that would take her to the servants’ staircase. Her heart was pounding so fast in her chest she thought it might burst. Thankfully, Mister Robinson had followed through on his word and left the clothes behind the stairs.

  It took her longer to dress in stableboy clothes than she thought it would. The binding around her chest had to be secure, and without Marion’s help, it proved to be a difficult task. But she managed through it, and one would be hard pressed to know she had breasts. Though Mister Robinson suggested she cut her hair, she couldn’t bear the thought of doing so and settled for pinning it up and putting one of his hats over it. It wasn’t perfect. She knew she looked like a youth instead of a gentleman due to her slight build and no facial hair, but it would be good enough. As long as she didn’t let anyone see her up close, it could work.

  She slipped out the back door and hurried to the stable, giving a quick scan of the area. Assured no one saw her, she pressed forward. By the time she made it to the stable, Mister Robinson waved for her to wait by the side of the building. She obeyed. As she waited, she caught sight of a carriage driving toward the house. She narrowed her eyes and tried to determine whose carriage it was. From a distance it was hard to tell. She wasn’t told to expect anyone for a visit.

  The carriage rounded a bend, giving her a clear view of it as it passed a row of trees. She gasped. It couldn’t be! But it was. It was Roderick’s carriage! She’d recognize the self-important ‘R’ on the crest on the carriage door anywhere. The carriage was still a ways off, but she didn’t want him to see her, even if she was sure she passed off as a regular stableboy from this distance.

  She faced away from the carriage and crept around the stable, trying to look as natural as possible so as not to arouse suspicion. Her heartbeat had gone from a trot to a hearty gallop. There was no way she could leave with Lord Roderick around. Maybe he forgot something and would be gone soon.

  She lowered the hat over her eyes and bypassed another stableboy, grunting a greeting in the same manner he did. When she reached the stable door, she peered into it and saw Mister Robinson heading in her direction. Since the stable master’s back was turned to her, she hurried into the stable and bolted for one of the empty stalls. My goodness but her heart was still beating furiously. This whole thing just might kill her unless she could get a grip on her nerves!

  Mister Robinson hurried over to her. “What’s wrong?”

  Making sure the stable master wasn’t looking in their direction, she whispered, “Lord Roderick’s here!”

  “Really?” He got ready to run to the door of the stable, but she grabbed his shirt and stopped him. “What is it?”

  “I have to get back into the house without anyone seeing me.”

  “Why? Do you think he’s going to look for you?”

  “Yes. No. I don’t know. Maybe.” Who knew what her husband wanted to do?

  “I should find out what’s going on. At least we’ll know what to do if I investigate.”

  Despite her apprehension, she nodded. It was probably her safest bet. As Mister Robinson left the stable, she glanced at the stable master who was talking to another stableboy. Neither one of them noticed her. She checked for another place she might hide, but she didn’t see a suitable location. When one of them glanced her way, she ducked and prayed he hadn’t seen her. Since no one called out to her, she figured she was safe in the empty stall, at least for the moment.

  ***

  “Lord Roderick!”

  Nate turned to his flustered butler who hurried out of the house. Curious, Nate turned from the carriage and straightened the collar of his tailcoat. “Is something wrong?”

  “If I might have a word with you in private, my lord?”

  Sensing the urgency in his butler’s voice, Nate nodded and dismissed the coachman who hopped back on the carriage and drove it to a stable. “What is it?”

  “I don’t know how to tell you this, but it appears Lady Roderick has taken it upon herself to dress as a stableboy and go to the,” he shrugged, “stable.”

  “Why would she do something so absurd?”

  “I don’t know. I saw her leaving the house from the servant quarters.”

  Goodness. Did being out here by herself without companionship make his wife go insane? Perhaps she’d done it out of desperation, maybe to see her family? If so, she was unbelievably naïve if she thought traveling alone as a stableboy would protect her from danger. He shook his head. His wife had a lot to learn about the more unpleasant aspects of the world, and quite frankly, he preferred it if she didn’t have to learn them at all.

  He followed the butler’s gaze to the stable. With a long sigh, he debated the best course of action before he spoke. “In light of Lady Roderick’s good name, I think it’s best if no one discusses what’s happened.”

  “Of course, my lord.”

  “Thank you. I’ll make sure you and the others are compensated for your kindness when it comes time to pay your salary.”

  “Thank you, my lord.”

  The matter settled, Nate headed straight for the stable, his gaze going to Mister Robinson as he jogged his way. He frowned. What could Mister Robinson be up to? By the smirk on the youth’s arrogant face, Nate surmised that whatever mischief the ward was up to, it couldn’t be to his advantage. Pressing forward, he didn’t bother to slow down when Mister Robinson intercepted him.

  “Lord Roderick,” the youth began, sounding far more jovial than he had a right to be.

  “I don’t ha
ve time for idle chatter, Mister Robinson. I have an important matter to tend to. If you’re bored, I suggest you muck out a stall.”

  Though Mister Robinson gave a slight grimace, his tone remained cheerful. “Oh, I’ll clean the stalls. I’ve been doing it ever since I got here.”

  “All right.”

  “I wanted your opinion, my lord.”

  “On what?” Nate tried to hide the irritation in his voice.

  “On…on…” He glanced around the area and pointed to a group of shrubs. “Those, my lord. Since I’ve been diligently shoveling horse manure, can I trim those?”

  Diligently shoveling horse manure? To hear the stable master speak, Mister Robinson had to be constantly reminded to tend to his task since he’d often been caught staring off into space, daydreaming about his illicit activities no doubt. With a shake of his head, Nate gave a firm, “No.”

  Mister Robinson grunted and then stepped in front of him.

  Startled, Nate stopped in his tracks and stared at the insolent youth. “Mister Robinson, I suggest you get out of my way. I am heading to the stable.”

  “Yes, I know, but I think I can do a better job of trimming those shrubs than the gardener.”

  “You’re here to tend to the stable, not the shrubs.” Nate took a step to the side, and Mister Robinson followed suit. Irritated, he said, “I demand you stop this nonsense at once.”

  “But why? You haven’t given me a good reason. I insist you tell me why I can’t trim the shrubs.”

  “Because I’m the owner of this estate. You don’t need a better reason than that.”

  Mister Robinson opened his mouth and then shut it.

  Good. That shut him up. Glaring at him, he stepped around him and strode toward the stables.

  “Oh!” Mister Robinson exclaimed. “I think something important came for you today. Earlier today. Before you arrived.”

  Surprised at what he knew to be an outright lie—and a bad one at that, Nate paused and faced him. “Something important?”

  “Yes, my lord. It was a large trunk.”

  “That’s odd. Why didn’t my butler inform me of this when I was talking to him?”

  “I’m sure he meant to, but he most have forgotten about it.”

  “Then it can’t be that important, can it?”

  Mister Robinson glanced at the stable and let out a nervous laugh. “Of course, it can be important. You should see what’s in it.”

  “I don’t have time for this.”

  “But it’s important!”

  Nate narrowed his eyes at him. Just what was the youth up to? He seemed surprisingly adamant that Nate not go to the stable. Nate glanced at the stable his wife was in—dressed up as a stableboy—and then back at Perry’s mischievous ward. “I’ll see it in due time.” He resumed his walk to the stable, this time at a hurried pace.

  As he suspected, the youth began to stammer something about forgetting to blow out the candles in his room, and if Nate was right, Mister Robinson claimed to have lit a hundred of them. But he hardly heard the other items the youth was rambling on about. Anything Perry’s ward was saying was nonsense. And perhaps that nonsense was supposed to be a distraction. A distraction from what? He couldn’t have had a hand in Claire dressing up in boy’s clothes so she could run off to London, could he?

  The closer to the stable Nate got, the angrier he became. Just what business did Mister Robinson have in talking Claire into this scheme? Didn’t he realize the potential danger he was putting her into? Or was he being as careless as he had the night he almost challenged the Duke of Watkins to a duel and almost lost his head? The youth had no sense of responsibility.

  By the time they reached the stable, Mister Robinson looked like he was ready to panic, and that only served to increase Nate’s suspicions. Ignoring the youth who made an attempt to block his entrance, he entered the stable and scanned the area for a very feminine looking stableboy. But the only people he saw were his coachman and the stable master.

  They turned to him, and the stable master approached him. “My lord, may I help you?”

  He scanned the length of the stable, not bothering to pay an anxious Mister Robinson any mind. His wife had to be in here somewhere…unless she managed to slip out of the stable while he was walking here. But there was nowhere she could hide on her way back to the house. All that spanned between here and the house was grass. She had to be in here. He peered around Mister Robinson who made it a point to shuffle back and forth.

  That was it! Nate had all he could take of Perry’s ward. There was no doubt about it. The youth had a part in his wife dressing up as a stableboy. He turned to the coachman. “Please escort Mister Robinson back into the house and acquaint him with his new duty of cleaning the chamber pots.”

  Mister Robinson’s jaw dropped. “Cleaning chamber pots? You can’t mean to give me that job!”

  Pulling himself to his full height, he lowered his gaze to a scared ward. “The chambermaid is relieved of her duties until you can figure out what responsibility means.”

  Before the youth could protest, the coachman hurried to lead him out of the stable. Glad to be done with that nuisance, he turned in the stable master’s direction when he caught sight of a horse that snorted and moved away from the stall next to it. His eyes narrowed as he tried to get a good view of the empty stall next to the horse. Though he couldn’t be sure, he suspected Claire was hiding there.

  Turning to the stable master, he whispered, “Play along.”

  Though the stable master looked confused, he nodded.

  Nate headed for the empty stall. When he reached it, he opened the door and saw a person hunched in the corner. “Pardon me?”

  The person stiffened but didn’t look up.

  “My name is Lord Roderick, and I happen to own this stable. Who are you?”

  When the person looked up at him, he didn’t know whether to laugh or roll his eyes in exasperation that Claire actually believed she passed for a stableboy. Anyone could tell she was a lady! He waited for her to speak, but she seemed unable to. In fact, it seemed all she could do was look at him with wide eyes, knowing full well she’d been caught but not being able to do anything about it. He cleared his throat and motioned for her to leave the stall. She hesitated, her gaze going from him to the spot next to him and back to him.

  “I see no reason for you to hide in a stall on your first day of employment,” he finally said, giving the stable master an expectant glance.

  Quick to oblige, the stable master stepped forward and nodded. “The new stableboy arrived today, my lord. I believe his name is…Mister Henry.”

  “Is that your name, lad?” Nate asked, noting Claire’s wide eyes.

  “Uh…” Claire glanced from one to the other.

  “I’m afraid he’s a bit on the shy side,” the stable master replied.

  “Apparently.” Nate clapped his hands together, intentionally startling her, and motioned to one of the horses. “Your first task is to get my horse ready. I’ll return to the house and change into proper attire. When I get back, I expect my horse to be ready to go for a ride.” He made a turn, as if to leave, but snapped his fingers and turned back to her, stepping close enough so she had to back up.

  She backed up into the stall and nearly tripped.

  He caught her by the arm before she fell and chuckled. “My goodness, lad, but you spook easily.” He let go of her arm when she was steady on her feet. “I only meant to tell you to get another horse ready.”

  “A-an-another horse?” she squeaked.

  “Yes. I intend to show you around. Being new here, you need to get acquainted with the place.”

  Before she could respond, he hurried out of the stable, careful not to break out into a full laugh until he was out of her hearing distance.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Claire fumbled through the process of getting the horses ready. Fortunately, the stable master helped her.

  “I wish I would have known you were due to
arrive today,” he said as he showed her how to strap the saddle in place. “I knew we were due for a new stableboy but expected him next week.”

  “I…I thought it was today,” she mumbled, looking away from him in case he figured out she wasn’t this new stableboy who was due to work here. She didn’t even know one was expected here, but it wasn’t like she kept track of such things so who was she to question it?

  “You have nothing to worry about. Lord Roderick is as good as they come. This is a good place to work.”

  “Yes, I heard,” she muttered. Who hadn’t sung her husband’s praises as if he were some kind of saint? Truly, her husband couldn’t be more annoying. He was pleasant to everyone but her—and Mister Robinson.

  “All right then.” He finished the task and patted the horse’s neck. “He’s a beauty, isn’t he?”

  She shrugged. A horse was a horse. There seemed to be little difference between one or the other, except maybe for their color.

  “This one over here will be yours for today,” he called out as he headed for a stall to her right.

  Curious to see which horse she’d be riding, she followed him and saw the light brown mare.

  He led the mare out of the stall and gestured to the other saddle. “Go ahead and put it on, just like I showed you over there.”

  She glanced at Roderick’s horse and then back at her own. Despite her apprehension, she went over to the saddle which had been placed on the bench. She picked it up and nearly fell back. Good gracious, this thing was heavier than it looked!

  “Buck up there, lad. You can do it,” he encouraged. “It’ll do you some good to put some muscle on those bones.”

  She winced as she steadied herself. Putting some muscles on her bones wasn’t something she particularly wanted to do. But she was trapped and had to follow through with this stupid idea. Who was to know such a clever plan could backfire on her like this? She actually succeeded in passing off as a stableboy, but she was no closer to getting to London than she had been the day she got here. Curse her husband for his uncanny timing. Only he would show up as she was about to finally make her escape.