Page 39 of Presenting Miss Letitia (Once a Wallflower 1)

A servant led her to the inn’s parlor where comfortable furniture was grouped around the fireplace beneath a low-beamed ceiling. The mullioned windows emitted little of the early morning light into the room from a pale blue sky. The innkeeper appeared and told her the apothecary who was a job of all trades with some of the skills of a physician, had been sent for to tend her ankle.

Letty gratefully settled in a chair by the big hearth, finding the crackle of the fire soothing. Well, she had wished for an adventure, hadn’t she? And got rather more than she’d anticipated. Despite her bravado, which was mostly for Brandon’s sake, her limbs still trembled. There had been an air of quiet menace in Elford’s grand drawing room, incongruous amongst the antiques and priceless paintings, the trappings of a wealthy gentleman. She had thought that gentlemen operated under some sort of honor code, but those men made no secret that she and Brandon were to be disposed of without the blink of an eye.

She ruefully examined her lovely white gown, crumpled and soiled, the flowers hanging by a thread. No amount of careful laundering could restore it to its original beauty, and nothing could be done with her sandals. It was indeed remarkable they still remained on her feet.

A maid brought in a tray and unloaded a pot of tea, a plate of ham and cheese, bread, and a large slab of currant cake. Letty, her stomach rumbling in anticipation, thanked her. She poured herself a cup of tea and set about the serious business of eating. Every mouthful was bliss. As she poured a second cup, she wondered if Brandon would be long. He must be hungry, too. Consumed with guilt, she gave a moan of dismay. All she’d put him through! He must be very angry with her.

A shepherd dressed in a smock entered the parlor with a small, bleating black-faced lamb in his arms.

“Oh, he’s beautiful.” Letty suffered an inexplicable pang of homesickness for Hawkeshead village, and her reassuring plain-speaking, no-nonsense, uncle and aunt. How horror-struck they would be to learn about this. She had no idea how to explain it to them, but she couldn’t of course. Nor could she tell Jane or Geoffrey, which made her feel uncomfortable. One did not keep secrets from one’s friends.

The young shepherd settled the small animal by the fire and fed it from a bottle. “He’s lost his mother and been poorly, Miss. But a bit of food and warmth will set him to rights.”

“How good of the innkeeper to allow you to bring the lamb here.”

“It is a kind of tradition around these parts. The flocks are brought here regular like.”

Letty’s heart lightened. She had witnessed the worst devilry at work and feared for her life, but now with that behind her, and the meal and the tea warming the cold knot in her chest, her inner strength returned. Her thoughts settled on Brandon. What was occurring at Elford Park? She eagerly waited for him to arrive and tell her everything.

The shepherd stood, and with a tug of his forelock, scooped up the little lamb and left the room, leaving Letty to her thoughts.

Soon afterward, the apothecary, a kindly man with a ginger beard, came to examine her ankle. He diagnosed a sprain and advised her to rest it.

Her foot resting on a cushion, Letty watched the crackling flames turn the coal a hot orange-red, the smoke curling up the chimney. Brandon had proved himself to be a brave man, and very much involved in his work. He was unmarried, but might there be someone? It hardly mattered, for she was unlikely to see him again after they reached London. A throb in her chest near her heart forced her to admit she felt more for him than was wise. Of course, such a life-and-death experience would evoke such raw feelings. Naturally, when her life returned to normal, she reasoned, he, and the excitement surrounding him, would cease to have such an effect on her.

But things were not yet at an end. There was Arietta. Her patroness knew more than she’d given Letty to believe. Letty struggled not to think badly of her when she’d been so generous and kind. She recalled how they’d spent the evenings laughing together while discussing Letty’s suitors. How they’d enjoyed shopping in Piccadilly and Bond Street, while Arietta’s footman followed, his arms full of their parcels. Arietta had been so driven to discover the truth about her husband. But was it merely to clear his name? Or might she in some way be caught up in this web of intrigue? Whatever the reason, Letty was sure she would be most dreadfully worried about her.

Letty gloomily acknowledged that should she be unable to remain with Arietta, she could not make her curtsy to the queen. She would be forced to return to Cumbria, and much as she loved the small village and the people in it, she’d begun to enjoy the Season and would like to stay until the end.

Fifteen minutes later, Brandon entered the parlor. He raked his dark hair back from his forehead with his long fingers and smiled. She sighed. If only he wasn’t so dashing!

Brandon wrestled with his fury at the bruise on Letty’s chin where Marston had hit her. Her thick dark locks hung down over her shoulders, stirring an inappropriate image of her in his arms and in his bed, which he quickly buried. To see her alive and relatively unharmed squeezed his chest. He drew in a breath and strode forward to pull up a chair to be near her.

“How are you, sweetheart?”

She firmed her lips as if to stop them trembling. “I’m quite well.”

“Are you?” He studied her with a smile, then shook his head. “Good lord, Letty, to see you sitting here more or less in one piece is a tremendous relief to me.”

“I confess, I am a bit relieved myself,” Letty said with a wobbly smile that made him want to hug her. “For a while, I feared we might not survive.”

He had, too, but did not mention it. She needed to go back to London, and thence, to another place of safety as soon as possible, where he could stop worrying about her.

“I’ve arranged for a chaise to take us back to London. It will be here soon.” He looked at her slender ankle which didn’t appear to be badly swollen. “Has the physician examined your ankle?”

“Yes. It’s only a strain and is already much better.” Her wide brown eyes searched his. “Well? Are you going to tell me what happened? Don’t leave anything out. Did the dragoons stab them with their sabers?”

He grinned at her. “You are a bloodthirsty young woman. They did not. But the dragoons were remarkably efficient. Elford was discovered unconscious where I left him and brought to the house.”

She raised her eyebrows.

“I disabled him, Letty, I didn’t wish to kill him.”

“Pity,” she murmured. “And the r

est?”

“Descrier is demanding his lawyer. Says he was a houseguest and has no knowledge of the contraband found in the cellar.”

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