Page 1 of Suddenly a (The St. Clairs 5)

Chapter One

Morris Park, Surrey—December1825

Mia Sloane blinkedseveral times, wondering where she’d fallen asleep this time. She looked at her surroundings and discovered she was in the cluttered drawing room. An open journal rested in her lap. Nelson, her cat, lay between her legs. The room was filled with sunshine. From the angle of the rays, she believed it was mid-morning.

Sleepily, she rubbed her eyes. She had fallen asleep trying to work out a mathematical formula, hoping it would help with her latest invention. Scattered pages lay on the floor next to the settee. All failures. Since she had finally gotten some rest, she hoped she could figure out what had stumped her.

Nelson saw she was awake and stood, stretching lazily. He walked up the length of her, standing on her chest. She stroked his face with her knuckles and he began to purr noisily.

“Good morning, my sweet friend,” she said, kissing him atop his head and continuing to pet him. “We need to get up. I’m sure you’re hungry.”

She heard the door at the far end of the drawing room open. Before she sat up, she heard a voice from her past.

“You simply must find them. I haven’t come all this way not to be seen.”

It was Aunt Fanny.

Mia lay perfectly still, not wanting to reveal she was in the room. The last time she had seen her aunt had to be a good decade or more. Lord Trentham, Fanny’s husband, worked for England’s diplomatic corps. After the war with Bonaparte finally ended, Trentham had been assigned to a post somewhere in Europe. Mia couldn’t remember where at the moment. She’d received a few letters from Aunt Fanny, as had her father, but Mia was always so busy that she hadn’t bothered to reply after the first few arrived. She did remember Lord Trentham had moved throughout Europe but not being interested, she did what her father usually did—ignored or forgot what was important.

“Bring tea, Aunt Fanny commanded. “I’m parched. I expect Lord Morrison and Lady Mia to arrive when the tea does. If not sooner. Now, go!”

“Yes, my lady,” their butler said.

She wondered if today would be a good day or a bad one for Papa. If good, he might have seen Aunt Fanny arrive and already be hiding from her. If bad, things could turn ugly. On those days, Papa often didn’t know who some people were or what he was doing. That’s why Mia had stepped in and had begun to handle most of the experiments. She’d worked with her father for years and knew about every invention and what stage it was in. Eventually, she’d taken over, completing inventions and filing for the patents in his name.

Aunt Fanny’s arrival might ruin everything.

“What on earth do they do here?” her aunt asked aloud.

Mia knew what the drawing room must look like to outsiders. It was filled with tables containing various projects. The entire house was the same. Since they never entertained, numerous inventions had eventually taken over room after room. Even half the stables had been converted to a workshop, where Mia now worked on a new type of steam engine. She had perfected it and even had an interested buyer coming after Christmas to inspect it. If this Mr. St. Clair she’d corresponded with purchased the design and device, it would mean she could pay the few servants remaining what was owed and have money left over to pay the bills owed to various shopkeepers in the local village. She only wished she could earn enough to restore the house. The roof leaked. The staircase was beginning to rot. New paint and carpets were sorely needed. She could only imagine what Aunt Fanny was thinking.

She decided being a coward didn’t suit her. Their servants would find Papa and bring him to the drawing room. It wouldn’t be fair for him to face Aunt Fanny’s wrath alone. Mia might even be able to calm her aunt so that by the time Papa arrived, all would be well.

Lifting Nelson, she placed him on the ground and then gave a loud sigh, stretching her arms high and sitting up. She deliberately rubbed her eyes and as she stood, she saw a horrified Aunt Fanny spy Mia and gasp.

“What are you wearing?” her aunt demanded shrilly.

Mia crossed the room, Nelson trailing after her. “Why, hello, Aunt Fanny. It’s so good to see you. I must have fallen asleep on the settee.”

She went to kiss her aunt’s cheek but Fanny threw out an arm. She eyed Mia from head to toe.

“This is disgraceful. It’s far worse than I ever could have imagined. You’re in trousers, Mia. Stained ones at that. A rumpled shirt. Your hair a mess. Good God! What has been going on here?”

She shrugged. “Work, as usual.”

“Work?” Her aunt sniffed. “The kind of work you should be doing is planning menus and doing needlepoint. Ladylike pursuits. Do you even bother with that?”

“Cook is perfectly happy to set the menus each week,” Mia replied. “I don’t know anything about needlepoint, though. Or any type of sewing. I suppose I could learn but I haven’t the time.”

Her aunt touched her forehead as if a strong pain had struck her. “My sister is turning over in her grave.” She shook her head. “When is the last time you wore a dress?”

Mia thought. “I’m not sure. It’s much easier to work dressed this way.”

“What about going to church each week?”

“Papa has never been one for organized religion,” she admitted. “We don’t attend services.”

Another gasp. Oh, this wasn’t going well at all.

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