“Stephen, what are you doing out here?” she demanded as a liveried footman stepped out behind her.
“May we speak, Lizzy?” Stephen managed.
“My lady, do you require assistance?” the footman asked.
“Thank you, Mason,” she said. “Lord Bridgewater is an old friend.” A pause, then, with quiet resolve, she added, “I should like to speak with him. I will be quite all right.”
The footman nodded and stepped back, but remained outside, while she nudged her dog forward to where Stephen stood on the sidewalk. “I confess I, too, have questions, especially after seeing you in this shape. Oh, my goodness! Your hand. You’re bleeding. Let me see to your cut.”
“I’m b-bleeding?” he stammered, looking down at his hand with surprise. “I suppose I cut my hand at some point last night.” He should have been embarrassed, but it was too late for that. He’d done all of this to himself.
She led him inside the house, handing her dog’s leash to Mason, and asked Stephen to follow her. They walked down the hall to the kitchen at the back of the house. She opened a small cupboard and withdrew a box that contained a bottle along with other supplies, including strips of white cloth. “Mary, can you send a tray of biscuits and tea to my parlor?”
The cook nodded. “I’ll be glad to do that, my lady.”
In her parlor, Elizabeth motioned for him to sit in an armchair and lay his hand on the small table. “It’ll be easier for me to take care of your hand if you are seated.” Leaning over him, she cleaned the cut with the solution in the bottle, which made his eyes water. It smelled like vinegar and a few other things. Next, she spread a salve that smelled like honey and herbs over the cut, and finally, she wrapped his hand in several of the cloth bandages. He could smell her lavender scent and closed his eyes, wishing he could lose himself in it… in her. She was quick in her ministrations and, when she finished, sat in the chair across from him just as a maid entered with a tray of biscuits and tea, setting it on the table between them.
“Will that be all, milady?” the young maid asked.
“Yes. Thank you, Annabelle.”
The maid dipped her head and left.
When they were alone, Elizabeth poured them each a cup of tea and finally spoke. “I’m concerned, Stephen. You came to my home, which means you must have followed me. There is more to this than meets the eye, here, and I’m asking you to tell me the truth. Why are you here?”
“You get right to the point, don’t you? I had forgotten that about you, Lizzy,” he said, using the nickname he’d had for her years ago. When she said nothing, he continued. “I’m here because I wanted to see you again, but you refused me.”
“I did,” she said.
“Why?” He began tapping his foot, a nervous habit he had when he overdrank.
“Why don’t you take a sip of tea—it will help,” she said softly as she lifted her cup to her lips.Those luscious lips,he thought distractedly.
He did as she said, and he did feel better, so he continued. “We spent hours interacting last evening. And then… it all ended.”
“But I explained that to you,” she returned.
He set his cup down and ran his hands through his hair. “You’re right. Iama wastrel. And I’ve made a horrible mistake, and now my niece… my brother’s child, a child I love, may pay the price.”
“What do you mean? Maybe you should tell me more.”
“I don’t know why I’m telling you about this at all.”
“Stephen, whatever you tell me will stay between us.”
He believed her and began to talk. Thirty minutes later, he found himself talking of slipping up and telling Darkmoor about Bella inheriting the manor house from his brother. Something he should never have told anyone. “I’m in debt to him for twenty-five thousand pounds, and he’s demanding that I betroth him to Bella,” he said, placing his head in his hands.
She refilled his cup with more tea. “Drink your tea. And eat a biscuit. It will settle your stomach and help to clear your head.”
Again, he followed her direction, and he did feel better.
“What you have told me saddens me, Stephen.” Lizzy sighed and shook her head. “Rather than deal with your mistakes, you have placed the burden on your niece’s shoulders. She will have to pay the price instead of you. That is not fair to your lovely niece. I had the pleasure of meeting her and your mother and Lady Harrington at the ball. From what I could see, Bella has feelings for Viscount Dudley.”
Stephen swallowed the lump in his throat. Lizzy was right about what he was doing. He was behaving like a complete cad. A good-for-nothing bounder!
She reached out a slender hand and laid it over his. “Stephen, this isn’t who you were—at least, not the young man I knew years ago. You must make this right.”
“Lizzy, that’s the thing. I don’t know how. I’m trapped by my mistakes—the drinking, the gaming, the losses, and now,I’m failing my family.” He closed his eyes, unable to look at the woman whom he’d once loved and lost, knowing he would most likely lose whatever respect she had for him.
