“Oh, dear.” Hudson made a show of peeking at his pocket watch. “I would love to hear all about it, but I’ll be late if I don’t make haste. Was there something else you wanted?”
The viscount blinked at him in confusion. “Did I summon you?”
“Go to bed,” Hudson suggested. “Sleep it off. Your whores will still be waiting for you when you awake.”
“That’s what my valet said,” Lord Oldfield mumbled, then shut the door in Hudson’s face.
Ah, the joys and dignity of working for the viscount.
Hudson checked his pocket watch again. If he left now, he’d be half an hour early. Something told him he ought not to delay, or the beautiful Lady Tabitha might “accidentally” set out without him.
The carriages were ready. One for Hudson and the young lady, and the other for their traveling trunks and footmen. He passed by his suite to pick up his hat, and then headed across Mayfair to Lord Brigsby’s residence.
When he arrived, Lady Tabitha was just emerging from the marquess’s town home with her lady’s maid.
As always, Hudson’s throat went dry at the sight of Lady Tabitha.
Glossy black hair piled in artful ringlets. Startlingly blue eyes framed by inky lashes. Plump, rosy lips. Plump everything, just as Hudson liked it. Voluptuous curves a man could get lost in for days. Wrapped up in a sunny yellow day dress decorated with flirty white ribbons and little embroidered rosettes along the hem. He wanted to pull her into his arms and cover those gorgeous lips with his own.
He did no such thing, of course.
“Not leaving without me, are you?” Hudson asked lazily, as he dropped down from the viscount’s carriage.
Lady Tabitha looked guilty, then irritated, then resigned, all in the space of a second.
“Of course not,” she muttered, waving a gloved hand to signal her driver to take her father’s coach-and-four back to the stables. “That would be unforgivably rude of me.”
“Splendid.” Hudson held open the door to the viscount’s third-nicest carriage. Lord Oldfield had kept the best ones for himself. “After you, then.”
She allowed him to hand her into the coach. “Mary Frances comes with me.”
“Of course.” Hudson handed up her lady’s maid as well.
He took the rear-facing seat so that the women would have the better view and more comfortable ride, and tapped the driver’s panel above his head to alert the coachman that they were ready for departure.
The horses clopped into motion.
Hudson touched the rim of his top hat. “May I?”
“Of course,” Lady Tabitha murmured.
He removed his hat and placed it on the seat beside him.
The two women exchanged an inscrutable glance, culminating in a shrug by Lady Tabitha. Mary Frances reached for the ribbon under her mistress’s chin, but Lady Tabitha brushed her maid’s hand away. “I can untie my own bonnet, thank you.”
Soon, both bonnets and both pelisses lay next to the top hat at Hudson’s side.
Nonetheless, Lady Tabitha did not look more comfortable. She looked as though she’d happily murder Hudson and dive out the closest window, scampering to safety like a frightened bunny evading a wolf.
“So that we’re clear,” he said, “I’ve no wish for any acrimony between us.”
Lady Tabitha looked startled. “Acrimony?”
“My mission is twofold,” he explained. “To protect you on this journey and to deliver you safely to Lord Oldfield.”
Her jaw visibly tightened. “Much obliged, I’m sure.”
“Other than that,” he continued gently, “you may say and do anything that you please. You shall enjoy the same confidentiality that I grant to my employer. And as much freedom as I am allowed to offer you.”
