Without compromising the girl, himself.
He glanced over at the lady standing beside him who might as well not be wearing anything at all. The second part of his task might prove far more difficult for him than the first.
Chapter 10
When a Gentleman Hires a Valet
Dear Louella.
Olivia wrote her sister’s name with a flourish. Her first inclination was to ask question after question.How is London? How do you like being married? Is Stanton treating you well?But she knew Louella would answer all of these questions in the next letter she sent home and so writing them would be redundant.
I miss you.
Well, that should go without saying, but she left it just the same. Because, oh, but it was the truth. She dipped her well used pen into the jar of ink but then allowed it to hover over the foolscap. Louella, being the youngest, had shared most of her troubles with Olivia.
Olivia, on the other hand, had kept many of her concerns hidden from her younger sister.
She’dprotectedLouella from them.
Which was why she hadn’t mentioned anything of Luke Smith before the wedding and now she hesitated in sharing details of her run-ins—encounters? Trysts? — with Gabriel.
Lord Kingsley.
A drop of ink fell off the tip of the pen, splashing the paper.
The Smith children are proving a considerable challenge and each day that Eliza and I spend taking care of them, I marvel that Mrs. Smith would have been solely in charge of their care.
She dipped the pen again. Louella would not approve of Mr. Smith’s suit of Olivia. Since she became engaged to Stanton, Louella had gotten it into her head that she could bring Olivia into Society so that she could experience a Season.
She had great hopes of Olivia landing a genteel husband in the process.
The idea, in theory, seemed tempting, but when contemplated seriously, Olivia experienced all of the doubts that had been well-founded before she’d attended the prewedding ball.
If only she could go to London and remain invisible. She’d visit as many museums, parks, and bookstores as one possibly could. She’d eat ices from the famous Gunter’s and spend an evening at Vauxhall Gardens tasting strawberries and drinking champagne.
If only she could do it outside of the watchful eyes of Society.
With a future duchess for a sister, that could never happen now. The thought of exposing herself to others, like those who’d been gossiping in the ladies’ retiring room at Ashton Acres, was enough to keep her in hiding.
Even some of the locals, folks who’d known her all of her life, still stared at her curiously.
But there were far fewer of them.
“Lord Kingsley is here to see you.” Olivia hadn’t heard Mary open the door and peek inside, but in no way could escape the inquisitiveness behind her gaze. “Would you like me to send him in?”
Olivia glanced around the small parlor and bit her lip. Having him sit with her in a parlor, just the two of them, was not something her mother or father would ever have approved of. That being said…
They resided in the big manor up the hill and she’d been sent away with only her maid for company. The rules of Society had become a nebulous, abstract set of guidelines… for other people to follow. If a tree fell, in the forest, and no one was there to hear… did it make any sound? She grimaced.
Her parents disapproved of her regardless.
“Please do.” She shrugged.
Mary raised her brows and then backed out of the room. A moment later, heavy footsteps approached, and then Lord Kingsley’s imposing figure appeared in the open doorway.
Gabriel.
Likely he appeared much differently in the country than when he was in London. Here to pay attention to mining operations, he tended to leave off his jacket and wore his sleeves folded back.
