“A week, perhaps less.”
Felicity set her shoulders back and clenched her fists at her sides. “Well, then I suppose I better ready myself.”
And she would. Except she knew in a tiny space of her heart, of her soul, that there was no way to ready herself for the storm about to come. She could only pray she would weather it.
Chapter Two
Asher Seyton swung down from his horse and looked up at the dark and shadowy house that rose up before him. It had been six years since he last crossed the threshold up those eight stone stairs. Six long and sometimes lonely years that were haunted by memory and longing he’d never been able to suppress.
Now he was back and he’d have to face those feelings again. Fully.
A servant came rushing down from the outbuildings to take his horse. Asher blinked as the young man gave him a smart bow and murmured something about taking care of the animal. He’d held that same job once. He’d held many jobs on this estate while growing up here.
“Thank you,” he said before he began to take those eight stairs two by two. At the top, he was greeted by a familiar face, that of Taylor, the same butler who had served here during his father’s time as the last Earl of Stenfax’s valet.
“Mr. Seyton,” Taylor said with a wide and very welcoming smile. “My goodness, it is good to see you again.”
“And you, Taylor. You haven’t aged a day.”
Taylor arched a brow and shook his head. “You flatter, sir.”
Asher shifted at being called sir by a man who’d once boxed his ears. A man who had also taught him how to execute a formal bow just like the one the boy had directed his way just a few moments before.
“You are up late,” Asher said, shaking off the strange feelings that mobbed him. “It is after midnight.”
“Lord Stenfax received your message that you would be arriving very late tonight,” Taylor explained as he stepped back and motioned Asher toward the foyer. “I volunteered to greet you.”
Asher caught a breath as he entered the foyer. The house looked exactly the same as he remembered it. Beautiful, fine, but still welcoming. Rather like the family who had resided here for generations. A family that had allowed him to sometimes be part of it.
Until…
Well, there was no use thinking of that. Not when he was…home? It oddly felt like home to him.
“It was kind of you to do so,” Asher said, and noticed that Taylor now had his hand out. “Er?”
“Your hat, sir? And your coat?” Taylor said.
Asher shifted as he removed those things. “I am accustomed to this, of course, but not from a manIonce called sir,” he said with a laugh. “Is there no way for us to go back to a less formal interaction?”
Taylor’s face softened. “You’ve made good of yourself, Mr. Seyton. You should embrace all that comes with. In the end, there is no going back, only forward.”
Asher swallowed. Yes, those were good words and ones for him to keep in mind as he made his way through the tricky maze he would surely find here. After all, he’d been called under mysterious circumstances. Stenfax hadn’t been explicit in his explanation of why Asher was needed so desperately. He had only written:
Felicity is in some trouble.
After that, nothing else had mattered. It would have taken being drawn and quartered for Asher not to make it here as soon as he could manage.
“How is your father, Mr. Seyton?” Taylor asked, drawing Asher’s attention back to the present.
He smiled. “Well, thank you for asking. His hands bother him a bit, but he very much likes the sea air and the countryside that retirement affords.”
He kept his smile on his face and did not add that he sometimes felt his father was hiding out. For a long time during his childhood, he and his father had been separated, and Niall Seyton had never been the same after they were reunited. And soon after the…situationwith Asher, his father had declared he was done with service and quit his duties here rather unexpectedly.
“That’s wonderful,” Taylor said. “When the family returns to London in the spring, perhaps I’ll have to take a day and make a call on my old friend.”
“He’d love it,” Asher said with a wider smile. “He’s only a day and a half away from here, you know. I intend to call on him whenever Stenfax releases me from this duty.”
Taylor’s face pinched a little and Asher stiffened. Whatever was happening with the family, it was clearly bad.
