Once inside, she closed the door, then shifted to face him. “Good evening, Mr. Danvers. Thomas and I will require some assistance.”
He arched a single brow. “Very good, madam.”
In light of her limited time, she had given the matter of how tobroach the subject with Mr. Danvers some thought, and had decided it was best to come straight out with it. “My husband is in the carriage. He’s recently returned from the war effort.”
“I see.” To his credit, he did not appear fazed.
“He has not been well,” she told him. “In fact, it seems he returned to us with no memory.”
Danvers made no reply, but she thought she saw something like sympathy flicker in his dark eyes.
“In point of fact, he does not remember me.”
Now, both his dark brows shot upward. She reminded herself she’d known what she was signing up for when hiring him. She simply hadn’t anticipated this turn of events.
“He was…er…in a hospital prior to my collecting him this morning and required sedation for the journey, and I am not certain if he will have the ability to manage the—”
Abruptly, the front door swung out in a wide arc. Teddy stood on the stoop, evidently having managed the short walk on his own recognizance, and Georgina was struck anew by his disheveled appearance. The man she’d known always exhibited a clean shave, combed, neatly trimmed hair, immaculate dress, and did not sport facial bruising indicative of a brawl. If not for his glower, aimed at the two of them as if he’d caught them in some sinister act, she’d be hard-pressed not to…well, wrap him in her arms.
Not that she would actually do that, even minus the glower.
Behind him, Thomas, a full head and shoulders shorter than Teddy, offered Georgina an apologetic grimace.
“I assume you’re informing our butler of my unfortunate circumstance, dearest. Wouldn’t want him to get his feelings hurt that I have no recollection of him, now would we?” Sarcasm laced Teddy’s every word.
Mr. Danvers’s brows furrowed. The look he slid Georgina said he’d box her husband’s ears if she so requested. No, definitely not yourrun-of-the-mill butler.
She gave him a subtle shake of her head and shifted to make way for Teddy to enter. “As it happens, my lord, you have not yet met any of our staff. I was simply requesting Mr. Danvers’s assistance in getting you from the carriage to the villa, which, as it happens, you did not require.”
Without a word, Teddy sauntered—no,swaggered—inside. He did a much better job of it than she had, when was that, last week? She made a mental note of the mechanics of his gait, the set of his broad shoulders, the laconic gleam in his eyes, for potential use in a future novel.
Or in the event she required Mrs. Dove-Lyon’s services in future, as unlikely as that was.
Teddy took in the foyer, glancing up at the high ceiling and sparkling, candlelit chandelier before ducking his head through the open doorway to the corridor beyond through which lay the kitchens and staff bedchambers.
Then, without another word, he started up the stairs.
Georgina shot Mr. Danvers a look of alarm. He must have rightly interpreted her fear that Teddy might stumble thanks to the sleeping powder he’d ingested earlier, because he trotted up behind Teddy, close enough to catch him if necessary.
Fisting her skirts in her hands, Georgina followed at a more ladylike pace.
By the time she reached the receiving hall, which made up most of the first floor, Teddy stood at one of the tall sash windows, gazing out at the sea beyond while Mr. Danvers studied him from a discrete distance, arms crossed over his chest.
Teddy must have heard her footsteps, because he pivoted to face her.
Her breath caught at the sight of him and she did not attempt to staunch the smile spreading over her face. She had defied custom,eschewing drapes on the wall of windows in this chamber, not wishing anything to obstruct her view. How glad she was now, with Teddy, here, bathed in the golden, stuttering light of the beeswax candles left burning in anticipation of her return, while outside, faint white caps of the crashing waves gleamed in the waxing moonlight behind him. How many times had she imagined just such a scene?
Mr. Danvers cleared his throat. “My lady, would you like me to stay to see milord safely up the stairs to your bedchamber?”
Georgina opened her mouth to answer, but Teddy’stskof annoyance beat her to it.
“I’m right, here, Mr.…what is your name?”
“Mr. Danvers, Lord…Arlington, isn’t it?”
Georgina’s head snapped in the butler’s direction. Had she told him her husband’s name? She could not recall. She must have done because he knew her only as Lady Belfry.
“By God, you don’t recall the family name, Danvers? Based on your dress, I assume you’re my butler. One would expect a butler to know such trivial things as the name of the man who employs him.”
