“Max expressed his concern. That was the reason he felt it best to appoint me the children’s guardian.”
“The right decision. Always thought so. I gather you fear I could expect a visit from Simon?”
“He has departed London for the country. I don’t know his direction.”
A maid appeared carrying the tea tray and placed it before Lady Penelope on the occasional table. “Mary, tell Mrs. Brentwood I wish to see her,” Lady Penelope said as she bent over the tea tray. “Milk?”
“Thank you.”
Within minutes, the housekeeper hurried in.
“I am traveling to Surrey with his lordship within the hour,” Lady Penelope announced, in the manner one might say it looked like rain. “Please advise my maid to pack a trunk.”
Mrs. Brentwood’s eyes widened a fraction, but she didn’t seem very surprised. Perhaps she was used to Lady Penelope’s vagaries. “Yes, milady.”
Nicholas sat and drank another cup of tea and ate two buttered, spicy currant buns while preparations were undertaken for her ladyship’s journey. It was not long before she appeared swathed in furs.
Her cane in her hand, she turned toward the door. “Well, young man, shall we go?”
With a smile of approval, Nicholas hurried to offer her his arm. Fortunately, he had changed the horses on route. He feared a further delay might annoy this impatient lady.
Well before the afternoon stretched into evening, the coach bowled along the road into Surrey.
Dusk was almost upon them by the time they approached Elm Park.
Nicholas found the lady an entertaining traveling companion who distracted him from the worry of what might lie ahead. But as the coach turned through the gates, he opened the window.
“See anyone today, Will?” he asked the gatekeeper.
“No, milord.”
“I don’t expect any visitors. No strangers are to be admitted. They can furnish their card.”
“Right, my lord.”
“I’ll send a footman to assist you.”
“You have a fine park,” Lady Penelope observed as the carriage approached the house.
“Thank you.”
“I knew your father when I was little more than a girl,” she confessed.
Nicholas glanced at her. “You did?”
“Met him in London during my first Season. Handsome devil. But he only had eyes for your mother.” She gazed at him. “You look rather like him. I trust you are of a steadier character.”
He chuckled. But his laughter fell away when he spied Jeremy and Bella playing with their pups on the lawn. They clambered to their feet and raised their hands to greet him as the coach approached the house.
Nicholas frowned. What were they doing playing outside at this hour? Where was Miss Scotsdale? Or his secretary?
“Your wards apparently consider this home,” Lady Penelope observed dryly.
Nicholas banged the roof for the carriage to halt. “Return the dogs to their pen,” he called to his footman. “I shall see Bella and Jeremy in the library,”
“Yes, milord.”
The coachman pulled up the horses on the drive. Nicholas assisted Lady Penelope from the vehicle.
