“I agreed to meet. I see no role for me—your force doesn’t need another leader, and—sorry, Benson—I don’t plan to serve under you.” They may be in uniform no longer, but Brynn had outranked him in the long, miserable conflict with Napoleon.
“Talk to him, Morgan. I should be in London next week or early the one after. You and I can catch up then. Lucy plans to promote Thatcher, one of her most reliable tenants, to steward of Willowbrook on a trial basis, and Lucy has much to discuss with him. I may have to carry her out bodily.”
Brynn grinned down on him. “How far the mighty have fallen.”
“We’re already promised to be back here for Twelfth Night if not Christmas.” A dramatic sigh from Benson fooled no one. Brynn had never seen him so happy. He had reconciled with his family, the proprietors of The Willow and the Rose—Ashmead’s beloved inn, known simply as the Willow hereabouts—and with his half-siblings up the hill at the earl’s Clarion Hall. Newly found peace sat well with him.
The two men, friends of long standing, held their gazes a moment. Brynn broke eye contact first and spoke without considering his words. “Someone needs to check in on the duchess occasionally. It isn’t good to be alone.”
“For her or for you?”
Benson’s intense study made Brynn uneasy. Had he revealed too much? “I’m used to it. Don’t bully her,” he said. He glanced up at the house and touched two fingers to the brim of his hat. “I’m off, and you best get back to your bride before she discovers what an unworthy fellow you really are.”
Benson laughed and gave the horse’s rump a smack.
Brynn rode off in the direction in which he had come. Alone.I’m used to it.
*
Maddy rose twodays after the Benson wedding, determined to keep to her long-guarded routine. She refused to consider the day before when her head and stomach recovered from her impulsive departure from normal life, but the ride home in moonlight haunted her.
I created a life for myself, and I’m content. At least I was. Damn Rob Benson and his friend for upending it.She would joyfully welcome her brother when he chose to visit Ashmead again but determined to put Brynn Morgan’s black hair and kind eyes out of her mind for good. She didn’t need a man complicating her orderly existence.
She heard Alfred, ostler at the Willow, shortly after dawn arrive to raid her kitchen and gossip with his cousin Esther, Maddy’s housekeeper, all agog to report that the London folk come up for the wedding had departed, Brynn Morgan among them.
At the mention of Colonel Morgan, Maddy’s heart squeezed painfully.His confident ways attract you as much as those broad shoulders and black eyes—which is to say far too much, Maddy.She well knew that the gulf between the colonel and herself, distance in class and circumstances, made any sort of relationship impossible. Even if she wanted one. Which she did not. Besides, he probably saw her as a timid, little mouse.
Maddy watched Alfred make his way on up the hill to the hall to complete his delivery and told herself the colonel’s departure was for the best. She took that one magic evening and tucked the memory away.
Moments later, she sat in her usual seat in the breakfast room she had painted robin’s egg blue to soothe her soul and stared down at her customary breakfast: one hen’s egg—boiled—toast, and coffee. All was as it should have been except Madelyn, who couldn’t make herself pick up her spoon.
A sound at the door disturbed the silence of the house, and Esther bustled in, wiping her hands on her apron and complaining about too many visitors. She was back moments later. “Sorry, my lady, but the earl’s come to visit.”
David? How unlike him to come in the early morning.Her brother tended to be a stickler for proper calling hours—and every other sort of propriety. “Show him in, then.”
Impeccably groomed and apologetic, the Earl of Clarion bowed to his sister.
“Oh, do sit down, David, and stop the formal nonsense. Mother is abusing people somewhere on the continent and can’t chastise us for treating one another like normal human beings. I’m afraid we don’t lay out breakfast for more people than are here to eat, unlike a proper ducal household. Would you like an egg? Esther will fix you one.”
“No, thank you. I may have some of that coffee, however.”
Esther placed a cup in front of him, and he reached for the pot that had been set on the table.
She picked up her spoon then and tucked into her egg. He would tell her why he had come when he was ready.
“I’ve been called back to London. In fact, my horse is waiting outside with my gear packed to take me there. I came to say goodbye—and to ask a favor.”
David never asked for help. She blinked, picked up her serviette, and put it back down. “What can I do for you?”
“The Bensons depart for London next week.”
“Yes, Lucy told me she and Rob plan to live primarily in London, but she still has Willowbrook to manage, and they will be back regularly.”
David grunted. “Be that as it may, our brother came to see me yesterday, basking though he is in newlywed bliss…”
“Rob came to see you?”
“As I just said. He is worried about Lucy. She knows no one in London.”
