“So, you say she has the speech and manners Bath Society would accept. Have you brought her to the Assembly Rooms committee?”
Doug shook his head. “A local tradesman? They’re unlikely to pay attention.”
“And you’d risk your contract for nothing.”
Doug began to tell his aristocratic friend that he didn’t care about the contract, but he thought of Winny Potter, Joey Morris and the others, and bit it back. “It might not cause me harm, but I fear my endorsement would do her little good.” He left aside his fear that if they hired her and found out later there had been no marriage, it could do Marsh Candle Works very great harm indeed.
“They might accept a reference from me,” Chadbourn mused, glancing up at Doug. “Perhaps I ought to meet this lady of yours.”
She isn’t mine… The afternoon being as good a time as any, and the earl being free, they left post haste.
* * *
Aknock at the door, too firm to be the dairyman’s boy, made Esther’s heart race. She lived in fear that Mrs. Smalley would one day discover her deceptions and put her out on the street. She shook some sense into her head. The knock wasn’t Smalley’s two-tap knock either. She tucked Dougie into the box that served as a crib and went to answer it.
The solid presence of Doug Marsh greeted her, and a smile blossomed across her face. When it drew an answering one from the lovely man himself, her heart—that impetuous organ—danced. They stood grinning at each other, and all thought fled, until a cleared throat pulled her attention to a figure standing behind him.
Tall, possessed of thick brown hair and a confident air, the man startled her back to reality.
“May we come in, Esther? His lordship wants to meet you,” Doug said.
Lordship? Dear God… She had no choice; she stepped back so they could enter.
“Mrs. Linder, may I make known to you the Earl of Chadbourn?”
Chadbourn—the one who helps employ soldiers. Not one of Father’s cronies. She’d never met the man; she searched her memories. Her father had despised the earl for his ‘foolish sentimentality’—but surely this man was too young to be her father’s peer. A black armband alerted her that perhaps the title had come recently.
The earl inclined his head at the introduction. “Honored. Forgive this uninvited intrusion, but Sergeant Marsh and I are old comrades.”
He was a soldier. That would explain why I never encountered him during my two seasons.
“Marsh brought your situation to my—” he broke off abruptly. “I apologize. I tend to barge into a problem. Could we sit?”
Esther’s face burned. “Of course, my lord! I’m afraid I have no refreshments to offer.”
“Don’t be embarrassed. As I said, Marsh apprised me of your circumstances. May we speak frankly? I believe we can be of assistance, but to do that, I have to know the full truth.”
Her spirits sank.What is Doug thinking, bringing this man here?She cast him a sharp glance. “It is as you see,” she said, gesturing around the sparse room with one hand.
“It is not, I think, what you are used to.”
She felt the flames in her face go higher and dropped her gaze to the hands in her lap.
“There is no point in avoiding harsh truths, Ma’am. I’m merely here to help,” the earl went on. “There is no Lieutenant Linder. The sergeant and I know this.” Before she could object, he went on, “but we understand why you invented him. It would help if you told me the entire story. Who are your parents?”
Doug knows?That he didn’t condemn her didn’t surprise her, given what she had come to know of him. A timid smile lurked in the corners of her mouth. “They won’t thank you for interfering. I’m dead to them; they will not help me.”
Doug smiled encouragement. “We assumed as much,” he said. “You can trust this man, Esther.”
She studied the earl for a moment and found only kindness in his expression. He was an attractive man with a fortune. Debutantes must be throwing themselves at him.Any other woman in my position would throw herself at his feet.
Esther looked back toward Doug Marsh, knowing in her bones that she and the baby were safe with the battered—but strong and solid—sergeant.
With a deep sigh, she lay down the emotional burdens she carried, “My name is Esther Hopkins—Lady Esther Hopkins,” she said, her eyes never leaving Doug. She began to tell her story right up to her parents putting her out.
“Malebranche,” the earl grimaced. “I knew he was a cold fish, but I never suspected him capable of rejecting his own daughter.”
“You know my father?”
