Page 28 of A Wallflower to Win the Viscount

‘You’ll be needing the carriage,’ Beatrice said, moving towards the opened door.

‘No, we can take a hansom cab,’ Lucian said, holding up his hands to halt her progress.

‘Nonsense,’ Beatrice insisted. ‘I’m sure Primrose is upset and will need you to offer her your comfort and reassurance. You’ll be much better placed to do so in the privacy of your own carriage. Reggie and I can take a nice walk in the sunshine, and then, if need be, hail a cab to take us home.’

Still looking confused, Reggie followed his wife out of the carriage and onto the pavement.

‘Please give my regards to Primrose and tell her I am absolutely confident this is all going to work out splendidly for her.’ With that she took her husband’s arm, and they strolled off along the street.

Once again, his cousin’s wife’s confidence amazed him. But he had no time to think about that now. He rushed back into Primrose’s house, determined to do all he could to make Beatrice’s words come true and ensure everything worked out as well as it possibly could for Primrose.

Chapter Nine

Primrose looked down at the letter crumpled in her hand, the swirl of emotions that had been tossing her hither and tither since the terrible missive arrived still whirling within her.

She prided herself on being a woman of independent means, but with one letter Cousin Jasper had completely undermined that sense of security, leaving her and the animals in a precarious situation.

She folded it up and placed it in her handbag, picked up her gloves and waited for Lucian’s return. She had no idea why he had offered to help her, but whatever his motivation, it mattered not. What was important right now was to save this house, both for her own sake and so she could continue to offer a home to her stray animals.

He re-entered the drawing room, his expression even more serious than usual. ‘Right, let us be off.’

Trying to feel as confident as he appeared, she followed him out to the waiting carriage.

After giving instructions to his driver, they wound their way through the London streets and soon pulled up outside a two-storey cream stone building. Lucian helped her out of the carriage and taking her arm led her up the steps and into a small office, where a clerk was seated behind an ink-stained desk, concentrating on his work.

The young man looked up from writing in his ledger and immediately sprang to his feet at the sight of Lucian, the fountain pen still in his hand.

‘My lord,’ he said with a bow of his head.

‘I need to see Carruthers on a matter of some urgency,’ Lucian said while Primrose lowered herself into one of the armchairs beside the fireplace to await the solicitor.

The clerk immediately disappeared into the inner office, and before Primrose had a chance to straighten her skirt, he was back and ushering them into the adjoining office.

The room had an even more serious appearance than the clerk’s office, with high bookshelves lining each wall, bearing countless leather-bound tomes, heavy deep green velvet curtains on the floor to ceiling windows muffling the sound of the busy street below them, and dark wooden panels making the room appear decidedly masculine.

‘My lord,’ the solicitor said, coming out from behind his large mahogany desk to shake Lucian’s hand. ‘This is unexpected.’

He looked towards Primrose, and Lucian introduced her. Mr Carruthers bowed and indicated for them to be seated in the buttoned leather armchairs.

‘How can I help you?’ the solicitor said, taking the seat opposite them.

‘Miss Fairburn has a problem which needs your immediate attention,’ Lucian said, getting straight to the point.

Mr Carruthers turned to Primrose and smiled encouragingly.

‘I have received this letter.’

She pulled Jasper’s crumpled letter out of her reticule and attempted to smooth out the creases before passing it to the solicitor.

‘My aunt left me the house in her will. The one mentioned in here,’ she said as she pointed unnecessarily to the sheet of paper in the man’s hand.

‘It was once part of the Stonely estate, but when my grandfather died, the next earl, my uncle, gave it to Aunt Clemmie, I mean Miss Clementine Fairburn, who left it to me in her will. Now my cousin wants to take it from me. Cousin Jasper, that is, who is now the new Earl of Stonely.’

She knew she was babbling but couldn’t help it. It was what she always did when nervous, and being in this solemn room and knowing the fate of herself and of all her animals hung in the balance was undeniably unnerving.

Mr Carruthers pulled a pair of half-moon glasses out of the inner pocket of his jacket, balanced them on the end of his nose and looked down at her creased letter.

While Primrose waited anxiously, he read it carefully, taking more time than one would expect to digest something that was merely a few sentences.