Page 19 of No Duke of Mine

When he heard the piercing noise again, he sat up straighter and glanced around the taproom.

A hush had settled over the taproom patrons in the hour he’d been there, and the laugh came from no one nearby. He turned his eyes to the open window and spied a carriage he recognized standing directly outside the inn.

The distinctive black and blue wavy stripe along the side of Lady Kent’s carriage was unmistakable.

He blinked in surprise to see her here…but she was not alone.

Lady Stephanie Kent and a strange man appeared to be grappling inside her carriage—mid-tryst.

Algernon narrowed his eyes at her brazen behavior. It was one thing for a widow to rendezvous with a lover in a carriage after dark, but another to do it in broad daylight with the carriage blinds tied back.

The fellow struggled to escape through the open door, held in place by Lady Kent as they exchanged heated kisses. As soon as the fellow’s feet hit the ground, though, he stumbled back and she was driven off with a regal wave.

Algernon watched the fellow rush into the taproom and survey those inside, while straightening his hair and tugging down his sensible brown waistcoat.

The man was utterly unremarkable in appearance. Sandy-brown hair, sensibly attired and not obviously wealthy.

But he was younger than Algernon by a half-dozen years.

The man requested a tankard of ale and headed toward the only vacant chair in the room.

The one opposite Algernon.

“Do you mind if I join you, sir?” he asked. His voice was soft, hesitant. Timid almost.

“No, not at all,” Algernon murmured, made uncomfortable by the request, but curiosity won out. Who was Lady Kent’s new lover?

After a moment, he met Algernon’s gaze. “Are you a local, sir?”

“No. Just passing through,” he promised, relieved not to be recognized. “And you?”

“Yes. Passing through as well.” The fellow glanced around. “But I was hoping someone knew of a position I could apply for.”

“I’ve no knowledge of one,” Algernon answered, struck by the oddity of the question. Algernon hadn’t heard a whisper about Lady Kent engaged in any affairs before today. “Are you in search of a position?”

“Not exactly,” the fellow said, turning red.

Algernon fell silent as he sipped his tankard, considering what to say next to the man. But as he watched the young man ignore his own drink, he revised his assumptions. The fellow couldn’t be more than twenty, perhaps even younger than that. He still had spots! What was Lady Kent doing, kissing a mere boy?

Algernon sat forward. “Where are you headed?”

“To London.”

Lady Kent’s carriage had been pointed in the opposite direction from London. Had she taken a journey solely to seduce her young lover? He tried to remember if she owned property nearby, but he did not think so.

“Do you live in London?”

“I’m a… Yes.”

Algernon thought about the way he answered. The fellow had just held his tongue over a longer explanation. The boy was a servant.

Algernon glanced out the window again to hide his shock. Lady Kent’s servant, it seemed. The boy was new to her employ, if that was so.

“London is a place of great opportunity for ambitious young men.”

“I thought so, too. Until…”

Algernon sat back. “Until?”