Page 4 of The Earl and His Lady

Lucas fixed a pleasant smile on his face and stepped through the doorway, prepared to greet whichever members of the Gilbert family were about this afternoon.

But the only person inside the room, standing in its center, was a tall and stately woman he could not ever recollect seeing before. She wore a gray dress, trimmed in black lace, but the lack of color did nothing to detract from her beauty. Golden curls framed her lovely face, and her cheeks pinked as he stood gaping at her. Green eyes stared steadily back, and he realized she must be as lost as he, given the disappearance of the butler and no one to introduce them.

As the gentleman, and the interloper, Lucas decided it should fall to him to fix the situation.

“I do apologize, I did not know the family had guests.” He dropped his most respectful bow, usually reserved for higher-ranking nobility, and offered his most contrite smile to the lovely woman before him. “If you like, I’ll take myself off again until they’ve returned?”

Surprising people with his presence was obviously something he would have to avoid in future.

“Oh, no. That isn’t necessary, sir. My lord. Lord Annesbury?” On his title her voice went up slightly and he couldn’t decide if she was uncertain of the title or asking him a question.

“My friends call me Calvert,” he said, trying to do what he could to help her relax. “When I was a boy, I said I never wanted to be Annesbury. Sounded too much like a girl’s name.”

The tiniest smile lifted her lips. “That would be a difficult title for a young man, I suppose.”

“Very.” He wanted to step closer, to take the woman’s hand in his and bow over it properly, but he still didn’t know her name or relation to anyone in the house.

She took a small step forward. “Do forgive me. With no one here to introduce us I will have to take that duty upon myself. I am Virginia Macon, Baroness of Heatherton.”

The title, an obvious mark of her marital state, deflated him.

Which was ridiculous. It shouldn’t matter to him what her marital state was.

“Ah. It is a pleasure to meet you, my lady.”

“Please, do sit down. I imagine Mr. or Mrs. Gilbert will be in shortly.” She gestured to a chair and after she sat he did the same, several feet away from her. “I have heard a great deal about you, my lord.”

“Oh?” Really, what did one say when people began a conversation that way? Many years ago, he might have had a witty phrase at his disposal, but he’d discovered that letting other people fill in the gaps taught him more than trying to be clever.

“Yes, my cousin and her husband have told me of your investment in them.” She raised her eyebrows and the smallest glimmer of amusement lit her eyes.

Lucas leaned forward, hands on his knees. “Ah, their stables. Yes. I have been very impressed with how expertly they’ve put their plans into action.”

She gave a brief nod. “The stables, yes, but also your investment in their marriage. They believe they owe a great deal of their happiness to you.”

He sat back, less interested in this topic of conversation. He supposed someone like her might think it a romantic gesture, but he had no wish to discuss his motives on that score.

“Nonsense. They are responsible for their own happiness. Where might they be at this time of day?”

“Where else?” she asked, folding her hands together in her lap. “They are at the stables.”

He nodded and stood, causing her to rise as well. “Then I will search them out, since it is the stables I have come to talk to them about. But thank you for your hospitality.”

The smile faded from her lovely face, making it less warm and more polite. “Of course. It was an honor to meet you, my lord.”

“My pleasure.” He bowed, then swiftly made his escape.

Admiring an attractive woman, while a fine enough pastime for some, was not something he wished to do for himself. Especially if she was married.

Lucas shook his head as he went down the hall, ignoring the startled expression of a passing maid, and out a side door to the stables.

It is not because she is married, he told himself. Not just because she’s married, he amended. I have no need to look at an attractive woman of any sort.

When was the last time he had even applied that adjective to a member of the opposite sex? He could not recall. His scattered thoughts only disconcerted him and he picked up his pace in an attempt to leave them behind.

Chapter Two

“Calvert.” Thomas Gilbert’s voice rang across the paddock nearest the stables, greeting Lucas as he approached. Lucas made his way to the fenced area and noted horses being exercised inside its confines.