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Dawn watched her mother’s face change from pleasure to chagrin in an instant.
Sir Malcolm paid no attention to his wife’s expression.
“I have already spoken to Mrs. Kendall in the kitchen, and I am assured that she is quite up to the task of preparing a meal for the five of us.”
“Five?”
Dawn ceased her rocking and shifted the sleeping Teddy in her arms.
“Yes. Alastair’s son and heir, Lord Grayson, is here with his daughter.”
“But we have only arrived this morning,” Lady Seymour said.
“They arrived several hours after we did. As I understand it, they have yet to engage household help, not having had Dawn’s foresight to engage the servants by post.”
Lady Seymour passed her hand across her brow.
“But I am not sure I am up to the…”
“My dear, I am sure that Lord Carey would understand if you are too fatigued to join us, though he would be sadly disappointed. I trust you will try your best.”
Dawn stood, and spoke softly over Teddy’s head.
“You rest now, Mother. I will see that all the arrangements are to your standards, as soon as I put Teddy back to bed.”
“Why yes, dear, that would be most helpful. And have Tyson see that my lilac gown is presentable, if you please.”
Dawn gave Sir Malcolm a quick smile.
“Of course.”
Together father and daughter backed out of Lady Seymour’s bedchamber, softly closing the door.
******
Hugh Grayson marked the page in his botanical journal and placed it on the table beside his chair. From his second-floor bedchamber he could look out over the broad bay, its smooth waters dotted with boats of all sizes from rowboats to triple-masted frigates and East Indiamen. No one could fail to be moved by the beauty of the scene, though Hugh wondered what in the devil he was doing here. His father had insisted he spend the next six weeks in Weymouth.
Hugh’s queries as to why Lord Carey wanted to visit the seaside met with the ordinary reasons, for the air, for the sea bathing, to benefit Emmy, but nothing specific. He hoped his father did not suffer some illness, a recurrence of his gout or some new aches and pains. So far, it did not seem his father was seriously ailing; indeed he was in the best of spirits, had even accepted an invitation to dine this evening at the adjacent house where one of his old friends resided.
Hugh would rather have tried one of the town’s old inns, renowned for their antiquity. That would have to wait for another night.
He glanced again at his book, wishing that the meal would be informal, and his return would be early. Perhaps he would be able to slip away while his father and the neighbour chatted over their port.
In Emmy’s room, he paused to place a kiss on the sleeping child’s forehead. Her tiny hand curled beside her button nose, her fair lashes lay long upon her pink cheek. She was the very picture of girlish beauty, and as always, he felt the ache of love, of his parental responsibility and his desire to protect her from all danger and disappointment. She was so precious and so fragile…
He turned away, his throat thick with emotion. In a moment, he coughed, driving away the sting, then spoke to the nurse.
“We will be at the house next door. Send Harold if you need us.”
Harold, his father’s valet, Emmy’s nurse, and Lamb, their coachman, were the only three servants who had accompanied them to Weymouth. Tomorrow he would have the agency send over a few candidates for the posts of cook, housekeeper and footman, enough to keep the household operating efficiently.
Hugh met his father in the foyer and followed him down the steps and a few feet along the paving stones to a brick house almost identical to their own.
In the drawing room, Sir Malcolm welcomed them with a wide grin.
“Alastair, wonderful to see you again. And Hugh, it has been many years since I last saw you. May I make you known to my wife and my daughter, Mrs. Neville?”
As he uttered the requisite niceties, Hugh had to stop himself from staring at the pretty young woman who curtsied before him. He could not recall when he had been so instantly taken with a lovely countenance and sparkling blue eyes. Her mother, wrapped in a thick shawl and holding a handkerchief to her chest, nodded a greeting.
