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“Oh, I am!” She yawned again. “My hotel room was so unbelievably hot. Even after Tanzania! I had to sleep naked and even that barely helped!”
Leo’s eyebrow twitched. He turned to Kethnick, who was still waiting nearby, in case of need. “Someone is bringing Lady Ashley’s luggage up?”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Honestly, I’m not sure the hotel evenhadany air conditioning,” continued Pea, oblivious to the attempted change of subject.
“Well, complain,” said Leo shortly. “Where did you stay? The Langley definitely has air conditioning. The Mitre. Even the Hilton or Marriott.”
Pea yawned again. “Oh, I can’t remember what it was called. Travel Inn, Travel Lodge. Something like that.”
Leo’s eyebrows shot up as she named a budget hotel. “You stayed at aTravel Lodge?”
“It was the first place I saw. It was perfectly fine, Count, honestly.” She grinned mischievously. “The rats were very,verysmall.”
Leo shook his head and beckoned to Kethnick. “Show Lady Ashley to her rooms. I think it’s high time she had a rest.”
Because, good Lord,heneeded one. And she’d only been there ten minutes.
Chapter two
Pea
Thepalatialsuiteofrooms the Count had set aside for her use were completely unacceptable. Pea took one look at them then set off to find him.
Thornley Castle, the ancient seat of the Dukes of Cumbria, was in the northern part of the Lake District, and stood near the edge of Lake Ravensmere. It was also, quite frankly,enormous. Pea questioned every member of staff she found in the long, echoing hallways but they all seemed reluctant to give up the Count’s whereabouts. She wasn’t surprised. Approachable was not a word one associated with the Count.
Severe, on the other hand.Stern.Forbidding.Abrupt.Glowering.Brooding…
“Ah, Kethnick!” cried Pea as she spotted the old butler. “Finally, a friendly face. I’m certain you know where I can find the Duke?”
“My Lady Ashley.” Kethnick inclined his head, neatly sidestepping the question.
“You know you can call me Peony,” she said, as she did every time she came to visit at Thornley.
Kethnick merely smiled. “Are your rooms satisfactory, Lady Ashley?”
“Well, no. That’s exactly what I need to speak to the Count—I mean, the Duke—about.”
“His Grace is occupied at present.”
“Glowering stormily? Plotting demises?”
Kethnick didn’t blink. He was used to the Ashley siblings’ rather cavalier treatment of his noble employer. “A video call with the Education Minister, I believe. His Grace takes his duties in the House of Lords very seriously.”
“Of course he does, dear Kethnick. He takeseverythingvery seriously.”
Kethnick continued smoothly, “But his steward may be free. Or, perhaps better suited for your purposes, Lady Orton-Grey.”
Pea felt a strange stammer in her heart. His wife? No. He wasn’t married. Simply couldn’t be. She would have heard. She would haveknown.
“His aunt,” explained Kethnick. “The late Duke’s sister.”
“Oh! Of course!”
“She has been staying at Thornley these last few months. Shall I show you to her?”
An audience with another no-doubt terrifying Orton-Grey? Of course, why not. “Thank you, Kethnick. That would be marvellous.”
