Never Dance with a Marquess (The Never Series Book 2), Maggi Andersen [best short novels of all time TXT] 📗

a moment smoothing his hair back with a hand while considering the best way to appeal to her. Although the groom would walk the horses, they could not be kept waiting for hours. He decided to be straightforward. Old ladies were often shrewd.

Her ladyship received him in the drawing room. She lifted her aristocratic, high-bridged nose and gazed at him from a damask sofa. Dressed in black, a purple turban covered her hair, a silk shawl draped over her shoulders. A gray cat with unfriendly green eyes stared at him from her lap.

He strode forward. “Lord Pennington, Lady Penelope.”

“Ah, Lord Pennington.” She threaded the gold chain of her lorgnette through her fingers. “I expected to hear from you before this.”

Nicholas paused in his journey across several yards of Axminster carpet. “You did, madam?”

She gestured to a chair. “Maxwell suggested you might have need of me.”

“I wasn’t aware he did. But as it happens…”

“You do.” She reached over and grasped a bell on the side table. “Shall we have tea? Or would you prefer wine?”

“Tea, thank you.” Nicholas sat. He considered it wise to keep his wits about him. The lady’s blue eyes were sharp. “I come in the hope you will agree to return with me to Elm Park for a short stay.”

“When?”

“Now. Today.”

“Today?” She pointedly glanced at the mantel clock.

“I prefer to travel in daylight if possible. And as the distance isn’t great, I believe we might manage it. Please allow me to explain, Lady Penelope. I hope you will bear with me while I do. It’s rather long-winded.”

“I already know most of it. Isn’t my niece in London making her curtsey to the queen?”

“Yes. Arabella and Jeremy are at Elm Park, however, and...” Before he could draw breath, she interrupted him.

“A pair of rascals who need pulling into line, I dare say. Max was too soft with them.”

“Perhaps,” he said a little dryly while hoping he wasn’t about to turn their lives into purgatory. “And although I hope to rely on you to assist me with them, that is not the reason I am here. Max’s younger brother, Simon, has returned from the Continent. You might not have heard…”

“How dare he show his face again in England! The black sheep of the family, Simon, could charm the birds out of the trees. He induced Max’s wife, my niece, dear Annabelle, who refused to believe anything bad of anyone, to fund his escape from the law. Spun some sorry tale about being innocent of any crime, but if they caught him, he would swing from the gallows.”

He nodded. “You know it all then.”

“Enough to know you can’t trust him.”

“Max expressed his concern. That was the reason he felt it best to appoint me the children’s guardian.”

“The right decision. Always thought so. I gather you fear I could expect a visit from Simon?”

“He has departed London for the country. I don’t know his direction.”

A maid appeared carrying the tea tray and placed it before Lady Penelope on the occasional table. “Mary, tell Mrs. Brentwood I wish to see her,” Lady Penelope said as she bent over the tea tray. “Milk?”

“Thank you.”

Within minutes, the housekeeper hurried in.

“I am traveling to Surrey with his lordship within the hour,” Lady Penelope announced, in the manner one might say it looked like rain. “Please advise my maid to pack a trunk.”

Mrs. Brentwood’s eyes widened a fraction, but she didn’t seem very surprised. Perhaps she was used to Lady Penelope’s vagaries. “Yes, milady.”

Nicholas sat and drank another cup of tea and ate two buttered, spicy currant buns while preparations were undertaken for her ladyship’s journey. It was not long before she appeared swathed in furs.

Her cane in her hand, she turned toward the door. “Well, young man, shall we go?”

With a smile of approval, Nicholas hurried to offer her his arm. Fortunately, he had changed the horses on route. He feared a further delay might annoy this impatient lady.

Well before the afternoon stretched into evening, the coach bowled along the road into Surrey.

Dusk was almost upon them by the time they approached Elm Park.

Nicholas found the lady an entertaining traveling companion who distracted him from the worry of what might lie ahead. But as the coach turned through the gates, he opened the window.

“See anyone today, Will?” he asked the gatekeeper.

“No, milord.”

“I don’t expect any visitors. No strangers are to be admitted. They can furnish their card.”

“Right, my lord.”

“I’ll send a footman to assist you.”

“You have a fine park,” Lady Penelope observed as the carriage approached the house.

“Thank you.”

“I knew your father when I was little more than a girl,” she confessed.

Nicholas glanced at her. “You did?”

“Met him in London during my first Season. Handsome devil. But he only had eyes for your mother.” She gazed at him. “You look rather like him. I trust you are of a steadier character.”

He chuckled. But his laughter fell away when he spied Jeremy and Bella playing with their pups on the lawn. They clambered to their feet and raised their hands to greet him as the coach approached the house.

Nicholas frowned. What were they doing playing outside at this hour? Where was Miss Scotsdale? Or his secretary?

“Your wards apparently consider this home,” Lady Penelope observed dryly.

Nicholas banged the roof for the carriage to halt. “Return the dogs to their pen,” he called to his footman. “I shall see Bella and Jeremy in the library,”

“Yes, milord.”

The coachman pulled up the horses on the drive. Nicholas assisted Lady Penelope from the vehicle.

Abercrombie awaited them at the open front door.

Nicholas introduced her ladyship to his butler as she stood observing the lake. Its waters looked on fire beneath the rays of the setting sun. She turned. “Abercrombie. I have