“I…um.” She sought inspiration for how to refuse, but none came to her. "Very well," she said at last. "However, the maid has warned Mrs. Randall of my wish to speak with her, and I should hate to think she was waiting for me. Allow me to inform her of my intentions, and perhaps she might later show me the areas that are more within her domain."

"I think you need not trouble yourself about Mrs. Randall. Once she hears that I have taken you for the tour, she will find it perfectly natural, as I am the master of the house.”

Selena now found herself in a bind. She was somewhat under this gentleman's power, being employed in his house, but her aversion to anything that hinted at lack of propriety made her pause, as did a new fear that had just struck her: she did not want Mrs. Randall to think she was acting above her station.

“Do come,” Lord Harrowden urged, as he reached for his gloves that were resting on the side table next to the door. “I may not have something of more importance to do now, but it does not mean I have the entire day at my disposal.”

His tone was friendly enough, but there was a tenor to his words that Selena did not like. She stepped aside and let him lead forward, her heart sinking as she followed.

Chapter Five

Lucius awoke too early for his liking. Dim rays of sunlight peeked through the curtains in his room, and the fire had not been stoked. He couldn't remember the last time he had awoken before his servant had arrived. Lucius went over to stoke the fire himself when he realized he could see his breath in the dim light.

He couldn’t get last evening's events out of his mind. His encounter with Lady Harrowden for the first time in nearly two years served to remind him just how short he’d fallen of his promise made to her husband to look in on the countess after the earl died. Partly from compassion for Miss Lockhart—for she had not seemed at all comfortable when he left her—and partly from a sense of guilt, he’d suffered a temptation to go visit.

However, Lucius wasn't accustomed to listening to his own conscience, and he decided to dress himself and have breakfast instead. The feeling would surely pass soon enough.

He had just finished a leisurely breakfast and was perusing The London Gazette while drinking his second cup of coffee when he heard the dull echo of the knocker at the entrance. Who is it this time? May a man not have a reprieve in his own house?

Briggs entered a moment later. "Sir, there are two men who wish to deliver a trunk belonging to the young lady who came here last night—Miss Lockhart.”

Lucius looked up in surprise. "Well, I hope you told them to take it to the Harrowden estate since that is where it belongs.”