Page 48 of Vying for a Viscount
“Yes, Jane. That would be nice.”
Jane placed a pillow behind her back, tucked her in with a soft blanket, then hurried to answer the knock at the door. She returned with a tea tray and put it down on the table next to the chaise longue. “Thank you, Jane. You may go.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Once Jane left, Letitia decided she was too tired to do anything but snuggle down and sleep. And sleep she did. In fact, she spent the next two days in bed with an upset stomach and cramps, a reminder that her courses were due.
Chapter Seventeen
Greyson and Cookestayed another full day after the meeting with the mine owners to be certain all was well. They visited several pubs and eavesdropped on conversations among the locals and miners. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Just the usual complaining, with nothing about any planned gatherings or rebellions.
Feeling confident they could return to London, they left at dawn the next morning. After two and a half days of travel, a road-weary Greyson returned to Danbury Hall eight days after he had left. He almost went straight to Club Knight, but decided a note to Knight with a quick summary of what they had found would suffice until tomorrow. Right now, he needed a bath, a good meal, and sleep, in that order.
He left an equally road-weary Thorne by the roadside, then ascended the stairs and entered through the door as Henderson opened it. “Welcome home, my lord.”
“Thank you, Henderson. Please have someone take care of Thorne. He needs extra feed and a thorough brushing.”
“Yes, my lord. Will there be anything else?”
“Have a footman bring my saddlebags to my chambers.” He dumped the bags at Henderson’s feet, too tired to lug them up the stairs. “I need a bath.”
His butler made a face. Obviously, he agreed. “Coming right up,my lord.”
Stinking and not fit for company, family or not, he sneaked up to his chambers, hoping not to run into any of his family members until he’d cleaned up.
Dalton greeted him when he entered his chambers. “Welcome home, my lord.”
“Thank you, Dalton. It’s good to be home.”
“Your bath should be ready soon. In the meantime, let’s get you out of those clothes,” Dalton said, wrinkling his nose.
“Yes.”
While he was undressing, four footmen entered carrying a large metal tub which they placed in front of the hearth. They promptly left and returned carrying buckets of hot water which they dumped into the tub. After they left, Greyson sank into the hot water and sighed. “You may leave, Dalton. Come back in half an hour.”
“Yes, my lord.”
He didn’t move for a good ten minutes as the heat of the water soothed his road-worn body, one muscle at a time. He sat up and washed his body and hair, dunking his head several times to rinse the soap. It wasn’t until the water cooled that he finally stepped out of the tub and dried off, throwing on a blue banyan Dalton had laid out on a wooden chair. He raised his arms and stretched from side to side, reveling in the feeling of being human again. He may be all of twenty-eight, but riding horseback for two and a half straight days, then doing it again several days later, was brutal on one’s body.
When Dalton returned, he dressed in casual clothes and went down the stairs into the drawing room, where he could hear voices from the hall. Before he could speak, his cousin, Charity, said, “Greyson, you have returned!”
“Brother,” Anastasia and Aurora said together. “Welcome home.”
“Thank you. It’s good to be home.” He sat beside Charity on one of the two settees; the twins were seated together on the other one.
“How did you get to Danbury Estate and back so quickly?” Charity asked.
He hadn’t expected to be questioned about his timing. Nobody ever had before. Leave it to Charity, his ever-inquisitive cousin. “Two days’ ride back and forth. Four days seeing to things. Our estate manager does a great job overseeing everything. I even visited all the tenant farmers.”
“Did you perhaps,” Anastasia fluttered her lashes, “hurry home because you missed Lady Rutherford?”
Aurora jumped up. “Warren proposed.”
He stood and hugged her. “Congratulations. I’m so happy for you.” He looked over Aurora’s head at his other sister. “For both of you. Does this mean a double wedding is in the near future?”
Aurora sat back down. “Yes, as soon as the banns are posted. You never requested that they be posted at St. George’s Hanover Square, so we have to wait another week. Although Anastasia’s were read.”
“Forgive me. It wasn’t that I forgot—I left before Warren proposed. What if he hadn’t, and the banns were read on Sunday? Another sennight gives you two more time to prepare.”
