The Widowed Countess (29 page)

Clarinda’s eyes opened wide. “Sleeping?” she repeated, her voice loud enough to fill the bedchamber. “There will be time enough for that when I’m
dead
,” she countered defensively, returning her attention to the baby girls in her arms.

Daniel grinned, lowering his forehead so it touched hers. “I couldn’t agree more, my lady. I couldn’t agree more.”

Read on for an excerpt from
Linda Rae Sande’s
next book featuring
another Grandby goddaughter

My Fair Groom

“Well,
he
is rather handsome,” Lady Samantha commented, one hand pressed against the glass of Lady Julia’s bedchamber window. “In a brutish, very manly sort of way.” The object of her attention was obviously down below, for if anyone was rather handsome and directly outside Lady Julia’s bedchamber, they would have to have wings and be able to fly or be perched upon rather tall stilts. There was no tree or trellis to provide a climber a way to reach the bedchamber from below.

“Who is?” Julia wondered, moving to join her friend at the window. Afternoon sunlight filtered into the room as she drew back the heavy velvet drape with one hand. Glancing down, she could see one of the kitchen maids cutting herbs in the garden below. Just behind the garden’s low rock wall lay the paved alley, and beyond that, the mansion’s stables. After a moment, she realized to whom Samantha referred. A groom was brushing her father’s favorite hiding horse, Thunderbolt, at the edge of the pavement. When the young man’s head lifted to draw the brush down the animal’s neck, the brim of his cap no longer hid his features.

Julia’s inhalation of breath made Samantha smile. “You agree then?” she murmured, obviously pleased with her assessment. Before Julia could respond, the groom had paused in his task, removed the cricket cap that hid most of his facial features from the young ladies, and used his forearm to push a lock of his dark hair from his face. For just a moment, his face was angled up, his eyes closed against the afternoon sun.

Julia sighed her appreciation. “He is rather handsome,” she agreed, wondering if the groom in question had noticed the two of them spying on him. The young man certainly didn’t look like a typical groom. He was rather tall and lean, although Julia realized his shoulders were quite broad – he wore a shirt, its sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and a waistcoat, but no topcoat. The exposed forearms displayed muscles that shifted beneath his bronzed skin as he continued brushing Thunderbolt. When he moved around the horse to brush the side facing them, she noted the look of his boots, the shape of his legs in the almost snug breeches he wore. When had a groom ever looked ... not like a groom? she wondered.

And when had he joined the staff of Harrington House?

She had never had this particular groom as an escort when she took her afternoon rides in Hyde Park, nor did she recognize him as the one who usually saddled her chestnut bay – she would remember this particular groom!

Just as she was about to remark on this fact, the groom in question bent down, presumedly to check Thunderbolt’s hooves.

“Oh!” It was Samantha’s turn to put voice to her appreciation of the groom’s physique. “Even his bottom is ...” She left off as a giggle erupted. She moved her hand to cover her mouth as Julia joined her in her amusement.

“Everything about him is ...” Julia broke off suddenly and stepped away from the window, a hand over her own mouth. Samantha followed suit, her eyes quite wide.

“I think he saw me,” Samantha whispered, a hint of shock in the simple words.

“I am quite sure he saw me,” Julia countered, her hand moving from her mouth down to her chest. She felt the pounding of her heart beneath the sprigged muslin gown she wore. Had the groom really spied her spying on him? One moment he had Thunderbolt’s hoof in one hand, his attention on the shoe, and the next, he was standing with his back to the horse and his attention directed toward her bedchamber window.
And me!
Did the man have especially sensitive hearing? Despite the warmth of the afternoon, her window was closed. What had compelled him to look up?

Julia finally glanced over at Samantha, her look of surprise still in place. Samantha’s face was a mirror of her own. As if on cue, the two began to giggle, their embarrassment at having been discovered causing their cheeks to redden. “I do not know what has come over me,” Julia said as she dared another glance out the window. “But I am quite convinced that groom is much too handsome to be a groom.”

Samantha settled herself on the edge of Julia’s bed, her arms crossing in front of her. “What would you have him
be?
” she wondered as she watched Julia’s careful observation of the stables below.

“Well, not a groom, certainly,” Julia replied after a moment. The groom’s attention was back on Thunderbolt, one of his hands gripping the bridle as he led the beast into the stable. When he disappeared from sight, Julia turned around to face her friend. “Not a servant of any sort, in fact.”

From where she sat on the bed, Samantha regarded Julia with a raised eyebrow. “What then?” she countered. “A shopkeeper? A solicitor? A vicar?” She lifted her head as she considered her friend’s implication. “Or a gentleman?” she added to her list. Her eyes widened. “You think he should be a gentleman just because he is ...
handsome?
” she spoke with a hint of disbelief. “Julia!”

But Julia was shaking her head. “Not just because he is handsome, Sam,” she replied, glancing out the window from a safe distance away. “He holds himself as if he is a gentleman, as if he were born to it,” she reasoned.

“However can you tell from this far away?” Samantha countered, her eyebrows raising in disbelief.

Julia gave a shrug and turned back toward the window. “I just can,” she replied. “In fact, if I were to have my brother’s valet dress him, I would wager he could walk down Bond Street and everyone would think him a gentleman.”

Samantha’s mouth dropped open. “Wager?” she repeated in shock. “Julia,” she spoke in a scolding voice. “Be careful what you say, or I shall be tempted to dare you to do such a thing.” She paused, thinking of how those from the country sometimes sounded when they spoke. What if the man was from Wales? Or Scotland? Or any of the northern counties? “I rather think as soon as he opens his mouth to speak, anyone who hears him will know he is not a gentleman.”

A smile appeared on Julia’s face. “Indeed? Then I shall go one better. I believe he can be taught to speak like a gentleman,” she boasted, suddenly wondering from where the groom hailed. She could only hope he wasn’t from Wales or Scotland. Or any of the northern counties.

Rolling her eyes, Samantha grinned. “And perform a perfect bow?” She rather liked having fun at her friend’s expense. “He cannot be a true gentleman unless he can dance at a ball,” she teased.

Julia straightened when she realized what her best friend was doing. She was daring her to make a gentleman out of the groom! “He can be taught to bow. And to dance. I am sure of it,” she claimed, the color in her face turning to a pinkish blush as she made her case.

Samantha uncrossed her arms and stood up. “Alright, then. I dare you to do it,” she stated, the edges of her mouth curled up to indicate she wasn’t completely serious. How could Julia make such a claim? “I dare you to make a gentleman out of your groom.”

Crossing her arms and angling her head to one side, Julia regarded her friend for perhaps a few seconds too long. For just as she was about to admit she was perhaps a bit too boastful and concede defeat, Samantha said the only words that could make Julia change her mind again.

“I don’t just dare you,” Samantha whispered, her eyes closing to almost slits. “I double dog dare you.”

About the Author

A self-described nerd and lover of science, Linda Rae spent many years as a published technical writer specializing in 3D graphics workstations, software and 3D animation (her movie credits include SHREK and SHREK 2). An interest in genealogy led to years of research on the Regency era and a desire to write fiction based in that time.

Now running the front office of a busy print shop, she’s developed an appreciation for pretty papers and spends time using them in her scrapbooks. She can frequently be found at the local cinema enjoying the latest movie. During the winter, she hosts several junior hockey players, and an indeterminate number of tropical fish live with her year-round. She makes her home in Cody, Wyoming.