Free Valentine's Day by Elizabeth Aston Page A

I know you.”
    “I’m a friend of Colonel Heron’s. I’m here at the docks to bid farewell to a friend of mine, and Colonel Heron told me that you had made the voyage under his care. He thought you’d been met by a servant of Lord Mountjoy’s, who would escort you to Mountjoy House, but I happened to notice there was no such manservant with you.”
    “You are right, and I congratulate you on your powers of observation. However, it is none of your business whether I have an escort or no.”
    He bowed courteously. “True, but I would blame myself if, as a gentleman, I left a young lady to undertake the journey across London unattended.”
    “You are being absurd. You have nothing to do with me, and I do not know why you suppose that this driver, who looks to me to be a perfectly respectable individual, will not do exactly what I ask him to do—and will pay him to do—which is to take me safely across London to Lord Mountjoy’s house.”
    “Allow me to introduce myself; my name is Marbeck. I am well acquainted with Lord Mountjoy, and he would be angry with me were he to discover that I had failed to assist a young lady, his guest, in these circumstances. No, I will not prevent you from climbing into the hackney cab; indeed, I recommend that you do, for you will permit me to tell you that you have a very bedraggled appearance in all this rain. You look half-drowned.”
    Valentine’s indignation was turning to anger. Who was this authoritative man who not only calmly planned to take over her arrangements, but was so ill mannered as to comment on her appearance?
    “I beg you will not take the trouble. I do not need your assistance, I do not ask for it, and I do not believe that Lord Mountjoy cares in the least bit just as long as I arrive safely on his doorstep, as I surely will.”
    Inside, the cab smelt fusty and stuffy. The dampness from outside seemed to have penetrated the interior of the carriage, and Valentine wrinkled her nose at the noisome atmosphere, wondering what sort of person had been the previous occupant of the seat. She didn’t care to take this thought any further, and instead peered out of the tiny window smeared with grime and rain.
    Good gracious—that officious gentleman, Mr. Marbeck, had mounted what she had to admit was a rather splendid horse and seemed to be preparing to ride alongside the hackney cab. Valentine thumped back into the seat, still indignant, annoyed, and longing to give this persistent man a setdown, until her sense of humour got the better of her and she began to laugh.

Chapter Two
    “W ho the devil is that?” Lord Mountjoy said, as the sound of the door knocker resonated through the house. Disturbed in the nice arrangement of his cravat, he paused, then twitched it into place and stood up.
    Nempnet, his valet, said, “Unusually early for a caller, my lord, and too uncouth and loud a noise to be a servant with a message.”
    Downstairs, the butler went to the front door, a look of disapproval on his usually impassive face. Two curious footmen hovered behind him.
    He stared in disbelief at the young woman who stood on the doorstep, far from fashionably dressed. Her hair was long and rather tangled beneath a hat that made him shudder. Her hand was raised, doubtless ready to repeat her performance with the knocker. Rigby made to close the door, but he was too late; the stranger had placed her foot in the way.
    “I’ve come to see Lord Mountjoy. In fact,” she said, gesturing to a bandbox set down at her feet, “I’ve come to stay.”
    Rigby’s eyes nearly started from his head, but he was too well trained to show more than a passing look of alarm, then distaste.
    “His lordship is not at home.”
    “In which case, I’ll come in and wait until he is.”
    Lord Mountjoy said to his valet, “What the devil is going on down there?”
    “Shall I go and see, my lord?”
    “Yes. Although if it’s an unwelcome visitor, I can’t for the life of me think why Rigby