Free Regency Mischief by Anne Herries Page A

was a new experience for me,’ Eliza replied with a smile. ‘I always made my own gowns with Mama’s help. She was an excellent seamstress.’
    ‘With a little training you could be a fashionable seamstress,’ Lady Sarah said. ‘Your own gowns are quite acceptable for the country, my dear, but you need a little town bronze.’
    Sarah wondered why a companion should need to look fashionable but she did not question her employer. She considered herself fortunate to be treated so well.
    ‘Perhaps you will go to the library for me this afternoon, my dear. I do not like the book I started last evening. It was well recommended, but The Mysteries of Udolpho is not to my taste. I should prefer something more sensible, I think.’
    ‘Have you read the story of Tristan and Iseult?’ Eliza asked. ‘I have just finished reading it and enjoyed it, but I shall see what else I can find that you might like.’
    ‘Lady Roberts recommended the story I asked you to bring yesterday, Eliza, but I think it foolish. I will try the story you recommended, but I think I should like poetry or perhaps something of Miss Austen’s—though I believe I have read most of them.’
    ‘I shall see what I can find. In the meantime I will fetch the book I brought with me.’
    Eliza went upstairs to put on her bonnet and pelisse. Thus far she was finding her duties light. Indeed, it was like staying with an aunt rather than working for an employer and she felt very spoiled to be leading such an indulgent life. Eliza had always helped her mother inthe kitchen and with parish work when her father was the rector, and she found it strange to be so idle.
    It took but a moment to find the book and to put on her pelisse. She went back down to the parlour and took her leave of Lady Sarah, setting out for the lending library. The afternoon was pleasantly warm and the walk would be welcome after a morning spent choosing silks and trimmings for her new gowns.
    Eliza reached the library without seeing anyone she knew. She had met only a handful of Lady Sarah’s friends so far and was not acquainted with any other companions, so did not linger to gossip with anyone. Her search for books that her employer might find rewarding took a little longer, but she came away with three she thought interesting. It was as she came out of the library that a man walking backwards as he said goodbye to a friend almost trod on her toes. She gave a squeak of alarm and dropped her books. He turned instantly, an apology on his lips. The colour came and went in his face as he saw her. Her heart raced, for it was the man she had both longed and yet feared to see again.
    ‘Forgive me,’ he said. ‘Did I hurt you?’
    ‘No, I stepped back at once.’
    He bent to pick up the books, looking at her contritely. ‘I must seem a clumsy fool to you, Miss Bancroft. I am so very sorry for causing you to drop these.’
    ‘It was a mere accident, Mr Seaton,’ Eliza replied, a slight heat in her own cheeks as she accepted the books and their hands touched. Her stomach fluttered with some disturbing emotion she did not wish to recognise. This was so foolish. To like him so much when she knew it could only lead to distress! ‘I assure you I am unhurt.’
    ‘No thanks to me,’ he said ruefully. ‘May I help tocarry these for you? Perhaps I could buy you tea and cake to make up for nearly knocking you over?’
    ‘I assure you there is no need to do either,’ Eliza replied. She longed to say yes, to spend the next hour talking with him over some tea and cake, but her time was not her own. She must remember the vast chasm between them. He was related to an earl and she was a lovechild with a dubious background and no prospects ‘I must take these back to my employer. She is waiting for me.’
    ‘Then I suppose I should let you go,’ he said, but turned and walked by her side. ‘How are you enjoying your stay in Bath? Is your employer an old dragon?’
    ‘Lady Sarah is neither old nor a