Free Sharon Sobel by Lady Larkspur Declines (v5.0) (epub)

servants carrying her about.”
    “I am glad of it,” Mr. Queensman said briefly, and suddenly Lark felt arms gathering her up and lifting her from the seat. She did not have to open her eyes to know who presumed to carry her in so ignoble and presumptuous a fashion.
    In a moment, the sun fell upon her face, and she could hear the voices of the grooms as they set upon her array of trunks and carpetbags. The scent of the sea was strong and invigorating, and, closer, she thought she detected sandalwood and pine. She turned her head, rubbed her nose against worsted cloth and felt something hard beneath it.
    “She looks somewhat better since I saw her last, Miss Tavish. Has her diet improved?”
    Janet stammered some response, even though Lark had already tutored her with all the answers. Damn the man for having such an effect on them all, she thought angrily. Did he intend to thwart her every move?
    She sighed noisily and waited for him to notice her. But he wouldnot. He continued to talk to Janet and bark out orders to the servants as he propelled her into a building. Opening her eyes just a slit, she saw them enter a large, sunny room and proceed down a long corridor. Lowering her head, she also glanced upon the smooth, firm skin of Mr. Queensman’s jaw and a white starchy collar.
    “Where am I?” she dared to ask.
    Janet’s face suddenly blotted out all else.
    “Why, you must remember, Lady Lark. We are in Brighton, at Mr. Knighton’s sanatorium. It is a very elegant place, by the look of it.”
    “And is this one of the servants?” Lark asked nastily.
    She heard his laughter rumble from deep within his chest.
    “I am your servant, my lady,” Mr. Queensman said, “and one already known to you. You will be happy to know you might avail yourself of my services for all of your stay in Brighton.”
    “Why, Mr… . oh dear. I cannot recall your name. You are Raeborn’s nephew or cousin or some other relation, are you not?”
    “It does not signify. But as I am your servant, you may call me Ben. It is my name, and owns the advantage of being very easy to remember.”
    He paused just then, and with surprising grace pushed open a door. Lark blinked and took in the stark but clean appearance of the room assigned as her prison cell over the next months.
    “It is a very common name, certainly,” she said, and yawned. “If I should ever have the occasion to use it, which I firmly doubt, I shall endeavor to remember it.”
    “See that you do, my lady,” said Ben Queensman under his breath, and dropped her unceremoniously onto the bed.

Chapter Four
    F or a prison cell, the room proved fairly spacious. Mr. Knighton spared no expense in the furnishings and accoutrements and provided enough room for a battalion of visiting guests to be seated and entertained. While such a realization would never have occurred to Lark before her confinement in his sanatorium, she now recognized how several of her fellow inmates scarcely left their rooms, and preferred to welcome their family and friends into their private quarters.
    Lark did not expect to receive many visitors, and if one or more of her sisters managed to make the journey to Brighton, she would be pleased to greet them in the large hall provided for such reunions.
    But a spacious chamber, for her, held other advantages.
    “I shall miss dancing, to be certain,” Lark said wistfully to Janet. She curtsied to an imaginary partner and hummed the tune of a Roger de Coverly as she took the first lively steps. Without such exercise, her muscles had already grown weak from inactivity and she was more likely to be restless when confined once again to her seat. “Please join me, Janet.”
    “I do not know how to dance the part of the man,” Janet apologized as she stood.
    “I know it very well,” Lark said playfully and bowed to her approaching partner. “Do you remember when we were all little girls and practiced our steps in the nursery? I was quite taller than the rest