slipped out into the hall and made her way downstairs and through the kitchen, avoiding anyone who might remark on her appearance, especially her aunt’s lady’s maid, Oakes. Carefully, she made her way up the stairs of the servants’ entrance and into the early afternoon.
Aunt Agnes wouldn’t ask after her, no matter Eliza’s fears. Margaret’s request for breakfast in her room signaled to the staff that she was suffering from one of her headaches, an affliction she’d convinced her aunt she suffered from over the last two years. Then she’d instructed Eliza to mention her headache to Cook while bringing Margaret tea and inform Oakes that Margaret was ailing. Aunt Agnes would be gone most of the day paying calls and was likely relieved she wouldn’t have to drag Margaret with her. No one would miss her.
Margaret smiled as she made her way around the corner to the mews. She meant to take the alley down to the next street and hail a hack. She quickened her steps in anticipation of the day’s events. It wouldn’t do for her to be late.
3
“It’s much too early for you to be here.”
Anthony Marcus Barrington, Earl of Welles ignored the grouchy tone in his brother’s voice.
“It’s after twelve; I was leaving another meeting and thought I’d stop by.” His ‘meeting’ had been leaving the bed of his latest mistress, a Parisian ballet dancer who had wept rivers of tears as he’d tried to disengage himself from her naked form to leave the bed. Claudette had become needier in the last few months and finding out about her affair with one of her fellow ballet dancers had given Tony the perfect excuse to end their association.
A snort of disbelief came from the man who approached him with a crystal decanter and two glasses. Leo looked well-rested despite his objection to the hour. His brother rarely slept more than five or six hours and never sought his own bed until just before dawn. “Your mistress, I suppose? The French girl. Did you finally end it?”
“Yes.” Tony pulled off his gloves and laid them on the table. “Bring that over here.” He waved at the decanter. “No more pretending to enjoy pretentious French wine for me.”
“You don’t mind if I call on Claudette then, do you?” Leo smiled, showing a row of even, white teeth.
“No, she probably wouldn’t know the difference.”
Tony’s resemblance to his brother was rather uncanny, considering the two weren’t twins. Leo was an inch shorter and slightly broader through the chest than Tony, but the eyes were the same, as was the rich brown of their hair. He and his bastard half-brother looked so much alike most people mistook one for the other, especially at a distance.
Tony took the proffered glass, inhaling the contents with a smile. “Well-aged scotch.”
“I don’t really mean to call on Claudette,” Leo stated. “She’s delicious, but I believe we share enough.”
That was certainly true. “It’s just as well; she’s been tupping one of her fellow dancers.”
“Another ballerina?” Leo sounded hopeful.
“Sadly, no. The leading man.”
“Well, then she definitely has no appeal for me.” Leo settled into the chair next to him and they clinked glasses.
Leo Murphy, not only his brother but also Tony’s closest friend, took a sip of the scotch, shivering as the liquid slid down his throat. “Christ, I wasn’t ready for that.”
He and Leo had spent their childhood together, running through the woods and staging mock battles on the Duke of Averell’s country estate. The duke’s heir and the son of an Irish housemaid had never known they were blood until the death of Tony’s mother. Having had a relationship with Leo’s mother prior to his marriage, the duke decided to keep both his wife and mistress under one roof rather than break things off. Molly eventually became lady’s maid to Tony’s mother.
It was a convenient arrangement for Marcus, the Duke of Averell, until it wasn’t.
“Averell sent me word again. Another letter full of platitudes. Wants to grant me one of his unentailed estates.” Leo’s gaze fell to the fire in the grate. “I wish he’d stop. Give up. I’ve no desire for a relationship with him after everything that happened.”
“The old prick is tenacious, I’ll give him that.” Tony sipped at his drink.
“Fat lot of good it will do him. I didn’t even take the money he offered me so I could start Elysium.”
Instead, Tony had given Leo the funds for a share of the business. He’d already made his investment back many times over