The Footman and I - Valerie Bowman Page 0,12

Reginald’s receding footsteps, blinked. First, she had the fleeting thought that the footman’s speech sounded quite cultured. Second, had a footman just commented upon her behavior? Well, that was certainly impertinent. Did the lad want a coin or didn’t he?

Upon further reflection, however, she supposed she couldn’t blame him for acting oddly after the way she’d behaved. At any rate, Mama would be here soon, and no doubt would be seriously displeased to find Frances alone in the room with a footman.

She needed to pay the chap and send him on his way. Still listening at the door, her back turned away from the servant, she fumbled for her reticule that dangled from her wrist. The reticule contained a bit of pin money that might tide him over.

She stuck her gloved hand into the small bag until she felt the outline of a coin. She pulled it out to look at it. A half-pound. Good enough. Clutching the coin, she turned to look at the footman who stood not two lengths behind her and…sucked in her breath.

Good heavens. This was no lad, but a full-grown man, and perhaps one of the tallest and certainly most handsome she’d ever seen. He had intelligent dark-green eyes, and a face that looked as if it had been carved into marble. Dark eyebrows, a perfect nose, wide shoulders, and full, masculine lips. Unconsciously, she pulled the coin up to her lips and exhaled, staring at him as if he were a statue come to life. Good heavens. Seems somehow she’d managed to close herself into a bedchamber alone with God’s gift to footmen.

Chapter Four

Lucas narrowed his eyes on the pretty young woman he’d just helped. She was leaning back against the closed bedchamber door, one gloved hand pressed to the wood, the other holding a coin near her rosy lips. Was it his imagination or was her body shaking? He’d never seen a young lady in such a hurry before. She’d acted as if the devil had been on her heels. Now she was standing there in quite a state, her bosom heaving with her deep breaths, her skin flushed a lovely shade of pink.

He’d seen her look at him. Twice. Then her eyes became deeply focused. She was staring at him. There was no mistaking it, and the look on her face was utter surprise. For an awful moment he wondered if she recognized him, but he quickly discarded the notion. He didn’t recognize her. He was quite certain he would have remembered her if they’d been introduced. He’d spent the better part of the morning hauling trunks upstairs for a variety of young women and their mamas, but this was the first young woman who’d caught his attention so thoroughly. Not only because she was beautiful—and she truly was, with dark-brown hair, a pert nose and lovely dark eyes that hinted she was up to something— but she’d mostly managed to catch his attention due to her unexpected behavior. She’d certainly been the first young lady to abandon Mrs. Cotswold and her own mother and rush up to her room ahead of him. Not to mention asking him to follow her up the grand staircase. At first, he’d simply guessed she had a desperate need to use the privy, but when Sir Reginald Francis emerged from his room, she’d turned ashen white and leaped into the first bedchamber she’d come across. What precisely was the matter between the young woman and Sir Reginald? Or was she merely painfully shy and doing her best to avoid all other people? The way she was looking at him, however, made him seriously doubt she was at all shy.

Lucas’s suspicions were confirmed when the young woman stepped toward him and said, “Would you mind very much peering out the door and ensuring that a man about five inches shorter than you, with graying hair at the temples, a bald spot, sloping shoulders, and probably a smug look on his face is no longer in the corridor?”

Lucas had to bite his lip to keep from laughing outright. That was a description of Sir Reginald if ever Lucas had heard one. In addition to being unpredictable, this young woman was also humorous. Both of which made her interesting. Interesting and a bit mysterious. But why was she hiding from Sir Reginald? He was hardly worth the intrigue.

Lucas smiled at the irony of his own thought. He was hiding from Sir Reginald too. In fact, Lucas had been slightly