embroidered large upon the frontispiece of the tester in padded golden glory. Phoebe quietly admired the quality and intricacy of the workmanship of the exquisite furnishings. The soft plush carpet in swirling patterns of emerald perfectly matched the damask sofa by the fire. She strolled over to the sofa closest to the heat. Sarah helped her to remove the coat, and with a small groan, Phoebe lowered herself onto the plush cushions.
Sarah knelt and gently eased her shoes from her swollen feet and placed a cushion under them.
“Sarah?”
She glanced up with a ready smile.
Phoebe swallowed. “Thank you for coming with me,” she whispered.
“I’ll always be by your side, milady.”
“I fear I will falter.”
“Then we’ll falter together, milady.”
Sarah and Phoebe shared the same age, and they had been together for a very long time, considering their housekeeper in Derbyshire was Sarah’s mother. Many days Phoebe would dream of her maid being her sister, and many days they would sit and talk for long hours into the evening, but something would always remind her of the difference in their station.
“I used to sneak from my chamber and use the servant’s stairs to join you for supper,” Phoebe whispered.
How she used to ache when she spied the servants laughing and eating together in their dining areas. Longing to eat in such relaxed fashion with such joyful company. It was so very different from dining with her parents, where the length and breadth of their dining table made any sort of laughing and chatting, if it was permitted, impossible. But when she had spotted Sarah with her mother and the rest of the staff laughing and eating, Phoebe had thought that was how a family should be.
The ache in her chest became a physical thing, and there was no ease in its tightening grip. “In my letter to Richard…I assured him I would wed an earl. I did not dream the man I was coming to was truly titled and a future earl, too!” Her laugh came out as a choked cry. “I simply wanted my brother to believe I made an appropriate choice and perhaps not try to find me, because once he does, what choice would he have but to return me home? I am frightened, Sarah.”
“Oh milady, don’t be! I am here with you, and if you speak to the Viscount, surely he…he will agree to your bargain.”
Her words were meant to soothe, but Sarah’s gaze slid away guiltily. She did not believe it, either. What lord, a future earl, would wish to marry Phoebe once he discovered her secret?
She had learned from her brother that it was an exercise in futility to linger within the past when one did not have the power to change it. When the water had already flowed east, there was no path to getting it back west. The only choice she had was to look to the future and make smart decisions that would protect the life and the future of the child she carried.
Another solution needed to be found right away.
Chapter Four
It would be wise if Hugh waited until his curious lady—no, Lady Phoebe—washed away the dust from travel before he summoned her to a meeting. Phoebe. The pleasure of using even a piece of her name was…unexpected but pleasant. He liked her name. There could be no delay in discussing what her presence meant for everyone concerned and exactly what he would do about her. His father hobbled past him just now, but instead of harsh words, the old earl had simply stared at him before heading off to his own chambers.
Hugh entered the three stories floor to ceiling library where his sister lay sprawled with casual elegance in a deep chair beside the fireplace. He clapped his hands once. Caroline glanced up from the book clasped in her hands, her eyes rounded in dismay. “Hugh, is all well?”
“I need you to speak for me.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
Caroline cast a desperate glance at her book. “But I am at the part where the hero will find out if the lady in the attic is a ghost!”
Hugh smiled. “We have a visitor.”
His sister frowned. “Who?”
“The beginning of Father’s plan.”
Caroline flinched before smoothing her expression. Yet her eyes glowed with such hope, it brought a knot to his throat. “Someone actually came after you revealed our family’s name? I thought the infamy of the Winthrops would live on forever.”
Another throb of an undefinable emotion went through him. “This lady came uninvited.”
Now his sister stood, smoothing down the front