Page 28 of The Book of Lost Stories
Then her wits returned and she realized he was referring to their Knaresborough encounter rather than his role in her novels.
‘Pray, unhand me, sir!’ she said, recovering herself to find she was the cynosure of all eyes in the busy inn yard.
‘I beg your pardon, I thought you might feel faint after such a shock,’ he said, removing his supporting arm. ‘Allow me to introduce my friend, Mr Stavely, lately Captain Stavely of the Rifle Brigade. Harry, this is Miss Weston, whose entirely delightful acquaintance I made some years ago in Harrogate, where I took the waters … and even tooktothe waters. You will find her refreshingly different from other young ladies of your acquaintance, I assure you.’
The slight, sandy-haired man standing next to her rescuer smiled and bowed. ‘Delighted, Miss Weston.’
‘You are, still,MissWeston?’ said Lord Rayven. ‘Now, why does that not surprise me?’
Alys gave him an indignant glare and Stavely looked with amusement from one to the other of them.
‘I do not aspire to the married state, sir,’ she said coldly, and he bowed.
Miss Grimshaw’s voice called plaintively, from the depths of the coach, ‘Alys?’
‘Oh, how could I forget poor Letty?’ Ignoring Lord Rayven, she instead turned to Mr Stavely. ‘Pray, could you assist my companion, Miss Grimshaw, out of the coach? And perhaps if she were to pass up my little dog first? He is too small to jump out.’
Pug, yapping excitedly, was handed to Alys, who tuckedhim under her arm. She was disappointed to see that he did not show any desire to bite Lord Rayven, or she might have put him down.
‘Strange, I had not thought you the type to have a lapdog, Miss Weston.’
‘He was Lady Basset’s.’
‘Was?’
‘She has been dead these three years.’
‘I am sorry for your loss. You are still in mourning?’ He thought how well black became her, setting off her pale skin and chestnut hair to perfection.
‘I have since also lost my father,’ Alys said shortly. ‘I believe Mr Stavely requires your assistance in helping my companion from the coach.’
A few moments later, Miss Grimshaw, set down on the cobblestones, smoothed down her skirts in a flustered way. ‘Oh, thank you! So kind, I declare,’ she gasped, looking up gratefully at her two rescuers. ‘Such a mishap!’
‘Mr Stavely, allow me to introduce Miss Grimshaw,’ Alys said, then added meaningfully, ‘And this, Letty, is Lord Rayven.’
Miss Grimshaw stopped smiling and took a step back, blanching. ‘LordRayven? N-not the Lord Rayven who—’
‘Just a misunderstanding,’ he said defensively, taken aback by her horrified expression. ‘I am not the Devil incarnate, I assure you.’
‘Misunderstanding? Hah!’ Alys said.
‘Why, whathaveyou been doing to render your name so odious to these ladies, Serle?’ enquired Stavely, highly amused. ‘I had not thought it of you.’
‘I am afraid Lord Rayven has no great opinion of my character, nor I of his, Mr Stavely,’ Alys said. ‘More thanthat would be pointless to relate. I must thank you both for your assistance, but believe we need not trouble you further. Good day.’
She turned her back and enquired of the coachman what the damage was.
‘A wheel to be mended, miss.’ He shot a darkling look at his lordship, still standing observing them. ‘If the gentleman’s curricle hadn’t dashed through the arch in front of me, I wouldn’t have caught the corner stone.’
‘Nonsense! Do not blame me for your poor driving,’ Lord Rayven said, then he added, looking at the antiquated coach more closely, ‘although from the look of it, you have not had much practice in driving such a vehicle for a considerable number of years, and so perhaps may be excused your cow-handedness.’
‘I believe I have made it plain that I no longer require your assistance, or your advice,’ Alys said icily.
This time he took his dismissal and the two gentlemen walked into the inn where, she sincerely hoped, they were not also to spend the night. Her coachman went off to discover where the nearest wheelwright might be, while the horses, now released and calmed, were led into the stables.
As she entered the inn with Letty, the coach was being set back on to three wheels and heaved into the inn yard, so as not to block the entrance further. They were shown to a bedchamber, in which Letty insisted they sup, for fear of meeting Lord Rayven if they dined below.
But it appeared that his lordship and his friend stayed merely to refresh themselves, for she had the doubtful felicity of seeing them drive off in a very dashing way sometime later from her window, whither the bustle of departure and afamiliar, deep voice ordering the ostlers to bring round his curricle had drawn her.
