Page 11 of Escaping the Earl
“It is. This way.” The maid escorted her to the bar, where a rotund woman was seeing to several men by filling their mugs with ale.
“Mrs. Jeffries, this lady needs a room and supper, if’n you don’t mind.”
Mrs. Jeffries let out a huff, dislodging a gray lock of hair from her mouth.
“Right then. Take her things up to the last room, number seven.”
“Yes, Mrs. Jeffries.” The maid jerked her head toward the stairs. “This way, miss.”
Sabrina was escorted to a small room with a tiny bed and no fireplace. It was drab, and yet it wasn’t unlike the one she had just left at her home.
“That’ll be three shillings, miss.” The maid held out a hand, and Sabrina parted with her money.
“I’ll be up shortly with some stew.” The maid left her to get settled, not that there was much settling to do. She set her valise on the floor and sat down on the bed with a heavy sigh. Across the hall, she heard a child’s sudden giggle. Curious, she went to the door and cracked it open. A tall blond-haired man, far too attractive to be safe for any woman, held the hand of an adorable little girl. She wore a light-blue gown that was in the height of fashion, even for a child so young.
“Here we are, my darling. This one is us.” They stopped at the door across from her.
“Hello!” The little girl greeted Sabrina and waved a tiny hand at her. She couldn’t have been more than six.
“Hello.” Sabrina greeted the girl warmly, then blushed when she met the eyes of the man. “You have a beautiful daughter,” she said.
The man chuckled. “Thank you. The little mite is adorable, isn’t she?” Sabrina wasn’t used to such a handsome man looking at her like that, but she didn’t sense that he meant her harm. Certainly not with such a precious thing in tow. He reminded her of the mystery man at the ball, but that man had golden-amber eyes and dark hair. Still, this man did make her feel that same sense of safety, which made no sense given that both this man and the one from the ball were strangers. She had no reason to trust strangers.
“All right, Isla, time for supper and then to bed with you.”
“Must I, Papa?” The child pouted, which only made him laugh.
“One cannot conquer the world without a decent night’s sleep. Isn’t that right?” the man asked Sabrina the last question.
“What? Oh yes, your papa is right. Sleep is most important. Besides, the sooner you sleep, the sooner you’ll be able to wake up.”
The child seemed to take this into consideration and finally acquiesced. “Very well.”
“Good night,” he said to Sabrina, then mouthed athank youbefore taking his girl inside.
The stew that arrived a few minutes later left much to be desired, and occasionally she would encounter something questionable with her spoon lurking in the murky depths of the bowl. But it didn’t taste completely inedible, so she consumed of as much of it as she could. The single piece of bread was stale, but she used it to mop up bits of the stew.
She was still fairly hungry and decided to go down to see if they had anything else aside from stew. When she opened her door, the barmaid she’d met earlier was coming up the stairs with a plate of what looked like roast duck and potatoes, the sight of which made Sabrina’s mouth water. She stopped in front of the room across the hall, and the man opened the door. “’Ere you are, my lord,” the maid cooed. “Special, like you asked.”
“Thank you, Mary. I am most grateful.” He pressed a kiss to the hand of the maid, who turned scarlet.
“Excuse me, miss, can I order some of the duck as well?” Sabrina ventured. She didn’t have much money left to spend on such a meal, but it looked too good and she was too hungry to pass it up.
The maid shot her an exasperated look. “Sorry, miss, this one is special.”
“But that gentleman was able to—”
“I said it’s special.” The maid raised her nose at Sabrina before turning back to smile at the blond-haired man.
“Have a good night, Mary,” he purred at the girl, who all but fainted before taking herself back downstairs. Sabrina looked longingly at the duck the man held on his plate.
“How did you convince her to give you that?”
The man grinned. “Oh, a bit of this, a bit of that.” He winked at her and started to turn away before he stopped, sighed, and looked over at Sabrina. “Would you care to join me and my daughter? There is plenty to share.”
Sabrina knew it was not a good idea to say yes, but she was tired, hungry, and still rattled from all that had happened in the last few days.
“Oh, I shouldn’t...”
