Page 15 of The Viscount's Seduction
Chapter 5
Sirena hurriedinto the tiny room they used as a kitchen, greeted Molly, their maid of all work, and dropped her basket. Her heart galloped like Bakeley’s horse must have done that morning before his master stopped her on the street.
She’d not lost her gift after all. She’d not lost it, and Bakeley’s horse proved it. That dappled nose had drawn calm from her and stirred up a memory of Pooka. Perhaps that gelding was her issue, though in truth, that sort of coloring was common enough.
Her breath hitched. And how was Pooka? Bakeley had made his poor lathered fellow stand waiting in the morning’s cold air. Was he careless of his cattle?
Or was he just that taken with her?
“What happened, my lady?” Molly asked. “Ye’re pale about the gills.”
She forced a laugh. “’Tis the stench of this city, Molly. Will I ever get used to it?”
“Nay, nor will I.” Molly reached for the basket. “A turnip. How ever did you know I was wanting one for the stew? A fey one you are, my lady.”
Sirena laughed and shooed her away. “A lucky guess.”
It hadn’t been lucky at all, drawing a rich lord’s attention, in the street, of all places. She went about the preparations for Lady Jane’s breakfast, letting her overcharged heart cool.
How far had he followed her? How much had he seen?
Jamie, her brother, was lost to the world, but not to her. She’d never truly believed it before, and she didn’t believe it now.
She lifted the heavy tray and went down the short corridor to the drawing room.
Lady Jane sat at the small table in her dressing gown, a frilly white cap hiding her still-dark hair, a scandal sheet spread before her.
“Good morning.” Sirena infused the greeting with cheer. “What news then? Did they report on our appearance at Lady Hackwell’s ball?”
“Not so far,” Lady Jane said. “You went out again early.”
“Yes. And you’ll be ever so happy I did when you taste what I’ve brought you.” She set out the plates, cups and steaming pot.
“I don’t like to think of you walking the streets of this town without one of us. I don’t like you going out alone.”
Lady Jane had a sharp look about her. Perhaps the run-in with Shaldon had unsettled her also.
“Well, and I’m not alone. There’s the baker’s boy I chat with each morning, and the street sweeper who walks ahead of me chattering for a farthing. And the grocer’s wife whose rheumy knee tells the weather each day. I inquire about the forecast with her.”
And making other inquiries, she was.
“You know what I mean,” the lady grumbled, flipping a page of newsprint. “I feel a responsibility for you.”
Sirena steadied her hand and poured Lady Jane a cup of tea. Six and twenty she was, as much a spinster as Lady Jane. And though she hated dissembling with the lady who was her only friend, the O’Brian boys were in town. It was Brighid’s own luck that she’d run into them. Like her, they’d hied themselves out of the new earl’s grasp, working here and there, wherever a strong back was needed.
“It’s grateful I am too, ma’am. But you mustn’t worry.”
“The streets are teeming with people up from the country. Of course I worry.”
“This is out of the norm, then?” Sirena asked. “Are they here for the coronation? It’s months away.”
’Twas also the old king’s death that had brought the O’Brians to town—as if that would stay the executioner’s blade for an Irishman fallen out of favor. They’d come not for pomp and glitter but for work and food. Meeting the boys had seemed a miracle to her.
“Yes, but the preparations have begun, and there’s work here,” Lady Jane said.
Sirena had hired the boys. A strong back she didn’t need, but open ears on the docks and seedy places where a girl alone would find only trouble, yes, for that she’d offered every bit of her savings, and they’d agreed. Gossip, news, any loose word about the shipwreck so many years past—what better place than the docks of London, where sailors from all over the world passed in and out?
She must know if anyone survived the wreck of the Honey Bee. If Jamie lived, she must know the truth. A chat with the first mate on the packet from Ireland had stirred him back to life in her heart. If he lived, she would find him.
