Page 103 of The Viscount Who Vexed Me

“Harriet!” her father shouted. “You’re not to receive him alone!”

Hattie ignored him and led the earl into a smaller sitting room. It was filled with dress forms and stacks of fabrics.

Iddesleigh held himself stiff as he looked around the room.

“My lord?”

“Yes.” He shook his head as if trying to clear the image of this room from his sight. “I have a position that might interest you.”

Hattie was too emotionally exhausted to even think.

“Abbott is leaving soon, as I understand it,” he said. “Your position will come to an end. The widow Lady Bradenton could use some help in her house. Not as a maid, mind you, but as a secretary. It is a live-in position, and the compensation is quite good.”

Hattie could hardly absorb this news. “What?”

“You would live there, Miss Woodchurch. I can’t vouch for the accommodations, but she has a fine house in Belgravia. I think you will approve.”

“I would live there?” she asked again, because it was impossible for her to grasp that she had a way out of this house. She wouldn’t have to share her earnings with her father. She wouldn’t have to evenseeher father.

“You would live there. Free of these,” he said, pointing to a dress form. “Are you interested in the position?”

“Yes,” she said. “When?”

“She would like someone as soon as possible. It seems the last person to serve as her secretary was a gentleman who made off with one of the maids, and I should warn you that you will have to hear about that at some length. Nevertheless, I asked if she might wait until you have completed your position with Abbott.”

But if she took the position now, she would have a dignified exit from the world of Grosvenor Square that was causing her such sorrow. It was particularly unbearable now, knowing that he would offer for Flora. It was as if her entire world had collapsed in the space of an afternoon. But here was Lord Iddesleigh, her savior once again, offering her a way out.

“If you are agreeable,” his lordship said, “we might go and make Lady Bradenton’s acquaintance?”

“Now?”She looked down at herself.

“I can come and collect you in an hour, if you are not otherwise engaged.”

She was supposed to have gone with Flora today. Her day had just exploded into endless possibilities without that commitment. “Yes, thank you, my lord,” she said. “One hour.”

“Wonderful.” He smiled and started for the door. One of the cats darted out of the door before him, startling the earl, and he gave a small cry of alarm, followed by a breath of exasperation. “I don’t know which is worse, Miss Woodchurch—too many cats? Or too many daughters?”

“My lord?” Hattie said before he could exit the room.

Lord Iddesleigh turned back. “Yes?”

“Why...why are you helping me?”

He seemed genuinely confused by her question. “Why wouldn’t I help you? I like you. You remind me of my daughters. Frankly, all young women remind me of my daughters.” He smiled with affection at the mention of them. “You deserve a happy life as much as anyone. I guess that’s why.” He went out.

Hattie sank onto a chair to collect her thoughts. A cat yelped; she stood, pushed the cat from the seat, and sat again.

Lord Iddesleigh was so kind. She wanted a happy life. She just hoped she could have a life where she didn’t think of Teo and Flora every day.

LADYBRADENTONWASan ancient woman who lived in widow’s weeds because, she said, “the queen does.” She lived quite alone in a large, beautiful house, full of expensive furnishings. But it was so quiet, one could hear a maid walk from one end of the house to the other.

Lady Bradenton eyed Hattie closely and without compunction. “You’re young. I expected someone much older. Widowed. Why are you working for money?” She phrased the question as if the very idea revolted her.

“I only have myself to rely on,” Hattie answered.

“Where’s your family?”

“In town. But... They are not very helpful.”