With her hand on the doorknob, Ashley took one last glance to memorize the sight of David sitting at her dressing table, the left side of his mouth tugged up in a smile as he stared back at her. Then she hurried downstairs.
* * *
Minutes ticked by. Had Westbrook forgotten what time he and Gilroy were supposed to arrive? Aunt Eunice and Lady Donkin were continuing their debate about fruit, flowers, or feathers as being the best adornment for bonnets, or perhaps a combination. Aunt favored feathers, of course. Ashley wanted to scream.
The front door knocker sounded again just as Lady Donkin and her companion were saying goodbye.
Before Farnham could announce the next guests, there was a commotion in the back hall. A moment later, a servant called for Mrs. Endicott.
Ashley followed Aunt Eunice out into the hall in time to see the ladies exit to the street and Westbrook enter the foyer, Gilroy just behind him carrying the package. Finally.
As soon as Aunt Eunice disappeared around the corner, Ashley gestured for Westbrook to enter the parlour and Gilroy took off, silently running on the balls of his feet, to the back staircase where Sally had poked her head out, waving him on. By the time Ashley joined them, Gilroy had stripped off his coat and was helping Ravencroft shrug into it.
Ashley took the now-empty package and hurried back to the parlour, where she plucked the lyre case from its hiding spot behind the window curtain.
“Anything I can do to help?” Westbrook quietly said.
“Keep an eye in the hall. We might need you to distract my aunt.” Ashley resumed trying to fit the lyre in the package and tie the strings, a simple task made difficult by her hands shaking.
* * *
While Gilroy buttoned his coat, David put a hat on his head for the first time in nearly a week. He had to adjust it so the brim did not put pressure on the goose egg on the back of his head that was stubbornly slow to recede. Sally gave him an approving nod and gestured with her head that they should move along. Voices coming up from the kitchen indicated Mrs. Endicott was returning.
David had barely sat down in a chair next to Liam, with Ashley and Sally seated on the sofa with the package on Ashley’s lap, when Mrs. Endicott entered the room. David and Liam rose and bowed in greeting, their hats in hand.
“My, what a pleasant surprise,” Mrs. Endicott said upon seeing the men. She rang the bell and requested refreshments. “I heard you had an emergency at your estate, Lord Ravencroft. I trust everything is now well?”
“As well as can be expected, thank you,” David said.
Ashley made a show of opening the package and withdrawing the lyre from its case. She held it up in the light streaming through the window to admire it. “How thoughtful of your sister,” she said. “I will pay a call on her to offer my thanks in person.”
“And play it for her?” David couldn’t resist saying.
“Perhaps in time.” Ashley arched an eyebrow at him. “After I’ve had a chance to practice and become proficient.”
He could spend all day looking at her, a halo of sunlight gilding her hair, her expression seeming torn between wanting to kiss him and reprimand him for teasing her.
When the maid brought the tray of refreshments, David’s stomach rumbled. Fortunately Liam heard and shuffled his feet and cleared his throat to help disguise the sound. He must not have done it quickly enough, as Ashley ducked her chin to hide her knowing grin.
They ate and chatted, and despite the sustenance, David felt his reserves of energy flagging. Just as he was wondering how long he would have the strength to maintain good posture and keep from letting out a decidedly unmanly whimper at the pain in his arm, Liam rose and wished Mrs. Endicott and her niece a good day.
David bowed and dropped a kiss on Ashley’s hand, holding it just a little bit too long yet not nearly long enough. “I enjoyed my visit,” he said, speaking slowly, looking directly into her eyes. So much he wanted to say to her but couldn’t, even if he could find the words.
“I as well.” He could swear she blinked back tears.
Moments later David climbed into his carriage after Liam. He tossed his hat in the general direction of the opposite bench and slouched against the velvet squabs, utterly exhausted, his right arm cradled against his chest, throbbing with every heartbeat. “Give.” He held out his left hand.
Liam retrieved a flask of brandy from his coat pocket, twisted off the cap, and handed it over. “Let me see if I understand the situation correctly,” he began after he rapped on the roof and the coach set off for home. David took a long drink, then handed back the flask. “You just spent the better part of a week being hidden in a lady’s bedchamber, mostly naked, at least half-foxed the entire time, while not one or two butthreewomen waited on you hand and foot.”
Lacking the energy or will to keep his eyes open or hold up his head, David had listed to one side. The window was cold on his cheek, so he leaned to the other side until his head rested against Liam’s broad shoulder, clad in a soft wool coat. “Essentially.”
“Including the prostitute you got in the fight over.”
“Not a pros’tute anymore. Ashley’s training her t’ be a maid.”
“Oh, it’s ‘Ashley’ now?”
David smacked Liam’s chest with the back of his left hand. “For a pillow, you talk too much.”
