Melissa gulped. She did not intend to visit all that much and could not imagine that the lord would ever come across the field to visit her. After all, what need could he have for that? It wasn’t often she received callers unless they needed something from her.
As they sat, making pleasantries, Melissa found she could barely listen. She allowed Daisy to take the lead in the conversation while she sat, stroking Flit’s ears to keep him calm, drinking the tea Greaves brought quickly to the room. It was most definitely not the kind she was used to, but compared to her own brew, it was sufficient to quench her thirst.
When she glanced up every so often from giving her dog most of her attention, she caught Lord Spurnrose looking at her. Just as she was allowing Daisy, he was allowing his cousin to take the lead on the conversation, instead choosing to look at Melissa as though he found something about her intriguing.
As she so often did, she suspected that he was intrigued by her beauty just as every man she met. It was a curse and an annoyance that she would have rather not dealt with, yet Daisy had put her in this situation, so she was forced to.
No doubt he had also heard her story, how she was a wealthy widow, and she could imagine that was yet another thing that intrigued him. It had interested so many before him, so much so that several had tried to take advantage of the fact, believing they could take her as their wife to get their hands on the wealth that both her father and her husband had left to her. It would never happen, but she would never say so aloud unless forced to.
“What do you say, Melissa?” Daisy asked, bringing Melissa so suddenly out of her inner thoughts that it was as if someone had thrown a bucket of cold water upon her.
“I’m sorry?” she responded, feeling her cheeks heat slightly with embarrassment. She had been staring back at Lord Spurnrose much too openly and quickly averted her gaze.
“I was suggesting that perhaps Lord and Mr Spurnrose might like to walk back out with us a little of the way,” Daisy explained, glancing from Melissa to the two men. “It is such a beautiful day.”
At that very moment, Lord Spurnrose started to cough. Immediately alert to the sound of possible illness, Melissa turned her gaze on him once more, unable to stop herself from noticing how he clutched his abdomen.Intriguing,she thought, half-raising an eyebrow.
“Are you well, My Lord?” Melissa asked, unable to help herself. She leaned forwards, perching on the edge of the seat, prepared to help if he had need of her. It was entirely instinctual, nothing at all to do with any attraction she might feel towards him save for her willingness to heal.
“My cousin is quite well, thank you, Lady Belmont,” Mr Spurnrose announced a little sharply on behalf of the viscount. Melissa was not entirely surprised at the man’s tone nor the disgruntled expression he was offering her, a look that suggested she should stay well away from his cousin.
“I am well; thank you for your concern, Lady Belmont,” Lord Spurnrose said once his coughing had eased. He plucked his handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his hands quickly before placing it back.
Melissa was not entirely convinced. Now that she took an even closer look at him, she could see the colour had drained from his face, and there was a pinched nature to his cheeks as though he was gritting his jaw. Had she not been so experienced in medicine, she might have missed the signs of pain she saw now plainly written before her.
Before she could question him, Lord Spurnrose turned to Daisy and added, “We would be pleased to walk with you, Lady Fenchurch, though I shall say it must be another day as my cousin and I are still quite busy organising this place.”
“Oh, really? Everything looks so lovely already!” Daisy exclaimed, glancing around as though she half-expected to find some book or a box out of place, clearly looking for something she could take back to the other hens within theton.Melissa gritted her teeth at her friend’s love for gossip and the need to spread it. It was her one flaw that Melissa couldn’t quite easily ignore, not that her friend had many.
“We saw to the more public rooms as soon as we arrived,” Mr Spurnrose explained, glancing at his cousin with a look of relief that suggested he was glad to be nearing the end of their conversation. “But my cousin is right. There is still much to do upstairs and in the servants’ quarters.”
“Oh, well, then I suppose we shouldn’t keep you any longer,” Daisy said, jumping to her feet and looking at Melissa. Surprised by her friend’s sudden eagerness to leave, Melissa got graciously to her feet and turned to address Lord Spurnrose.
“Thank you for having us, My Lord. I do hope that your cough improves,” she said with a smile before adding, “perhaps a few spoonfuls of honey might help to soothe your throat.”
She then glanced at Mr Spurnrose, and as she suspected, there was an even more disgruntled expression on his face. “If we need any medical advice, My Lady, we shall…”
“Thank you, Lady Belmont. I shall take it under advisement,” Lord Spurnrose declared, cutting off his cousin before he could say something potentially disrespectful. Melissa had to bite back the urge to laugh.
With a curt nod to the lord of the manor, Melissa said her farewells and led her friend from the drawing room. She wasted no time collecting her bonnet before they were off out of the front door, which Greaves opened silently, only offering a farewell bow. She was more than a little relieved when they stepped back out into the sunshine and Flit hurried down the porch steps to run off ahead down the lane.
At that moment, Melissa would have given anything to be a dog, to simply run and run until she could run no more. It might help with emotions that twisted up her insides whenever she found herself in the presence of someone like Mr Spurnrose, who insisted upon looking at her like a demon woman.
“Can you believe the cheek of him?” Daisy exclaimed as they walked away from the house. Melissa merely scoffed, knowing exactly who she was talking about. She need not say anything, knowing that Daisy would reel on in her defence as they walked. Instead, her mind was on Lord Spurnrose himself. It had sounded like a rather nasty wet cough he’d had.
He did not ask for my help,she pointed out, knowing that she would not go out of her way to help a nobleman, especially when the likes of his cousin were so close to the situation. And yet, something clawed in her stomach, urging her to turn around and go right back to question the viscount further. When she blinked her eyes closed, she could still see him clutching his abdomen as though he were in pain with it, and she found herself mentally going over all the books she had read over the years.A cough and abdominal pain…
“Melissa? Are you listening to me?” Daisy demanded, and Melissa realised they were already well down the lane, Flit’s tail only just visible as they started to turn the corner into the nearest field.
“Oh, yes!” she exclaimed though she was still only half listening as they returned to her estate. Feeling quite off-kilter indeed, she still wasn’t sure it had been a good idea to call upon the Spurnroses.
Chapter 4
The gardens of Elijah’s new house were exceedingly beautiful and perhaps the one place he found any contentment from his otherwise anxious and muddied thoughts. There he could recline on a marble bench with his face turned up to the sun and forget that perhaps one daysoon he would never see the sun again.
It did not take long before such thoughts came reeling back to him, though. It was as this started to happen that he heard footsteps approaching upon the shingle path.
“My Lord? Please forgive the intrusion,” Greaves said, pausing just a few metres away to offer the viscount a bow.
