How to Wed an Earl by Ivory Lei Page A

“He won’t wake up until just before supper.”
    Sarah guffawed, then covered her mouth with her hand and kept silent as she passed Colin in the foyer.
    Penelope eyed her younger brother with mock severity before smiling reluctantly. She really couldn’t handle an interview with Papa at that moment. “Thank you, Colin. I do appreciate it.”
    He winked at her. “I thought you might.”
    “Well, I’m going to go change for supper,” Sarah piped up, heading for the stairs. “What’s appropriate wear for receiving an earl, Polly?”
    “Just wear what you’d normally wear for supper. I talked to Lord Ravenstone in this gown and he didn’t seem to mind.”
He seemed to like it, in fact,
Penelope added silently, remembering how Lucas’s large hands had explored her this afternoon. She fought down another blush. She had to stop thinking about that.
    Colin headed up the stairs as well. “We all better get ready for supper. Since Mama’s taken over the kitchen and is busy ordering Cook about, I’ve no doubt Papa won’t be happy when he wakes up. And I don’t want to be the first one he sees when he does.”
    Penelope was about to follow her siblings when she realized she had to warn Lucas of what to say in front of her stepfather at supper. Or, rather, what
not
to say. Their bargain had to remain a secret, since Papa didn’t know about her arrangement with the creditors.
    “You go on ahead,” she said, heading for the library. “I need to write down a few notes about the cow’s state of health. If I don’t do it now, I’m likely to forget all about it.”
    She closed the library door and proceeded to compose her secret letter to the earl. The last time she’d penned a secret note to him, she’d been eighteen and heartbroken, forced to accept that he, too, had forsaken her. This time, she vowed, she’d be in control of her destiny. She felt no emotion as she continued to write.

Chapter Four
    Lucas entered Highfield Manor, his eyes drawn to the beautifully curved, cantilever stone staircase supported and framed by three long, delicate pillars, which dominated the foyer, while handing his cloak and top hat to the elderly maidservant who’d materialized at his side.
    The maidservant nervously took his cloak and hat, turned and tripped over the edge of the worn rug covering most of the stone floor of the wide, dimly lit hall.
    Lucas grabbed the woman’s arm to keep her from falling.
    “Are you well?” he asked the old woman.
    “Yes’r, m’lord earl,” the woman chimed with nervous enthusiasm. “Thank ye, kindly. I was jest … jest wantin’ to show ye into the drawin’ room.”
    “I would certainly appreciate that, madam. Please, lead on.”
    “This way, m’lord earl!” the woman shrieked.
    Lucas resisted the urge to grimace. The poorly trained servant confirmed what he’d learned about the Walkers this afternoon after he’d received the ridiculous note his fiancée had sent to him. The chit had actually suggested a few lines of dialogue for him to consider as preparation for supper with her stepfamily, along with the warning that under no circumstances was he to mention their bargain to her stepfather.
    The maidservant opened a door, and Lucas went through it when he was motioned to do so. He’d scarcely taken a step inside the room when the door was firmly shut behind him. The drawing room was long rather than wide in dimension, with two sitting areas, one by the hearth and another at the opposite end of the room by a big window that looked out over the manor’s gardens. Lucas paused behind a column, a few steps from the sitting area by the window where the Walker family was too engrossed in their discussion to notice him.
    “I have yet to talk to Polly about this,” a man Lucas assumed was Dr. Walker said in a low voice.
    A blonde woman Lucas recognized as Penelope’s mother, Lady Eleanor Maitland, gave an indelicate snort. “What is there to talk about? We’ve always known he would