The Valet and the Stable Groom: M/M Regency Romance by Katherine Marlowe

room, taking their tea. All four of them stared at him.
    “Ah,” Clement said, and cleared his throat. “Mrs. Ledford. Might you be available to come and speak with the master and mistress of the house?”
    Mrs. Ledford set down her cup and stood.
    “There’s some idea of hosting a garden party,” Clement explained to her, maintaining professional cheerfulness despite his discomfort at being the centre of attention in the room. “Mrs. Devereux hoped you might be able to offer some aid in composing a list… a list of local… local personages. Of quality. Who might wish to attend a… a garden party, you see.”
    “It would be my pleasure,” Mrs. Ledford said, crisply. She walked past him to the door.
    Clement supposed he had not been forgiven for his involvement with the puppies. He followed after her, dreading what Mrs. Ledford would think to see Letty sitting alongside Mr. and Mrs. Devereux like a sister.
    Mrs. Ledford had a surprisingly brisk step. Clement was hard pressed to keep up.
    He searched his wits for some sort of appropriately bland comment which might ameliorate Mrs. Ledford’s grudge or otherwise endear her to the situation at hand.
    “A garden party will be pleasant, don’t you think?” His voice faltered embarrassingly on the false cheer.
    “Yes,” said Mrs. Ledford.
    Clement did not make further attempts.
    Trailing in Mrs. Ledford’s wake, Clement wondered briefly whether he might be able to slip away during the creation of the guest list. He had yet to inspect the stables, which might be in any condition. Mrs. Devereux would be pleased if he were to bring news of Titania.
    Clement slowed his steps, allowing Mrs. Ledford more of a lead.
    When there resulted no reprimand, Clement stopped completely. Mrs. Ledford turned the corner at the end of the hall without looking back. Clement’s heart quickened. It was very bold to assume that Hildebert would not require him in the next half an hour.
    The condition of the stables would of course fall under Mr. Midgley’s oversight. If Jane wanted a report on Titania’s status, she had half a dozen better ways to request it.
    It was quiet in the hallway. Clement could hear the distant murmur of voices from the drawing room. He felt buoyed on a moment of freedom.
    Mr. Midgley was, after all, very new at his duties and had never expected to find himself the butler of a country estate. It might not have occurred to him to oversee the stables.
    Clement turned and made his way down the steps.
    The weather outside had improved to being merely unpleasant rather than miserable. Clement took no precautions other than an umbrella and a pair of leather Wellington boots before he made his way to the stables.
    It was warm inside the stables. He could hear the soft whisk of a horse’s tail, and their collective breathing. Two of the horses had their heads over the doors to their stalls, watching Clement with docile interest.
    He could hear rustling and quiet yips from the back of the large stable, and made his way further in to investigate.
    The puppies and their mother had a stall at the back of the stable. Most of them were napping. A few tussled or explored the stall in search of adventure. One of them spotted Clement and yipped, charging to the stall door and wagging its tiny tail in greeting. Within moments, most of the puppy pack had awakened, spotted their visitor, and begun trying to jump or climb over the stall door, without success.
    It was a roiling mass of black and brown bodies. Clement had no idea which was Titania. They were all similar: short legs, long bodies, white bellies with brown and black patterning on their head and backs. Even the mother was comically short-legged and small. Clement had no idea how anything so tiny could function as a herding dog.
    “Mr. Adair?”
    Hugo stood in the centre of the stables, several steps in front of a smaller side door. He was backlit by the hazy, rain-veiled light from the door at the front which Clement