Read Again, My Lord: A Twist Series Novel for Free Online Page B

pour her ladyship a cup. Then fetch breakfast for her. My heavens! We’re nearly run out of milk already and it’s not even eight o’clock yet.” She hurried back into the kitchen.
    “Are you certain, sir?” Calista asked the whiskered man.
    “Just come from Drover’s place,” he said with a frown.
    “But how do you come to be an authority on the flooding?” Cold panic was licking at her. “Perhaps you are wrong.”
    His chest puffed out and his whiskers quivered. “I’ve been the constable of this village since ’05, ma’am, so I think that gives me plenty of authority.”
    “Sir,” Lord Dare said, commanding the attention of the constable and everyone else in the place with the single word. “I am D—” His gaze flicked to Calista. “I am Everard,” he said. “You are soaked through and must be chilled to the bone. May I offer you a pint? Then you can tell me more about the flood at your leisure.”
    The constable gave him a short study. Extending his hand to shake, he nodded.
    “Eustace Pritchard at your service, Mr. Everard. Glad to make your acquaintance.” The onlookers were grumbling as they returned to their breakfasts, and he followed the marquess to the table. “Molly, bring over that coffee.”
    “I believe that pot is intended for Lady Holland,” Lord Dare said smoothly. “Molly, if you’ll bring another pot and cup for Mr. Pritchard, I would appreciate it.”
    “My lady.” Now the constable bowed deeply. “Welcome to Swinly. I apologize for the rain that’s delayed your travel. But there’s Mother Nature for you, upsetting everybody’s plans.”
    “I don’t take coffee,” she said. “I asked for tea. And you should know that this man is the Marquess of Dare.”
    His bushy brows popped up.
    “My lord, it’s an honor! What a stew we’re in here. But the rain’s already lightening up. If it ends this afternoon the ford should be clear by dawn. We’ll have you out of here tomorrow, my lady.”
    “Is there really no way out of Swinly at present?” When she arrived home tomorrow night, a full day late, Richard would rage. “None at all?”
    “Not unless you care to swim,” the constable said with a wink at Lord Dare.
    “Does anyone in the village have a boat?”
    The constable chuckled. “Nothing more than the ferryman’s raft, but that’s on the other side of the river and it’s far too high to use now, of course.”
    The marquess was looking at her, carefully it seemed. The constable was still chuckling. A pair of tradesmen were gawping at her openly and she feared that in her muddle after the bell shocked her awake she’d left something unbuttoned. Rain poured down steadily beyond the taproom windows and the church bell began pounding eight o’clock through the walls of the inn.
    “There must be some way out of this village today,” she insisted.
    “Mum.” Molly offered her a cup of coffee filled to the brim.
    “I said tea, please. Twice.”
    “Beggin’ your pardon, milady,” Molly mumbled and backed away straight into a farmer rising from a table. Her arm jerked forward, the full cup leaped off its dish, and coffee splashed in a cascading arc all down the front of Calista’s gown.
    “Oh.”
    Molly gasped. “Oh, milady! I’m that sorry, I am! I’ll fetch a rag right quick.”
    Calista batted at the drips on her only gown with her palms. “Thank you. And perhaps while you are at it you could bring me some
tea
.”
    Molly hurried from the room past a woman entering.
    “Lady Calista?” the woman exclaimed. “Lady Calista Chance?” She hurried forward. “It
is
you. Calista Chance—oh, but I’d heard you
married,
of course. Oh, what a delight to see you after all these years!” She had a round, ordinary face and yellow curls and wore on her head a glorious cascade of lace and chintz tied with a pristine white ribbon.
    Calista dabbed at her skirt with a table linen. Coffee had soaked through the bodice and waist, but she could not attend to