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is so wearying, is it not?” The gentleness of his words in no way robbed them of their bite. Caroline colored furiously.
    “You would know far more about that than I, my lord,” she flared, then immediately looked frightened. “I didn’t mean…”
    “I know precisely what you meant, Caroline.” The boredom was back in his voice. He turned his attention to the tableau in the hallway. “Smathers, I had not noticed how you had aged. How remiss of me! Removing a scrawny brat who should not have been allowed to enter in the first place would at one time not have been beyond your capabilities. If you wish to retire, you have only to tell me. I will arrange for a pension to be paid you.”
    “No, no, my lord,” Smathers gasped, his eyes slits of fury as they darted toward Jewel. “I …”
    “And who ya be callin’ a scrawny brat?” Jewel interrupted furiously, her eyes flashing up at the gentleman on the stairs. “I be just as good as you, you … you man-milliner!”
    In tune to the concerted gasp of the assemblage, the gentleman’s eyes focused on Jewel. His eyebrows rose again as he surveyed her from head to toe with slow deliberation. Despite her seething indignation, she had to fight an urge to squirm beneath that dispassionate regard.
    “Shut your mouth, you little twit! That be the Earl of Moorland you’re addressing!” This horrified hiss came from a footman. Jewel lowered the vase fractionally, her eyes widening with interest as she stared at the gentleman on the stairs. The Earl of Moorland, was he? He didn’t look like no earl. He should have been bigger, older, with a leonine head and rugged features. This man was blond, lean and blindingly beautiful, with the flawlessly molded face of one of the Lord’s archangels. He was far too beautiful to be a man, let alone an earl. Jewel glared at him just to reinforce her own immunity to his attraction.
    “If ya be the earl, then ya be the very gent I’ve got business with,” she declared, moving from behind the table. Just in case, she kept a hold on the vase and a wary eye out for any sudden movement by Smathers or the others.
    “ You have business with me ?” the earl asked ever so gently. “Somehow I doubt it.”
    “Oh, do ya? Well, I got somethin’ to be delivered with Mr. Timothy Stratham’s compliments to the Earl o’ Moorland, if that’s really who ya be. I must say, ya don’t look much like no earl.” Jewel regarded the outrageously handsome man on the stairs with stark suspicion.
    “Really, Sebastian, can’t you make her leave? The guests will be arriving….”
    “Why don’t you go back upstairs and have Hanks pin up your hair again, Caroline? The left side is falling a bit, I fancy.” He didn’t even look at her as he said it, but something in his tone caused the lady to whiten.
    “You are cruel, Sebastian,” she whispered, and with that breathy murmur she turned and disappeared into the upstairs hallway.
    When she was gone, the earl turned his attention to the scene below him. “Smathers, I am very disappointed in the way you have handled this. I will not require your further assistance, I believe. And the rest of you may resume your usual duties as well.”
    Smathers’ face became an impassive mask. He bowed, muttered, “Yes, my lord,” and shooing two of the footmen before him, vanished into the nether regions of the house. The third footman assumed a statue-like position at the foot of the stairs. From the expression on his face, he was now deaf and blind to all proceedings.
    “So you have something for the Earl of Moorland from Timothy Stratham, do you?” the earl said slowly as he descended the stairs. “You may accompany me. George, something to wrap around this creature, if you please. She seems to be dripping all over the floor.”
    “I ain’t no creature, and there be no need to turn up yer fancy nose jest because a body’s wet,” Jewel said resentfully as the footman vanished to do his master’s