Read Meet the Earl at Midnight (Midnight Meetings) for Free Online

didn’t hear her entreaty, or he ignored her.
    “Oh, blast it!” Lydia clutched her skirts high—showing too much leg—for a dash to the door.
    The footman’s slack-jawed gape stopped her short.
    “As if you’ve never seen the like,” she retorted. “Just go warm yourself.”
    Teeth chattering, he bobbed his head. “Yes, miss. Good night, miss.”
    Lydia bounded up the stone stairs, excess cloth from her skirts bunched high. She needed to set things right. She burst into a dim interior and stopped to shake her wet garments. Her noisy entrance didn’t distract the earl. He snubbed her—she saw as much when his back stiffened—and went right on speaking to two women holding guttering candles, the sole light for the cavernous entry.
    She near burst to explain, but the need to say something to Lord Greenwich was overruled by impertinent curiosity. A plump, older woman and another woman, whose face was hidden from view, listened to the earl. Both, apparently servants roused in the middle of the night, wore thick robes.
    Amidst his lordship’s muffled instructions, the hidden woman turned sharply in a flutter of pale blond hair, as if to get a better look at the miscreant hovering at the door. Lydia cringed; he must have relayed the minor misunderstanding by the carriage or some other unflattering news about her.
    Lydia’s fingers started flicking at a frayed thread inside her cloak, and then she looked overhead. Not a cobweb in sight. Her shoe tapped the marble floor: the black-and-white expanse stretched underfoot, making intricate geometric designs where not covered with carpets. His lordship ignored that toe tapping and kept his shrouded profile to the older woman. Her graying braid bobbed up and down her back as she nodded. Finally, he turned to Lydia.
    “Miss Montgomery, this is Edith Lumley. She will see to your comfort. If you need anything, let her know.” He raised a hand toward the other woman, who stepped forward. “And this is my housekeeper, Miss Mayhew.” With a curt nod, he finished, “I bid you good night.”
    That last pleasantry was quite a proper set-down.
    What’s more, the housekeeper was shockingly beautiful.
    He said Miss Mayhew, not the generally preferred Mrs ., which nobility hired or women of that class manufactured for appearances sake. Lydia gaped at the housekeeper and murmured greetings before turning to the earl. Lud, the man moved fast, going without a candle to light his way. Did he have a beast’s night vision? The black hall swallowed him whole, with his boots echoing retreat.
    “Your lordship, please…” she cried after him.
    There was a momentary hitch in the earl’s step and then a quickened pace. Somewhere in the deep shadows, a door opened and clicked firmly shut. Lydia wanted to crumble from the indignity witnessed by these virtual strangers. Miss Mayhew, a vision of flaxen blond perfection, frowned toward the dark hall and then at Lydia.
    “Let us see to your comfort,” the housekeeper said, smoothly turning to the older woman. “Edith, please take Miss Montgomery to her room. Unfortunately, I must attend to something else.”
    Miss Mayhew, cupping a lone candle, floated down another dark hall, but not before turning her mouth in a small, disapproving moue at Lydia. Owl-eyed, Miss Lumley nodded and placed a comforting arm around Lydia.
    “Don’t mind his lordship, miss. He’s usually an affable sort. Sometimes he needs to be alone with his thoughts.”
    “Please take me to him, Miss Lumley. I must apologize—”
    “Apologize? Now, now, miss. Not to worry. And please call me Edith,” she said, patting Lydia’s back as she led her to some stairs. “Sometimes a woman has to let a man stew before he needs to apologize to her .” The older woman winked. “I’m sure ’twill all be right as rain come morn. And, Lord knows, we’ve plenty of that these days, haven’t we?”
    Gentle pressure guided Lydia. Miss Lumley stopped, and concern crossed her