Chapter 3

Maeve

" D oes your brother live in the tallest building in London?" Chloe asked as they heaved the trunks through the doorway of the building and peered up at the stairwell above them. "I swear, each flight of these stairs seems akin to a mountain climb to me now." Chloe sighed for emphasis, pulling a small laugh from Maeve's lips.

At least we are here at last!

Maeve was secretly overwhelmed by her relief. There had been a moment in the streets of London where she had been cursing her own foolishness for thinking they could find their way in a city that neither of them knew. She was just about ready to abandon their endeavor and return to the trapped carriage when she spied a small sign perched high above the entrance to a tiny street. The lane was so narrow, it was hardly surprising they had walked past it three times without seeing it.

"You know Leo," Maeve said as she moved toward the stairs. "In some ways, he is not the most sociable of souls, for he infinitely prefers his books."

"He's not the only sibling to prefer them," Chloe teased, making Maeve smile another time.

"I imagine he has chosen these lodgings to make it as difficult as possible for friends to come to call," Maeve said in jest as they began to climb.

As reluctant as Maeve was to admit it, the climb was becoming increasingly difficult and cumbersome. With the staircase a large spiral affair that kept bending back on itself, it was a difficult climb with the heavy trunks that they had already lugged and dropped so many times that the portmanteaus were now dented. Maeve was not fond of admitting weakness, but she was happy to admit on this occasion that she was looking forward to sitting down.

"Does he live at the very top?" Chloe bemoaned after some minutes of silence, which was only disturbed by their heavy breathing and trunks knocking against the banister rails.

"I fear he does," Maeve said, struggling to lift her trunk another time. "Here it is." When they reached the top, she and Chloe thankfully dropped the cases on the landing, both puffing heartily.

Maeve glanced at her friend to see her cheeks were red and the hair that had escaped from her bonnet had rather run wild. She smiled at the sight, thinking that she must look rather similar.

"At least we are here at last," Maeve said, tapping on the door.

"Does your brother have a footman?" Chloe asked hopefully, looking down at the bags.

Maeve only had time to bite her lip in answer, for she feared having to give the truth. Leo might have been doing well as a solicitor without their father's support, but London prices were hefty, and most of his money went on renting his rooms. She knew he could not afford much in the way of staff.

"Well . . ." she murmured, just as the door opened.

"Maeve!" Leo's voice was sharp.

"Leo." Maeve turned to look at him with a smile.

"God's wounds, I thought you must be lost in London, you are so late. Come in, come in." He beckoned them in with an anxious wave of his hand. The anxiety was something Maeve and Chloe were used to these days. It prompted them to exchange a knowing look at his words. "Why are you so late?"

"Our carriage got stuck ," Chloe said pointedly, "and your sister decided we could complete the journey on foot. That was before she realized that London was bigger than we thought it to be."

"Ha!" Leo laughed heartily and reached for their bags.

"I didn't expect us to get lost," Maeve tried to explain herself, just as Leo picked up one of the bags. "Let me, Brother."

"Nonsense, Maeve. I have welcomed you to my home, and whilst I might not be able to afford a butler to greet you, I shall certainly greet you well myself."

Maeve smiled at his kindness. She adored her brother. Even after he had moved to London, the two had stayed closely in touch through their letters and his visits back home. She knew him completely, which meant she also knew his wish to be abundantly kind to everyone sometimes resulted in incidents of his peculiar brand of clumsiness.

"At least let me help," she pleaded, trying to take one of the smaller bags.

"Nonsense, I'll balance them on my head if I have to," Leo declared with a smile and took the small bag from her. So laden up was he, with a portmanteau tucked under each arm, he had to throw this small one over his shoulder before turning and walking into his apartments. "Come in, come in, I've had tea set up so long waiting for you, the kettle will have to be boiled again—oh!"

"Leo!" Maeve saw the problem seconds before it happened, but it was too late to stop it.

In Leo's determination to help them, he hadn't realized that Chloe had balanced a small reticule on top of her portmanteau. By lifting the two of them up together, the reticule had slipped out and fallen to the floor. It landed directly where Leo wished to put his foot, causing him to slip.

A cacophony of wood and leather thudded loudly against the wooden floorboards, dully echoing around the room. Chloe covered her eyes with her hands, and Maeve reached toward her brother, seeing him sitting amid the chaos.

"Ow!" Leo said after a moment, and Maeve sighed with relief to hear he didn't sound truly hurt.

"Felton? What's all this noise?" a voice called from the other side of the room.

There was something in the tone that was familiar, urging Maeve to look up from her brother. She quickly surveyed the rooms to see they were in a vast entrance hall, Palladian in design. At the far side, there was a wide bay window that looked out over the streets of London, almost as tall as it was wide. In the middle of the room stood a circular mahogany table, decked with so many books they were nearly spilling off the top. On either side of the room were tall doors, leading to different ends of the apartments.

Through one of these doors stepped a tall figure, so familiar to Maeve that had she still been carrying one of her bags, she may have dropped it.

"Ah, I see you are up to your usual tricks, Felton," the man declared with a laugh as he hurried forward.

Maeve didn't have time to collect her thoughts and help Leo herself. One glance at Chloe showed she was suffering equal surprise, her eyes wide.

The man before them was the same one who had stopped in the street and offered to assist them. Maeve had been wrongfooted by the event. The stranger had certainly seemed nice enough, but she was no fool. Accepting a lift from a stranger? Ridiculous! They had no idea who he was or what he was capable of.

Perhaps he is no stranger after all . . .

Maeve looked over the man with interest as he pulled the bags from Leo and helped him to his feet. Despite the extravagance and the sleek lines of the black tailcoat he wore, suggesting he had some wealth to his name, he showed no reticence at the idea of helping out with physical labor.

"What made you think you could carry all this alone?" he said with a laugh as he tossed one of the portmanteaus over his shoulder.

"Ambition," Leo said with a smile as he took the gentleman's hand and was pulled abruptly to his feet. "Allow me to introduce you. Sister, Miss Green. This is why I am afraid I could not come to meet you this evening. My client, and my very good friend here, required my urgent professional attention. This is the Marquess of Lestenmeer, son of the Duke of Suffolk, his lordship Benjamin Strickley. Lord Lestenmeer, these are the ladies who will be staying with me for the Season. Our good friend, Miss Chloe Green, daughter of Baron Maywood, and my sister, Lady Maeve Felton."

Maeve was so startled that she didn't remember to curtsy until she felt Chloe step on her foot, urging her to do so. Maeve hurried to curtsy deeply, before she dared to lift her eyes to survey the marquess another time.

He is a marquess!

Lord Lestenmeer seemed to find good humor in her surprise. He was excessively tall, and from this lofty position smiled down at her, barely taking his eyes off her long enough to glance at Chloe, before those blue eyes returned to her. There was something in his smile she found rather enchanting. He was so handsome, Maeve longed to know his thoughts and what made him smile so.

"It is a pleasure to meet you both," Lord Lestenmeer said, hazarding a bow despite still carrying the cases. He didn't allude to the fact that they had met merely minutes ago. "I welcome you both to London. I hear from your brother, Lady Felton, that it is your first visit to the city."

"It is," she said, clearing her throat and struggling to keep her composure.

Oh, my goodness, I was incredibly rude to a marquess. The son of a duke, no less!

With her face blushing red, he could be in no doubt of what she was thinking, nor her embarrassment, something which seemed to amuse him all the more because he could not stop smiling at her.

"Let me help with the bags, Felton," he said, turning back to Leo and picking up another.

"My lord! I couldn't ask you to do that." In Leo's attempt to help the marquess, he nearly fell over again, making the marquess laugh and Chloe titter under her breath. "Miss Green . . . perhaps I should pick up your reticule before I trip on it another time." Leo picked up the reticule and handed it to her, and she thanked him quickly. "Now, my lord, I cannot not ask you to do this?—"

"Nonsense." The marquess turned and pointed to a door. "Are we taking the bags this way?"

"Yes, we are, but . . . my lord!" Already Leo was running after the marquess as he took off in that direction. Maeve's eyes shot down, to see Leo was about to trip on the narrow rug that led through the doorway.

"Rug, Leo," she called to him. He tripped on the edge, but thanks to her words, managed to catch himself and hold onto the doorframe.

"Thank you, Maeve." He nodded before running after the marquess again.

"I see your brother has not changed," Chloe said with a giggle as she looped arms with Maeve.

"He never does." Maeve was distracted. She was rather busy thinking of that handsome smile that had just disappeared into the other room. There was chatter in the other room as the bags were deposited, and then Leo and the marquess returned.

"Now, tea," Leo said, clasping his hands together. "Then we shall have our meeting in full, my lord." He nodded his head at the marquess, showing he had not forgotten the matter of their business.

"Please, do not rush on my account. Let us have that tea first." The marquess seemed unperturbed by their business being delayed. When Leo beckoned for Maeve and Chloe to follow him into an adjoining room, the marquess gestured politely, urging the two of them to go first.

Maeve struggled to meet his gaze, certain her face had never been so red in her life. As they moved into the sitting room, Chloe looked around, admiring the airy space and quickly absorbing Leo in talking of his pride in obtaining the lodgings. As Chloe sat down beside Leo, it left an open space beside Maeve on a Chesterfield settee. One she found was quickly taken by the marquess. Even when Maeve jumped, startled by his willingness to come so close after she had been so rude to him, he simply smiled all the more.

"How was your journey?" Leo asked after he called the one maid he had to refresh the water for the tea.

"Long," Chloe answered before Maeve could. Together, they took off their bonnets and spencer jackets. "I am glad we are finally here. I was beginning to think we would spend all night walking these roads in search of this place."

"We found it eventually," Maeve said, to which Chloe rolled her eyes.

"More by luck than design, I think."

Leo jumped to his feet once more, collecting their spencer jackets and their bonnets.

"Leo, you do not have to do that," Maeve pleaded with him, but he was already half out of the room.

"Nonsense, you are my guests, and I want you to be welcome," he called over his shoulder, so busy sorting the jackets in his arms that he wasn't looking where he was going.

"Door!" Maeve called to him, seconds before he walked straight into it.

"Ow," the marquess said with a wince beside Maeve. "Felton, one of these days, I hope you look where you are going."

"You know me by now," Leo said, glancing backward momentarily before opening the door and stepping through. "I rarely do."

"I had noticed," the marquess said. As he spoke, he looked down at the rug beneath the coffee table between the two settees. Evidently seeing it was folded at one end and likely to trip up poor Leo on his return, the marquess bent down and set it straight.

It was such an act of kindness that Maeve stared at him, openmouthed for a second before her guilt grew. Glancing back at Leo to ensure he would not return for a second, she leaned toward the marquess, deciding it was best to talk now whilst they had a little privacy.

"I am so sorry, Lord Lestenmeer, for what happened earlier today," she said in a rushed whisper.

"Whatever for?" he asked, leaning back on the settee and placing his arm across the rear of the cushion.

"I was incredibly rude!" she pointed out, at which Chloe nodded from the opposite settee. "I can see you nodding," Maeve said, glancing her way.

"I was agreeing with you," Chloe said smiling as she began to arrange the teacups for them all.

"Please, do not apologize," the marquess said with a laugh. "Believe me, I respect you for what you did."

"You do?" Maeve said in surprise, aware that the marquess hadn't blinked as he looked at her. There was an intensity to his gaze that she rather liked, but it made her so self-conscious that she squirmed in her seat.

"I do," he confirmed with a slow nod. "I could have been anyone, and it is only pure chance that I am a friend of your brother's. I could have been a cruel man indeed and welcomed you into a carriage with unsavory intentions." He shuddered, as if the mere idea horrified him, pulling a laugh from Maeve. "You did the right thing, Lady Felton." He added the last words in a whisper, leaning toward her so that only she could hear him.

He came so close that Maeve could smell the scent he wore. It was unlike the scents she had known gentlemen to wear in the country. This scent was more exotic, it had spices, cinnamon, and honey to it. She rather liked it, but when Leo returned to the room, she snapped back, hoping their proximity had not been noticed.

"Good lord, Maeve," Leo called as he stepped into the room again, "you have brought so many bags that I missed this one." He hefted another, smaller trunk.

"That's the most important one," Maeve explained as she took it from him. "It has my books." She took it onto her lap and flicked the lid open to reveal all the books. Beside her, the marquess' eyebrows shot up.

"I see you are an avid reader like your brother," the marquess said, sitting forward to read the spines.

"She doesn't just read, she writes too," Leo said as the maid returned with their tea. "Ah, there's the tea. Allow me, Miss Green." He took over her responsibilities at the tea tray, pouring for them all. He spilled a couple of times, and Chloe went around, mopping up the spills behind him.

"You write?" the marquess asked quietly, so that only Maeve could hear him. It wasn't so much that they were talking of a secret, but he appeared to want to talk in private with her about the matter.

"I do," she confessed, keeping her eyes on the books. She wasn't sure why, but she felt rather nervous admitting such a thing now.

"Then I look forward to talking about your writing with you," he said, as he accepted a teacup from Leo. "Shall you be attending many events of the Season?" he asked.

A few . . .

Maeve still wasn't sure what sort of commitment she would give to assemblies and balls. If she could find a way to socialize with the literary world more than the world of the ton , then she certainly would.

"Oh, yes, they intend to," Leo said, gesturing between Maeve and Chloe.

"Good," the marquess declared, smiling on Maeve another time, "then I look forward to seeing more of you."

The words piqued Maeve's curiosity. She couldn't help wondering why the prospect of seeing the marquess another time excited her. She decided to hide the excitement by sipping her tea and praying Leo would attend his business meeting with the marquess soon. At least then, she would be forced to stop staring at that rather handsome smile.