Spinning around, Mantheria saw Sunny.His face was rather pale and haggard.He must have ridden all day to catch up with her.Instinctively, Mantheria threw her arms around him, briefly forgetting that his shoulder was injured and that she was in the middle of a public inn.As she squeezed him tightly around his trim middle, she couldn’t help but be grateful that he had not given up on her and stayed at the inn in Southall.Or returned to London.
He’d come to help her.
She wanted to rub her face against his coat and cry.It had been such an awful and terrible day without him.Tears filled her eyes, and her legs felt distinctly wobbly.
But instead of returning her most inappropriate and public embrace, he gently detached her from him and took off his hat.Mantheria’s knees nearly buckled.The proprietor seemed to recognize him at once and bowed twice as if to make up for his rudeness from before, and he smiled obsequiously.“Your Grace, we are honored that you would choose our establishment again.”
Sunny’s countenance remained grave, but he was polite.“Thank you, Edwards.The Duchess of Glastonbury requires a bedchamber, a private parlor, a hot bath, and a warm meal.I should like the same, but first, I need to speak to your employee about the stagecoaches.I will need a full list of names of who got off the coaches today and the addresses of their destinations, if possible.”
Why hadn’t Mantheria thought of that first?She’d been so intent on becoming presentable before asking questions that she had wasted precious time.
Mr.Edwards bowed repeatedly as he backed away from them.
Mantheria touched Sunny’s arm, and he flinched.She dropped her hand.She’d been rebuffed for the second time that day, and it wasn’t as if she could blame him.Her behavior had been that of a hoyden instead of a proper lady.No doubt he was ashamed to be seen with such a disheveled duchess.“I should like to go with you and speak to the employee.”
“You look dead on your feet, and you smell strongly of cabbage.”
Needled, Mantheria retorted, “Well, you look dead on your feet, and you smell of horse.”
Sunny’s lips twitched, and then he chuckled as if he couldn’t hold in his amusement any longer.“I am certain that I do, and I have every intention of enjoying a bath after I start sending inquiries to the previous occupants of the stagecoach.And before you suggest that two heads are better than one, if you were to faint from exhaustion or lack of nutrition, you’d very much be in the way.”
He did have a point, and her traitorous stomach rumbled at that very moment.Sunny raised his eyebrows but did not say a word.
A woman who might have been Mrs.Edwards came up to them and curtsied.She had a round, jolly face with a sprinkling of freckles on her nose and cheeks, and a great deal of curly brown hair.“If you’ll come this way, Your Grace.The maids have prepared you a hot bath.”
Sunny tipped his head toward the woman as if to say, “Follow her.”
Huffing, Mantheria slowly leaned down to pick up her battered bandbox, but Mrs.Edwards beat her to it.“This way, Your Grace.”
She followed the woman up the main staircase and to a door at the back of the hall.They entered a parlor of generous size, decorated in yellows and golds, then through another door into a well-appointed bedroom that faced the garden behind the hotel.The four-poster bed did not have a canopy, but the linens appeared to be fresh, and there was a large copper tub full of steaming water in front of the fireplace.
Mrs.Edward placed the bandbox on a table and turned back to Mantheria to curtsy once again.“Would Your Grace require anything else?”
For the second time that day, Mantheria felt helpless.She couldn’t even unbutton her own dress because the hooks were in the back.“If a maid could be spared, I would be grateful for her assistance in helping me undress and tidying up my clothes.”
“Of course, Your Grace.I’ll send a maid up in a trice.”Mrs.Edwards then curtsied once more and left the private rooms.
Once Mantheria heard the door to the hall close, she untied the ribbon of her bonnet and took it off.Her expensive black hat with matching dyed feathers was smashed and damaged beyond repair.She ought to simply toss it in the fire.She placed it on the table and began to unbutton her black pelisse.There were so many little buttons, and while the overall stylish effect was charming, Mantheria grew tired halfway down and was tempted to rip off the rest of them.
When she finished unbuttoning the final button, she heard a knock at the door.“Come in, please.”
The door to the parlor opened, and a pretty and curvy young woman with curly blonde hair and an infectious smile entered the room.“Mrs.Edwards said that you might be needing my help, Your Grace.”
Despite her exhaustion, Mantheria could not help but smile back at the young woman.“Yes, I do.My clothes are in such a state that I dare not be seen abroad, and I cannot unbutton my own dress to get into the bath.”
“’Tis a strange thing that all ladies’ garments are fastened from behind.I doubt a gentleman would be able to button his breeches from the back.”
Breeches were not a proper conversation topic, so perhaps that was what made Mantheria laugh out loud.That, or the image of Sunny trying to button himself up from behind.He did have a rather attractive backside, but she shook her head and forced herself not to think of him like that—as physically attractive.If their relationship ever became something more, Sunny and Mantheria’s precious friendship would be ruined, and she would lose faith in the last person (aside from her own family) that she cared about.He would find her to be just as poor a wife as Alexander had.
The maid was a great deal quicker at unfastening buttons than Mantheria was.In a trice, Mantheria was down to her skin and stepping into the hot bath.The water felt wonderful against her sore body and aching muscles.She leaned her head against the back of the tub and closed her eyes.She couldn’t remember a time when she’d felt so tired or sore.Or so worried.
“I’ll freshen up the dress in your bandbox and see about washing your other garments, Your Grace.And when I get back, I can help you dress and fetch your supper.Is that agreeable?”
Mantheria forced her tired eyelids to open.“Very agreeable.Thank you, miss.”
The maid curtsied and then closed the door to the room behind her, which Mantheria greatly appreciated.The heat from the fire would help keep the water warm, but with the door closed, both would be more effective.Not that Mantheria deserved hot water.Not while her son was missing.She rubbed her eyes and sank underneath the water until only her nose was above it.At least she would no longer smell of cabbages.
The young miss returned a short while after, and Mantheria regretted getting out of the tub, for all of her muscles seemed to hurt twice as much now.The kind maid helped Mantheria into her only other gown that she’d packed and combed out her long hair before fetching her a meal.It felt strange to eat with her hair wet and down, but it did need to dry, and she was all by herself.Mantheria managed to eat the food on her plate, not because it tasted good—she couldn’t taste anything at all—but because she needed the energy to search for her son.When she was finished, the maid took the tray, and Mantheria, finally by herself, sat down on the rug near the fire.