His Not So Sensible Miss (A Gentleman's Guide to Once Upon a Time - Book 3) (33 page)

Sabrina nodded politely and wondered
what a lame horse had to do with her, unless the prince had decided
to stay with the animal.

Lady Davies continued. “Mr. Marius
Parker has agreed to remain behind and return the horse when he has
healed.”

Good, Sabrina thought. Only one of them
would stay.

“
I need you to prepare the
cottage. See to it immediately.”

She dismissed Sabrina and turned her
attention to the prince and continued, “I would offer a room within
this academy, but we have a number of young ladies from good
families, and I feel it best for all if a bachelor is not sleeping
under the same roof.”

The prince laughed. “After Lady
Millicent’s appraisal of Parker, I can well understand your
concern.”

So, one of the four was Mr. Parker. She
couldn’t decide if she wanted him to be the brown eyed one or not.
She curtseyed, left the hall and made her way to the cottage and
wondered if Lady Davies had suggested this place as another form of
punishment. The cottage hadn’t been cleaned since spring and
Sabrina couldn’t imagine why the woman wished him to stay here when
there were vacant rooms in the guest wing. It wasn’t as if other
gentlemen hadn’t stayed before. Then again, they had been fathers
or brothers visiting. Perhaps Lady Davies was concerned the
stranger would take advantage of one of the young ladies, or vice
versa, if she had paid any attention to the appraising look
Millicent had given the younger men.

She unlocked the door, stepped inside
and couldn’t help but groan. Thank goodness it was small, with only
three rooms. Otherwise, it would take a week to remove the dust and
bring the place up to living standards. As it was, she wasn’t sure
the task could be accomplished before it was time for Mr. Parker to
retire.

* * *

At first Marius Parker was not at all
pleased when Prince George asked him to remain behind. He agreed,
only because it was Prince George who asked. The last place he
wanted to spend the next few evenings was in an Academy for Young
Ladies. How many were in residence? One would be too
many.

The task Marius had been assigned would
normally have been given to a servant. Unfortunately, none had
accompanied them on this particular trip and the prince would not
allow even one of his guards to remain. Thus, the pleasure of
staying with the royal horse fell to him.

Relief flooded through him when he
heard he would be staying in a cottage. At least he would be
allowed some privacy and solitude. Perhaps he would be left
completely alone. Unfortunately, he knew all too well that wasn’t
likely to happen. Besides meals, he was sure the young ladies would
offer entertainment that evening. Probably of a musical variety. He
was a captured male guest and would have to endure politely until
he could make his escape.

While the prince and the older
gentlemen relaxed over tea with Lady Davies, Marius, and his
friends, Dillon Chamber and Lord Felding, accompanied by six young
ladies on a stroll in the garden. While the girls smiled and
blushed, Noah and Dillon continued to charm them. Only Lady
Millicent remained at Marius’ side, attempting to draw him into
conversation. Due to his years of practice, Marius responded
politely but refrained from being too attentive.

“
Oh, look,” Lady Millicent
stated, with a laugh while pointing beyond the garden. “Cinderella
is on the roof. Whatever is she doing?”

He shielded his eyes against
the sun and looked to where she pointed, as did his companions. It
was as she had said. The servant who had been told to see to the
cottage was indeed on its roof and apparently reaching into the
chimney.
Surely her name wasn’t really
Cinderella
.

What had possessed her to climb onto
the roof? Surely there was a male servant around to see to the
task. It was dangerous enough to climb in pants and boots, let
alone a skirt. He wondered if he should assist somehow when she
withdrew something from the chimney. He couldn’t see very well from
this distance, but guessed it was a bird’s nest. He hoped so,
recalling the time he had dislodged a similar nest from his hunting
lodge. Except in his case, the chimney had become a home to a
family of badgers and the mother had not been happy with his
disruption.

The group watched Cinderella cross the
roof to a nearby tree. Steadying herself, she reached and placed
the nest on a limb. Marius held his breath, afraid she would fall.
When he started forward, Lady Millicent held tight to his arm.
“Don’t concern yourself, Mr. Parker. Cinderella is use to this type
of chore. After all, she is a servant.”

Marius was reminded once again how
lowly servants were viewed by his class. They didn’t matter and
were easily replaced. “Surely there is a man about who could have
seen to the task?”

The ladies laughed in unison. “She is
perfectly capable of the chores assigned and our male servants
certainly have more important duties at the moment,” Lady Millicent
insisted.

Was the young lady so ignorant that she
didn’t realize the need for what Cinderella was doing and not
simply rescuing birds. It would be pointless to explain he
supposed.

Once the chimney was finally unblocked,
Cinderella carefully descended the ladder to return
inside.

“
See, she has survived,”
Millicent added. “Of course, no real lady would have undertaken
such a task.” Her female companions shared a look and laughed.
Their humor was lost on Marius.

“
I could think of one,” Noah
offered in a dry tone.

Lady Millicent smiled up at Noah, a
dimple at the corner of her mouth. She must have thought Noah to be
jesting. “Who would that be, Lord Felding?”

“
I am sure he is referring
to his sister, Lady Sandlin.” Dillon chuckled.

“
Lord Sandlin’s wife?”
.

Sandlin came up from behind. “Did I
hear my wife mentioned?”

Marius turned toward him. “Felding was
just remarking how we do know one particular lady would retrieve a
bird’s nest from a chimney.”

Sandlin groaned. “I have no doubt.
However, let’s keep this particular instance to ourselves as I
don’t want to give my wife any ideas.”

The smiles fell from the young women’s
faces and they exchanged looks of confusion. Marius was not about
to enlighten them to the reckless nature of Lady
Sandlin.

“
I have come to retrieve
you,” Sandlin announced. “Prinny is ready to leave.”

Marius wanted to scream and beg them to
not leave him alone. Instead, he politely escorted Lady Millicent
back into the house and bid farewell to the prince and his
companions.

More titles from Jane
Charles

A Gentleman’s Guide to Once
Upon a Time Series

His Impetuous Debutante

His Contrary Bride

His (Not so) Sensible Miss

The Wiggons’ School for
Elegant Young Ladies Series

To Walk in the Sun

To Love a Governess
Series

Sacked – Regency Short

Handfasted – Regency Novella

About Jane

Jane Charles has lived in the Midwest
her entire life. As a child she would more likely be found outside
with a baseball than a book in her hand. In fact, Jane hated
reading until she was sixteen. Out of boredom on a long road trip
she borrowed her older sister’s historical romance and fell in love
with reading. She long ago lost count of how many fiction novels
she has read over the years and her love for them never died. Along
with romance she has a passion for history and the two soon
combined when she penned her first historical romance. What turned
into a hobby became a passion, which has been fully supported by
her husband, three children and three cats.

Jane can be contacted at:
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http://www.JaneACharles.blogspot.com

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