for me.
“Shall we?”
Leo stepped around me and opened the door. Before my foot hit the first step, George reached up to hand me down. He had never looked better to me. With his homburg in hand, the sunlight cast a sheen on his dark, neatly trimmed hair. His suit was impeccable; a light gray with a darker waistcoat. And there I stood, rumpled from travel. His smile told me however disheveled I might be, he was delighted to see me.
“How lovely you’ve come to meet us,” I said, loathe to release his hand once I’d reached the platform. “I thought you’d be shooting.”
Apparently, George didn’t want to break the connection either. He brought my hand up to his chest and drew me away from my travel companions. “And miss your arrival? I wouldn’t think of it.”
We paused at the end of the busy platform to wait for the others. “How was the trip?” he asked.
“Next time, I think I’ll sit with Rose and Nanny.” I boggled my eyes. “Or perhaps the luggage.”
I brightened at the sound of his laugh. “That bad?”
“No, I am just feeling peevish.” With a sigh, I returned his hand and clasped my own in front of me. The rest of our group would soon catch up with us. “The Kendrick girls are not quite the traveling companions I’d hoped for, but all will be fine, I’m sure.”
“Then you’ll be delighted to hear I have two conveyances to take us back to Risings.”
“You are my hero,” I whispered as Lily and Leo brought the Kendrick party our way.
“We’ll have to take the footbridge to cross the tracks to the carriages,” George said. “Shall we be on our way?”
George led our little group off the platform toward the stairs with Leo by his side. I turned to see if Lily was nearby as I’d hoped to avoid sharing a carriage with the Kendrick sisters. Of course, she lagged behind. I parted my lips to urge her to keep up just as another train pulled into the station with a screeching of brakes.
I chose to save my breath until the noise subsided, but then a new disturbance caught my attention—a rumble and banging up ahead. I glanced up at the stairway to see a cart full of baggage fairly flying down the steps directly at George and Leo. I gaped in horror as bags and trunks fell off the cart and tumbled down the stairs. In one fluid motion, George clamped a hand on Leo’s arm and jumped to the side as the bags and cart landed on the pavement with a crash and a cloud of dust.
Chapter 3
After an instant of shocked paralysis, the rest of us rushed forward as one, stumbling over and around the offending luggage. George and Leo climbed to their feet, brushing off their clothes. Certain as I was that we’d find them at the bottom of the heap of bags, I nearly sagged with relief.
I looked George up and down, then turned to assess Leo. “I can’t believe neither of you were injured.”
“Good thing Hazelton acted so quickly,” Leo said, “or that might not be the case. I’ll admit when I looked up to see those bags tumbling toward me, I thought that might be the end.”
“I shall not be done in by a rogue baggage cart.” George drew me aside as Lily bounded past us and threw herself into Leo’s arms. I felt quite jealous as I could do no more than touch George’s sleeve while we were in such a public space.
Indeed, the rest of our party stood around us, watching with interest. Treadwell stepped up and handed George his homburg. “We should call for the stationmaster, I’d say. Have him explain how the deuce such a thing could happen.”
“I find it shocking we would have to call him,” Eliza said with a sniff. “He should already be here to see what caused all this racket.”
Anne gave her sister a look of scorn. “The train was arriving at the same time. I doubt anyone on the platform heard a thing.”
“Unless you’ve a mind to call for him, Hazelton,” Leo said, “I’d rather we just move on. Obviously, someone left the cart unattended.”
“And at the top of a stairway.” Treadwell clucked his tongue. “Someone should lose his position for such a careless act.”
“I do believe we should call for the stationmaster,” I said. “I’d like to give him a piece of my mind.”
George grazed my fingers with his own. “While I dislike denying you the satisfaction, Lady Harleigh, I’m of the same mind as Kendrick. We are off to a rather sticky beginning, but both of us are fit, so I say we head to Risings and enjoy the rest of our week.”
“Hear, hear,” Leo added.
With the two of them determined to brush off the incident and get on with the week’s entertainment, it would be churlish for any of the rest of us to kick up a fuss. One by one, we nodded or shrugged, and our little party climbed the stairs and set out for the carriages.
The accident had delayed us long enough to meet up with the servants outside the station. A few footmen and another man in a suit, probably an upper servant, were directing the loading of our luggage onto a cart. I spotted Rose holding Nanny’s hand and took her into my custody, while George quickly dispersed our party into the two carriages. Leo, Lily, and Rose rode with us, and Mr. Treadwell, Mr. Durant, and Leo’s sisters climbed into the second carriage. The servants would follow us to Risings with our bags.
The drive took less than an hour but was long enough to calm my nerves. George and Leo were fine after all, and while the accident had been quite bizarre, no venture was without its stumbling blocks. I stole a glance at George through the corner of my eye. He appeared unscathed.
“I am fine, Lady Harleigh.” His lips twitched into a smirk. “Stop worrying about me and enjoy the scenery.”
I leaned forward to see we were approaching a bridge that crossed a lake. “Are we close to the estate?”
“We’re on the property now,” he said. “Change seats with me so you can see it from the window.”
“I’d like to see, too,” Rose said, wriggling forward in her seat opposite us.
“Excellent. Step right up to the window, young lady. Your mother and I can easily see over your head.”
George took Rose’s hand to steady her as the three of us exchanged our seats. Lily and Leo, on the opposite seat with their heads together, were oblivious to our activity. “Is that your lake, Mr. Hazelton?” Rose asked.
“Not mine, but it belongs to the estate, yes.”
I absorbed the fact that the Hazeltons owned this lovely lake, and while we crossed at the narrows, I could see it widened to our right and reflected the gold-tinged meadowland surrounding it, as well as an enormous edifice. Pushing my head closer to the window, I let out a gasp as the house came into view. The meadow gave way to a manicured lawn, which in turn gave way to a graveled drive along the front of the house which seemed to stretch on forever in pure grandeur.
The carriage stopped in front of a grand stone stairway leading to a great hall at the center of the house. It was framed by two wings, three stories high, with balconied porches on the second
