know if she wasn’t, wouldn’t she? She would feel…different.
Well, she had certainly felt different when she awoke this morning. Was that enough? She did not know. No one had ever bothered to explain the mechanics of procreation to her. Was being alone with a man sufficient? The Abington sisters had always been so careful that none of their students was ever by herself with a gentleman caller. Sarah put her hands to her hot cheeks. She had not just been drinking tea alone with a man in the school parlor! No, she’d been in bed with him. At night. Unclothed.
Sarah put a shaking hand on her stomach. Could there be a child growing within her right now?
And why had the man laughed when she’d told him who she was? He had appeared to believe her. He must realize now that she was not a whore.
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She would not let her imagination run away with her. There was nothing she could do about it at the moment. She would just tie her stomach into knots fretting.
She wrapped her hair into a bun at the back of her neck and fastened it there with her hairpins. She surveyed the result. Not elegant, but at least she no longer looked like a red haystack. She opened the door.
The man was waiting in the hall, as promised. He looked very elegant and unapproachable with clothes on.
“There you are.” He offered her his arm. “Let’s go downstairs and brave the dragons.”
Sarah stepped closer. Now that he was standing, she saw that he was quite tall. She was used to looking men in the eye, but she came only to this man’s shoulder.
“You’re not going to introduce her to your aunt, are you, James? I can take her down the backstairs and settle up for you if you haven’t had time.”
Sarah started. She had not noticed the other person in the hall. It was the red-haired man of last night. She frowned. Why had he put her in his friend’s room? She opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind, but James was already talking.
“We’ll sort this all out downstairs, Robbie. I don’t relish discussing my business in the hall, nor do we need to go through this more than once.”
“But, James, you can’t—”
James raised his hand. “Be careful what you say, Robbie. I am most certain you will regret it.”
Robbie stared, then shrugged. “As you will. I suppose you know what you’re doing. You always do.”
Another door opened and a third man stepped into the corridor. He was shorter and broader than the other two, with curly, brown hair. “Morning, James, Robbie, ma’am. Uh, witnessed the commotion this morning. Shall I take charge of the, um, lady?”
“Good morning, Charles. Do come along.” James looked down at Sarah. “Forgive me for not taking the time to make introductions, dear. I assure you, it is better to wait until we have some privacy downstairs.”
Sarah nodded. She had no idea what was going on and decided it was better to hold her tongue. She saw Charles shoot Robbie a questioning look. Robbie shrugged.
The little group walked along the hall and down the stairs, stopping before a closed door. “Courage,” James whispered, touching her hand.
Sarah and the men stepped into a private sitting room. The tall elderly woman and her shorter companion looked up from their tea. The companion wrinkled her nose, as if she’d happened upon a pigsty.
James smiled down at Sarah. There was a sparkle in his eyes as though he were enjoying some grand joke. He turned to the older women. “Aunt, Lady Amanda, may I present Miss Sarah Hamilton of Philadelphia? Sarah, this is my aunt, Lady Gladys Runyon, and her companion, Lady Amanda Wallen-Smyth.”
“Damn!”
Sarah glanced around to see where the expletive had come from. Charles looked bewildered; Robbie looked ill.
Lady Amanda’s nostrils flared as if the pig had left the sty and had had the audacity to root around her skirts. “Alvord, I don’t care if you import your wh—”
Lady Gladys put a hand out to stop Lady Amanda. “Sarah Hamilton did you say?”
“Exactly, Aunt. She is here to visit the Earl of Westbrooke. I believe they are related.”
Robbie groaned.
James—Mr. Alvord, Sarah corrected herself—looked positively gleeful when he turned to introduce her to his male friends. “Miss Hamilton, this is Major Charles Draysmith.”
Major Draysmith bowed. “My pleasure, Miss Hamilton.”
“And this,” James said, his grin widening, “is Robert—Robbie—Hamilton. The Earl of Westbrooke.”
Sarah gasped. Lord Westbrooke executed a jerky bow.
“You can’t be my uncle. You’re too young.”
Robbie ran his hands through hair that looked so like her father’s. “No, sorry about that. I’m your cousin. My father died last year. We’ve just put off mourning.” He smiled weakly.
“So you are David Hamilton’s daughter, girl?” Lady Gladys said. Sarah turned back to face her.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Lady Gladys nodded. “Now that I look at you, I see the resemblance. Hamiltons always did breed true. And where might your father be? Surely he accompanied you across the Atlantic?”
“My father died in early December.”
“I’m sorry, child.” Lady Gladys did look sorry. “I always liked your father. He had an intensity about him that was quite compelling. And your mother? Is she deceased also?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“But why did you leave America so shortly after your father’s death?” Lady Amanda looked suspiciously at Sarah.
There was no point in hiding her situation, Sarah decided. It would be clear soon enough. It looked doubtful that her cousin could take her in, so she’d need help finding work.
“My father was very active in politics and a respected physician, but he had little interest in practical matters. He gave money away freely and never insisted that his patients pay for his services. I would have had very little to live on had I stayed in Philadelphia. But I couldn’t stay—I promised my father I’d come to his brother in England.”
Lady Gladys shook her head. “Well, I’m sorry for your loss, Miss Hamilton, but that does not explain what you were doing in my nephew’s bed. Certainly that’s not how they go on in the colonies?”
Sarah flushed and raised her chin. “I thought it was my bed. Mr. Alvord came along later. I was quite as surprised as you to find him there this morning.”
“Mr. Alvord? James?”
“Yes, Aunt, we’ll sort all that out shortly. What I would like to know is why you felt compelled to invade my room?”
Lady Gladys flicked
