A Slight Miscalculation by Deb Marlowe Read Free Book Online

Chapter One
    London
1814
     
    William Hampton, Viscount Worthe, glared at
the nervous footman blocking the doorway. “Say. That. Again,” he
ordered.
    The footman swallowed, his eyes darting from
Worthe’s frown to his clenched fists. “The young miss is not at
home, sir.” He bit his lip and leaned forward, his manner
confiding. “I don’t mean in the sense of not receiving visitors,
sir. She’s not here at all.”
    The paper that had blighted his life
crackled in his pocket as Worthe stiffened. “I believe I asked for
J. M. Tillney.” He spoke slowly and clearly this time.
    “Yes, sir.” Now the
footman looked at him as if he were the one with attics to let. “But as I said,
she’s not here. She’s rarely home, lately.”
    “Do you mean to say that
J. M. Tillney is a girl ?”
    The footman began to look alarmed.
    “Wait.” Worthe pulled the letter from his
pocket. “Lord Tillney franked this. This is his home, is it
not?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “And is there no one else in the house who
might have signed a letter with that signature? Not the baron
himself, but his heir? A ward?” He fought to keep the sudden
desperation from his tone. “A nephew?”
    The footman drew himself straight. “I may be
new to my post, sir, but I know the family. The young miss is the
master’s only child, and the only one with those initials.” He
glanced behind him, then motioned Worthe back, stepped outside and
closed the door behind him. “I’m risking my place saying so, sir,
but if that letter is indeed from Miss Jane, then I beg you will
not mention it to anyone else. Her mother will have kittens, should
she hear she’s written a gentleman she’s no acquaintance with. It’s
not seemly.”
    Worthe frowned. “She did not write me
directly. She sent the letter via the Astronomical Gazette. They
passed it on to me.”
    “Begging your pardon, but Lady Tillney won’t
hold with that, either. She don’t approve of Miss Jane’s scholarly
interests, any more than she likes her spending so much time at
Half Moon House. Says she’s ruining her chances at a husband.”
    A husband? Worthe’s humiliation doubled. All
of his plans had been put in jeopardy by a debutante?
    A call sounded from inside. “That’s Wheats.
I must get back to my post.”
    “Hold, please. Half Moon House, you said? Is
it an astronomy society?” That would make sense.
    Already closing the door, footman merely
shook his head.
    “But that’s where I’ll find her?” At the
man’s quick nod, Worthe thrust out a hand to keep the door from
closing. “Where is it located?”
    “Craven Street. Just ask—everyone in London
knows the place.”
    Worthe turned on his heel, his mind
spinning. An amateur enthusiast. Surely that explained it. But did
it? He stopped at the end of the walk and glanced down at the
damned note that had plagued him.
     
    Many congratulations on your discovery of
the new asteroid. How thrilling for you. I read over your
mathematics and ideas on the variations in Uranus’s orbit with
interest. There is a slight miscalculation on the second page,
however. I thought you would like to know.
     
    He’d scoffed when it had first arrived. But
uncertainty had haunted him. He’d checked all of his calculations
again. It had taken him two days to find the mistake.
    Worthe had been furious.
Humiliated. Despondent. How had he missed it? How had everyone
else, at the Gazette and beyond? Truthfully, it didn’t destroy his plans, he just
had to make adjustments. But the correction smarted. The casual
ease with which his mistake had been pointed out set his teeth on
edge. He’d become obsessed with meeting the man who’d sent the
letter. He wasn’t sure if he wished to thank him or pop his cork
for him, but he most definitely wanted to meet him.
    He’d left off his exhaustive work on his
telescope, gathered his papers and come straight to London,
purposefully not informing his mother of his arrival, so as to
avoid the inevitable