Tenacious Trents 01 - A Misguided Lord by Jane Charles Read Free Book Online

doctor gently smiled at her. “I
cannot give you that guarantee. But, his fever isn’t too hot and he
seems healthy. I think he has a better chance than most who have
survived the disease.”
    Relief shot through her.
    “ Call me if he worsens.”
The doctor gathered his belongings.
    “ What do I owe you?” Please, don’t let it be much.
    The doctor looked to the older woman
who had been helping with the children. “If Mrs. Hartley would be
so kind as to bake me one of her cakes, that would be payment
enough.”
    The woman blushed and looked down. “Of
course I would, Dr. Hubert, and you don’t need to use a sick child
as an excuse to get one.”
    Eleanor wanted to laugh with relief.
She didn’t need to pay the doctor out of her precious, quickly
depleting funds and it looked as if Mrs. Hartley had a love
interest. Perhaps Mrs. Hartley would be able to move out of her
brother-in-law’s household soon. But not before they were gone,
hopefully. As selfish as it seemed, Eleanor needed to the woman to
be with the children.
    The doctor followed Mrs. Hartley out
of the room and Eleanor turned to Leigh. “Do we have any Dover’s
Powder or syrup?”
    Leigh shook her head. “We haven’t
needed it in years. I didn’t think to pack it.”
    It is what she feared. “Very well, I
will run to the apothecary. Keep Ben comfortable and the other boys
away from him.” Leigh had also had measles as a child so neither
one of them should contract the disease again. The other boys had
not and she couldn’t risk all of them becoming ill.
    Mrs. Hartley just closed the front
door after letting the doctor out when Eleanor came down the
stairs. “I need to go the apothecary.”
    “ I’ll stay with the
children.”
    “ You don’t have to…”
    “ Nonsense. Your grandfather
is going to require you to be home later, as you well
know.”
    Eleanor’s heart squeezed. How could
she go about in society while her brother lay in bed above-stairs
with the measles? “I can’t. Not with—”
    “— You can and you will,”
Mrs. Hartley interrupted. “First, he won’t give you a choice. And
second—” she opened the door, nearly pushing Eleanor outside, “—you
need to find a husband so you can be with those children all the
time.”
    Mrs. Hartley was right. She hated
being away from them, especially now. But, she wouldn’t find a
husband and security for all of them if she remained by the bedside
of a sick child. It was unfair that she had to make the choice, but
there really wasn’t one. “I’ll be back shortly.”
    *

    Clayton tooled the phaeton through
traffic, wishing he had his carriage, but he had allowed Jordan to
borrow it this morning. He had too much on his mind and wished he
had a driver so he could think about what needed to be done next.
An hour ago the solicitor had left after having confirmed that
Adele and Julia had resided in Paris, though they spent much of the
time traveling all over the continent. What they were doing and who
they were visiting were unknown. When the former Earl of Bentley
had written on Lady Julia’s eighteenth birthday, requesting the
girl return home, mother and daughter had disappeared.
    What did his father think to
accomplish by bringing Julia home? Acknowledging her existence
would garner too much attention and far too many questions. What if
society learned Adele never died? Did his father wish to ruin Rose
and Madeline’s life because he wanted a daughter back he had not
seen in sixteen years?
    “ He wished to marry her off
to Lord Purlingham. The gentleman was looking for a wife and it
would have been advantageous to be linked to the viscount’s
family.”
    Clayton’s stomach turned. Purlingham
was sixty-years-old, if a day. How could his father even think to
marry a girl of eighteen off to a man old enough to be her
grandfather? Had Julia returned, Clay wasn’t so certain he would
have allowed such a match.
    Apparently his father had tried to
find his wife and child but had