The Valet and the Stable Groom: M/M Regency Romance by Katherine Marlowe Read Free Book Online Page B

Clement had agreed that he would play and that he would secure Letty likewise to be a fourth player for the game.
    Warm and renewed in dry clothing, Clement leaned against one of the bare walls in his little room and breathed deeply, taking his few minutes of respite while he could find them.
    His window looked out upon the stables by an angle. If he stood to one side of the window, he could see most of the structure. It was a large stable for an estate of this size. Clement supposed it had been built by a former owner of the estate with more inclination toward hunting than Hildebert.
    The bell in his room rang, jangling him out of his reverie. Clement shook his head to clear it.
    Hildebert, Jane, and Letty were waiting at the card table by the time Clement arrived upstairs.
    “Clement! There you are. Come and play.”
    Slightly out of breath from having hurried up the stairs, Clement took his seat at the table and reached for the hand of cards awaiting him. He felt most uncomfortably out of place, having never in his life been called upon to play hands with persons of quality.
    Letty didn’t seem to notice, but Clement already knew that both Letty and Jane were more inclined to spend their evenings playing cards with each other than employed in suitable feminine pursuits like embroidery.
    “What is the game?” he asked, taking up the cards.
    “Whist,” Jane said. “Do you know it?”
    It had been a popular pastime in the servants’ quarters in London. Clement nodded.
    “How pleasant this is!” Hildebert enthused, gaining an early advantage in the game. “We ought to play more often.”
    “Perhaps you might make a habit of hosting card-parties for the local society,” Clement suggested, concerned about Jane and Hildebert’s new tendency to take their body servants as acceptable company.
    “Local society!” Hildebert exclaimed. “What, the sheep?”
    “To be sure,” Jane said, “there must be some human neighbours in our vicinity.”
    “Mrs. Ledford would know,” Clement said.
    “I shall inquire with her,” Jane said.
    Hildebert was less interested in the prospect of local society. “Whose go is it?”
    “Yours, darling.”
    “Ah! So it is.”
    “What about a garden-party?” Letty suggested.
    In unison, the group turned their heads toward the window. The gardens outside were very wet and gloomy.
    “If only Wales had better weather,” Hildebert despaired.
    Clement’s grip tightened on his cards. “We are in England.”
    Letty coughed.
    “What if we set it in the conservatory?” Jane proposed. “A garden party in a conservatory, wouldn’t that be lovely! Has anyone been to the conservatory yet? Is it pleasant?”
    “Crowded,” Clement said. He thought of a flock of country nobles crammed into the serene charm of the conservatory and felt an immediate resistance to the idea. “There’s hardly room for anything but the foliage. No space for any sort of party.”
    “What a pity,” Jane sighed. “The gardens, then. I think that would be very nice. And if the weather is poor, we shall simply relocate into the sunroom.”
    As they played, Clement could see someone moving about in the conservatory. It was most likely the gardener, Miss Grant, seeing to her duties. There was a smaller possibility that it might be Hugo. The conservatory would be a very pleasant place to take refuge from the work of the stables. Perhaps too pleasant! There was every chance that Hugo might have an acquaintance of some sort with the gardener.
    “Clement,” Jane said.
    Clement startled. His companions blinked at him.
    “It’s your play.”

    A s soon as the game was finished, the idea of the garden party was taken up in earnest. Letty retrieved paper and Jane’s appointment-book, while Clement fetched Mrs. Ledford for her help compiling a list of potential guests.
    Conversation in the servants’ parlour stopped as Clement stepped into the room. Two of the maids, a footman, and Mrs. Ledford were seated in the