3

For breakfast, there was nothing Beaufort enjoyed more than a heavy, varied, beautiful and typical breakfast. Note 'varied!' Back in Edinburgh, Victoria made sure the maids prepared a diverse selection, and luckily, even her husband, Harry, enjoyed having a distinct variety to choose from. And this was his description of a varied breakfast. One full of appetizing and mouth licking choices!

Today, unfortunately, Beaufort woke up later than expected for his usual early rising nature. When he arrived at the music room, where the guests in attendance and the family were expected to have breakfast, it was unfortunate that only unsweetened bread was left, in addition to three potatoes and two large arrowroots.

He felt drained at the sight! How was he to choose when all the available options were dull? He ended up making a small head shake, pulling one of the chairs, and sitting down. He ated potatoes, and detested unsweetened bread, for aging people with opportunistic diseases. He was barely thirty even…

"Tea..." he muttered to himself as he reached for the jug at the edge of the table. "Cold!" He shook his head again, wondering why no butler, footman, maid, governess, or even the lady of the house had entered the room to check if someone was having breakfast. He was completely alone, and another of his dislikes was cold tea…

"I hope everyone has filled their stomach… There shall be a walk; I need to show you all spinsters the beauty of Lancaster…"

A distant, beautiful voice distracted Beaufort from the sight of the leftovers on his table.

"Would you not wear too many necklaces? They shall weigh your neck down, won't they?"

The woman continued, her accent seeming quite familiar, as if he had heard it before…

"Oh Jesus! Are you alone?"

The familiar voice came from the door, and the lady was already stepping into the room. "I shall… Where's Mary?" she added, waving her hands around as she headed to the ringing area and called for Mary, whom Beaufort knew well as the head maid.

"Hot tea, please, for the guest!" she said, as Beaufort, somehow unaware, got caught admiring her voice, her hair, her flowing blue dress, her nervous nature as she scratched her temple right after making the call and walked over to the large table.

"My apologies, I did not know we had another visitor in attendance," she added, and Beaufort slowly nodded, taking in her eyes—blue like her dress—her small face, her perfectly full red lips, and her brown hair, now raised high into a bun.

The woman from last night!

He knew, but she did not seem to recognize him. She was more beautiful in the day. Pity the night was hiding her away during their previous meeting.

"Are you leaving?" he choked out, realizing his scrutiny might have been too obvious, from the way she looked at him, rather uncomfortable. "The ladies?" he added.

"We are leaving for a small nature walk. I need them to have ample time speaking with their suitors," she replied, Beaufort definitely catching a small glimpse of pride in her last statement.

Who was she?

"Suitors, you say?" he asked, and she nodded, forcing her eyes not to meet his.

Was he affecting her? No, of course not.

"You should join us. It shall be quite lovely. You might find a lady to your liking," she added, biting her lip, her eyes on his hands, probably checking if he wore a ring.

"I would be delighted," he replied with a smile, "Only that I need a heavy breakfast and—"

"Oh…" She stopped him by waving her hand before he could say something offensive.

Only, he had no intention of using a particularly sharp adjective—just a slow statement about how the breakfast was giving him a rather painful time choosing. It was pretty dull…

"Mary shall be here in a minute, sir!" she stated and lightly rolled her index finger around one of the ropes on her dress, her eyes fixed on the door. She was nervous!

"When do you leave?" Beaufort asked hoping to ease her temples by engaging. Engaging a conversation.

"I have asked the ladies to make their final touches. I believe the bachelors are already downstairs."

"Oh." Beaufort replied. "How many bachelors?" he asked, the lady giving him a confused look.

"Bachelors?" she asked, and he nodded as the door clicked, Mary entering with a tray full of bread and eggs, bacon, and at the far end, a jug of tea.

"Lady…" Mary started, but froze once her eyes met Beaufort's. Pride, happiness, love and delight were perfectly convoluted in her eyes as she walked past the lady, placed the tray on the table, and looked again at Beaufort, who had already stood, taking off his top hat.

"I missed you, and I am healthy," he stated, making a heartfelt laugh as Mary smiled and made a small nod.

"Enjoy your breakfast," Mary replied, making a slight smile to Beaufort, humbly nodding and bowing to the lady before starting her way out of the room.

Why didn't she embrace me? Beaufort's mind laced as he watched Mary, his all-time favorite nanny since childhood, walk out of the room. Was? he wondered as his eyes looked at the breakfast and then certainly at the lady. He scanned her quietly, then scanned her again, more intensely.

She did not have a ring, not even an engagement. Her speech was quite peculiar, one that could easily be denounced as from top families. Her stance was well—perfect! She did not bend her shoulders; she smiled at him warmly, kept her face perfectly straight—everything that needed to be done by one from a high-class family.

Thus, this left him with that one thought, one he had not considered since speaking to her.

She was but Andrew's wife! She was the new Lady Lancaster—or better yet, his sister-in-law!

His head tilted slightly upward as he sized up his thoughts. He did not want her to see him as creepy or weird, but… well, he couldn't stop himself from thinking about her, from looking at her. He wondered if he should ask her the question but chose not to. Probably not a nice thing to ask. After all, it would be shameful for him not to know the lady of the house when he was the serving Earl.

"Are you not going to take it? It might be cold before you think of taking a bite," she said, and Beaufort nodded, sitting down as he poured himself a half-full cup of tea. His appetite had somehow declined. How would he dare try to flirt with Andrew's wife? Not flirt really, but there was something he knew he had done sinfully within his talks with this lady, that felt wrong. Well they would be wrong if his thoughts were right. He felt even worse at the thought of it.

Was she Andrew's? Probably not… but?

How would he ask her? How would he know? He did not know, and he could never ask her directly. She, too, did not know him. It had been five years since he was last here. He thus ignored all the questions in his mind as he bit into the fresh bread Mary had brought for him and drank the sugarless tea.

'Whatever she were, he did not care!' He drunk up the thought as the tea drowning deeper down his throat, erased all the thoughts that had flung up his mind. 'He did not care!'

"We shall be down at the lobby if you wish to join us. We start in a few. With your looks, I believe all the ladies shall flutter…" she added, her voice playful as before. "Unless you are a rake!"

Beaufort's face turned to her fast, despite her laughing after that statement. The word somehow had affected him.

A rake! He muttered in his mind. Not sure what his facial expression was.

"I shall, in a minute," he firmly replied, eyes on the lady, then back to his breakfast, taking a larger gulp of tea.

A rake! His mind muttered again as the squeaking sound of the door closing was heard.

Was he a rake? He was worse than a rake. Whatever he was, only God knew. He would define himself as someone who would make the father piss his pants during confession. How would he even dare confess to a father anyway? His full body count was decorated by women with… well, all that did not matter.

He had promised himself to be a changed man in the year '65.

And he would change. He would find himself a wife and marry.

Marry? He laughed at that thought, as he bit off another huge amount of bread. He needed be down the lobby before the single guests went out together and he were left filling his empty acting stomach!

He thus drained another gulp of the tea, ignoring how hot it was inside his mouth.