Enticing the Earl Read Online Free

then quickly left the room.
    Mia waited, determined to discover Selina’s secret. But as the minutes ticked away, the laudanum performed its magic, increasing Mia’s need to sleep.
     
    Simon sipped his brandy and stared over the rolling landscape of the Midlands. Allan Davies. Who the bloody hell was he? Mia said Davies acted as if he knew him. Simon relaxed against the cool leather seat and let his mind drift back to Eton. He remembered a Peter Davies but that man was now Viscount Hamilton. Simon doubted Hamilton had any real grudges against him. They both had played a few boyish pranks on each other but it never went further than that.
    Davies was a common enough name. He’d most likely met a few others over the past ten years but none that stood out as either a friend or an enemy. Tomorrow he would send for a Bow Street runner to investigate. But for now, his priority was keeping Mia safe. Whoever did this might attempt to hurt her again... or worse.
    He shook his head in confusion. Mia was one of the kindest people he had ever known. He could think of no reason for anyone to want to hurt her. Except that one of North’s tenants had done just that to Selina after the tenant’s wife lost her baby.
    A soft knock scraped at the door. “Come in.”
    Selina peered around the door. “Would you like some company?”
    He smiled at her as he rose. “Certainly, Your Grace. How is the patient?”
    She walked into the room and sat in the chair across from him. “Finally asleep. That woman needed more laudanum than I usually give a man.”
    “Would you like a brandy or sherry?”
    “A sherry would be lovely, my lord.”
    “Hart,” he insisted. “I don’t stand on formality here.” With a shrug, he added, “Or anywhere.” He poured her a small glass of sherry and then handed it to her before adding a bit more brandy to his own glass.
    “Very well then, I insist you call me Selina.” She held up her glass. “To good health.”
    He saluted her and took a long drink. The smoky brandy teased his tongue and warmed him as he swallowed. “So, Selina, have you ever heard Miss Featherstone talk about this Allan Davies man?”
    The duchess shook her head. “Mia has told me many secrets over the years but for some reason, she never told me about him. Maybe she was envious of my relationship with the duke and decided to take the first man she could as her lover.”
    “I’m quite sure there must have been a better candidate,” he grumbled softly.
    “I have no doubt about that,” she said with a pointed stare.
    He wondered what her stare meant. He’d only told one person how he felt about Mia and that was in a drunken state to Middleton. He needed to get back on task. “Have you ever heard of Allan Davies from any of North’s tenants or perhaps someone in the village?”
    “I’m sorry, Hart. I have never heard of the man.” She sipped her sherry slowly. “But don’t you think that it is odd that no one has heard of him? This isn’t London. I know nearly everyone at your home, Middleton’s home, and a great number of people from Cheadle. How could I have not heard of his name before now?”
    “An assumed name, perhaps?”
    Selina frowned before placing her empty glass on the table. “But the villagers love to speak of anyone new to the neighborhood. I should have heard something of it.”
    “I thought the same thing.” It made no sense. “But everyone North and I spoke with said they had never heard of the man. And they didn’t remember anyone new in the neighborhood.”
    “It makes no sense.”
    “Can you think of any reason someone would want to hurt Miss Featherstone?”
    “Hurt Mia?” Selina shook her head adamantly. “No. Everyone loves her.”
    Simon rubbed his temples. “I will check out the village tomorrow. I will also hire a runner to see if he can discover anything.”
    “Thank you, Hart.”
    He shrugged nonchalantly to hide the frustration spiraling through him. “I can’t have one of my