The Valet and the Stable Groom: M/M Regency Romance Read Free Page A

House with additional persons from London? I do imagine that we can at least rely upon the presence of Mrs. Devereux’s personal maid, Miss Lockwood, to fill out our ranks.”
    “Ah!” Mr. Midgley said, and pressed his hand over his mouth in contemplation. “Let me think.”
    The staff around them watched all this in fascination. Someone tittered and was hushed. Clement summoned all his restraint in order not to glance in the direction of the perpetrator.
    “If I recollect correctly,” Clement provided, having made it his business to know the vital statistics of Gennerly House, “there is in residence in Herefordshire an existing butler, a housekeeper, a groom of the stables, and surely at least two maids and two footmen.” He expected that Mr. Midgley would at least have the immediate sense to see that such an array filled all the necessary roles of the household, with the possible exception of a cook.
    “Just so,” Mr. Midgley agreed. “I do recall that you are correct.”
    Clement set his teeth, being very certain that Mr. Midgley recalled no such thing.
    “If you’ll dismiss me, sir,” Clement prompted, “I’ll return to my duties and leave you to announce your decision to Lord Devereux and Mr. Devereux as you judge best.”
    “To be sure!” Mr. Midgley confirmed, rising to his feet and nodding sagely, as if all of Clement’s suggestions had been entirely his own ideas. “Carry on, my young sir. We’ll be very busy in these coming days!”
    Clement replied with a thin smile and a bow, and made his exit before his rising irritation could bubble over into a display of temper.

Chapter 2
    “ I suppose ,” said Hildebert, as Clement buttoned up his waistcoat for him, “that it’s a bit like exile.”
    “I’m certain it isn’t as bad as all that,” Clement assured him. He felt, privately, that it was the most dire exile imaginable. “Herefordshire is very picturesque, or so I’ve been told.”
    “It is full of sheep and only a few miles removed from being Welsh ,” Hildebert said, with a despairing groan.
    Clement, being a quarter Welsh on his mother’s side, thought that this was an unfair diminishment upon an entire country. He refrained from comment.
    “I always rather thought…” Hildebert began, and sighed. “Well, as you know, Clement. Up until this morning, I was my brother’s heir. I don’t suppose you ever met his first wife, did you? Lovely woman, but barren. I always expected simply that, whenever my brother grew aged, I would have a few pleasant years as Viscount—Hildebert, Viscount Devereux! What a ring it has!—and then, and then, I suppose… well, perhaps I should have a child or two by then, if Jane were so inclined.”
    Clement made a noncommittal but encouraging sound to let Hildebert know that he was listening.
    “And when he married again… Sarah is very pleasant, very pleasant, though she is so very much younger than him, and…” Hildebert paused, and sighed deeply, wandering toward the window. Clement followed after him, imposing upon his master’s distracted sensibilities as he endeavoured to get Hildebert into his coat. “I knew it was inevitable, Clement. I suppose I must have. The happy news of Sarah’s condition, of course, and she is possessed of such excellent health.”
    Coat donned, Hildebert wandered toward the opposite side of the room while Clement followed him with a hair brush.
    “An heir!” Hildebert exclaimed, shaking his head. “James has an heir, which means subsequently that I am not his heir. And with Sarah in such glowing health and James still relatively young, there is no reason why he might not have… have…” Hildebert went pale and gazed upon Clement in disbelieving horror. “ Further heirs. ”
    Uncertain whether he was expected to offer sympathy or sense, Clement patted awkwardly at his master’s shoulder as the compromise option. “That does indeed seem to be inevitable.”
    “Further heirs,” Hildebert whispered