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

again, mostly to himself. “Clement, what shall we do?”
    “We shall,” Clement reminded him, “to Herefordshire.”
    “Do you know what the worst of it is, Clement?”
    Clement nudged him toward the chair beside the vanity table, where he had laid out the shaving implements. Distracted with despair, Hildebert did not move, and Clement was obliged to manhandle him across the room and down into the chair.
    “If I am not the heir,” Hildebert continued, despite Clement’s focus upon his duties, “then neither shall my progeny inherit after me!”
    Clement pressed his lips together with long-suffering patience, taking the utmost care to account for any unexpected dramatic movements which Hildebert might feel compelled to make while Clement had a blade in his hand. “Sir,” Clement said, not wanting to make any implications upon Jane Devereux’s age but suspecting that she was nearing the end of her prime childbearing years, “you don’t have any progeny.”
    “Well, no,” said Hildebert. “Messy business, all that. Babies. But if I had been the heir, you see, if I had been Viscount , then it would be my duty to continue the line.”
    It seemed circumspect not to point out to Hildebert that, according to his original plan, by the time Lord Devereux could be expected to die of old age Hildebert himself would be a mere fifteen years behind the same advanced age and Jane Devereux almost certainly past hope of bearing children.
    “My children shall not even inherit Gennerly House,” sighed Hildebert, who still had no children and low probability of developing any. “Upon my death, it reverts not to my heirs but to the younger son of the Viscount Devereux. It should only remain with my own children if the Viscount Devereux has no younger son.”
    This all seemed to Clement to be a very complicated mass of hypotheticals, and he focused instead upon finishing the task of shaving his master.
    “Perhaps,” Clement suggested, once he had finished and laid his razors safely aside, “Mrs. Devereux herself might have some opinion or insight upon the matter.”
    “Oh!” Hildebert said, having in the midst of his despair not considered that his wife might have some say upon the matter of whether or not she wished to bear any of these aforementioned heirs. He nodded with resolute certainty. “Yes, I will speak to her about it. As you do know, Clement, my Jane is most admirably wise.”
    “Sir,” Clement said, and took his leave.

    S atisfied that Hildebert was appropriately attired to face the day and that a brief but professional letter was on its way to the staff of Gennerly House to alert them to their new circumstances, Clement sought out Mr. Midgley once again.
    He found him in the large kitchen, arranging provisions for the journey to Herefordshire in advance of having made any preparation as to the packing or transport of the household. Clement endeavoured to plant the idea in Mr. Midgley’s head of imposing upon Lord Devereux’s generosity for the acquisition of at least one carriage, a footman, and a groom for the transport of Mr. and Mrs. Devereux and all two of their personal attendants. Once that was securely received, he suggested further arrangements for packing and transporting all of Mr. and Mrs. Devereux’s personal effects, and reminded Mr. Midgley not to forget arrangements for transporting himself. While one carriage could potentially fit a married couple of quality with their personal maid and valet, respectively, it almost certainly could not also accommodate a butler.
    This all seemed to take root within Mr. Midgley’s mind. Once he had bustled off to put his new ideas into effect, Clement took advantage of a moment’s leisure to see to his own breakfast—now nearer to lunch—and then went in search of his trusted friend and fellow attendant, the irrepressible Letitia Lockwood.
    Letty was in the solarium, in what seemed to be a moment of solitary leisure.
    Clement had only just felt a