He found out soon enough when Dr. Roberts came over to join him and his father. “I’m sorry you and your guests had to witness this nefarious activity,” he said as soon as he reached their side.
Sebastian was not. This was the most fun he’d had in ages. He kept his mouth shut though, only half listening as the older doctor conversed with his father.
He, meanwhile, watched the young lady who moved with such confidence and purpose. She had the bearing of a general and it was fascinating.
What must it be like, he found himself wondering, as he watched her taking items from servants who were bustling about, fetching items for this young woman who’d taken command of the makeshift sickroom.
What would it be like to walk this earth being so sure of one’s purpose? Being so able and so competent and so...necessary?
The thoughts plagued him, but not in the dark, dour way they once had. For these days he’d found his own purpose. The only problem was this new purpose was in the military, not at home with his father who did not need him. Not truly.
“Terrible news. Just terrible,” his father muttered after the physician left his side.
“What is?” Sebastian asked.
“Didn’t you hear?” His father huffed in annoyance. “Dr. Roberts won’t be able to join us at Hampton Manor, after all.”
“No?”
“Seems he has a family obligation for the next few weeks. But what am I to do until then?”
Sebastian turned to consider his father. Would it do any good to point out—once again— that his father did not truly need a physician? That every doctor who’d examined him was convinced that he was in perfect health?
No. Likely not. “Perhaps we can find someone else with medical knowledge,” he started.
“Mmph. That was exactly what I was thinking,” his father surprised him by saying.
To Sebastian’s surprise, his father’s gaze was on the young lady who’d taken command of the injured pirate’s leg injury.
“Dr. Roberts says he trained that girl himself.” He huffed. “A young lady, can you believe it?”
Before Sebastian could answer, his father continued. “But then again her father the captain has odd beliefs when it comes to raising his daughters. I suppose this is his doing.”
Sebastian didn’t respond. He wasn’t expected to, that much was clear.
His father gave another harrumph as they both watched the extraordinary young lady in question.
“Surely there’s someone else who can help me,” his father said. “I’ll make inquiries before we return to the manor.”
Sebastian nodded. His father would no doubt turn over every stone in an attempt to find a physician he deemed worthy of joining them at the estate.
But as Sebastian watched the young lady talking to Dr. Roberts now with a furrowed brow, he knew without a doubt that his father’s efforts would be in vain.
If Dr. Roberts said this Miss Sally was their best hope, then it was all but decided.
She was the one—the only one—who could help them.
Chapter 1
The poor girl had no idea what was coming.
Sebastian Tallimus, the second son of The Earl of Elwood, watched his father rap his cane against the large wooden door of this tidy little seaside home as though he had half a mind to break it down with that blasted stick.
“Are you certain we should not wait and send the housekeeper? Surely Mrs. Huber is better suited—”
His father’s glare cut him short. “When one wants something accomplished, one must do it himself.” His father’s voice belied his size. A solid half the height of Sebastian, the elder earl’s voice still managed to boom mightily.
Sebastian held back a sigh. What his father meant, of course, was—if one wanted something done, one must do it oneself...rather than let Sebastian handle it.
Years away in the military had done nothing to alter his standing in his father’s eyes. He’d long stopped caring, and he certainly didn’t try to argue the point.
Arguing with the earl was a useless endeavor. Sebastian had vast experience to prove this point.
“Then perhaps we should wait until Maxwell returns from London,” he said. Sebastian’s elder brother, the Viscount of Bardon and his father’s pride and joy—now he could be expected to accomplish anything. Even talking a poor young lass from the seaside into nursing their crotchety old father with little notice.
Once again Sebastian found himself hoping that no one was home. Poor girl truly had no idea what was coming.
But alas, after one more excessively strong rap, the door was flung open and a maid stared up at them with wide eyes. Sebastian smiled, hoping to ease her obvious fear.
He supposed it wasn’t every day that an earl and his son descended upon this household.
“We’re here to see Miss Sally Jones.” His father’s booming voice might have been blamed on the hearing loss he was always complaining about.
It might have been...if Sebastian wasn’t fully convinced that hearing loss was just another malady that his father had invented. One in a long, long line of mysterious symptoms and ailments that had been plaguing their father ever since their mother passed two years ago.
After a brief moment of what appeared to be abject terror, the maid hurried into action. They were brought to a small drawing room as she went off in search of the family. He had spotted what he assumed were family members through the window.
As his father muttered about being kept waiting, Sebastian watched as a bearded gentleman and his lady strolled the grounds, their heads bent together. Unchaperoned, it would seem.
His lips curved up as he realized they were not totally alone on their walk. Miss Sally was out there as well. He’d recognize her anywhere after watching her work so efficiently as she tended to that large injured bloke the other evening. But she was minding her own business now as she plodded through what looked to be a garden along the side of the house. Her skirts hitched
