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CHAPTER ONE
The atmosphere within the entrance hall was solemn as the staff of Wenland Lodge waited for the arrival of the new master of the house.
Nobody moved. Not a sound could be heard except for the rhythmic tick of the grandfather clock beside the massive front door. One minute ticked into the next, but nobody dared raise an objection to the delay. Everyone knew this was the moment they had all been working toward since they had joined the small group of servants employed to work at the house several weeks ago. Now that the moment was upon them, everyone was filled with nervous anticipation mixed with a slight hint of trepidation.
Petunia, Petal, jumped at the sound of the metallic jangle of harnesses outside, accompanied by the soft snicker of a horse. She sucked in a deep breath, and warned herself that if she didn’t calm down, she would be a wreck by tea-time, and there was much work to do before then. She risked a quick glance at her friend, Agatha. Reassuringly, the look in her friend’s eyes matched her own; she was terrified yet excited at the same time too.
This is it. You are about to become a servant in a fully working if somewhat small, house for a member of the aristocracy, Petal thought.
It had been something she had only ever dreamt of. Being the somewhat impoverished daughter of a local farmer, Wenland Lodge had always seemed a lifetime away from the humble abode in which she had grown up. It had been nothing more than a pipe-dream to even see the huge Tudor mansion up close. To think she was now working and living in the place was so surreal that she wanted to pinch herself to make sure it wasn’t all a dream. But this was real; her nerves and the ten other servants now lined up against the wall beside her confirmed it.
“Right, everybody, you know what to do. The master is sick, don’t forget. Keep the noise to a minimum. Remember – be seen but not heard.”
Rollo, the butler, gave everybody one final warning look before he pulled the door open.
Petal couldn’t help it. Her gaze was immediately drawn toward the brilliant spring morning sunshine outside. However, she paid scant attention to the vast rolling lawns bracketing the winding ribbon of the driveway. Her gaze remained locked on the activity at the base of the stone steps.
The door to the huge black carriage opened with the solemnity of a funeral procession to reveal the booted feet of the man lying within: Sir Aidan Quigley-Myers. Several footmen moved forward to slide the stretcher he was on into their waiting hands. As one, they turned, and carried their precious burden into the sanctuary of the hall. Petal caught a fleeting glimpse of a woman wearing a cloak clambering down from the carriage unaided but didn’t pay her much attention. Her gaze remained locked on the new owner of Wenland Lodge.
Unfortunately, before she could take a proper look at him, a quiet cough from Mrs Kempton, the housekeeper, reminded Petal that it was rude to gawp like a commoner. Duly chastised, she turned her attention forward, straightened her shoulders, and determinedly blanked out the burning curiosity that demanded she catch a glimpse of her employer.
Suddenly, mere feet from where Petal stood, Sir Aidan lifted a hand to order the stretcher bearers to stop. The men dutifully froze. Sir Aidan frowned and summoned Rollo with a brisk snap of his fingers.
“Yes, sir?” Rollo asked politely.
“Who is that?” Sir Aidan demanded, his voice sharp in the quietude.
The deep baritone swept over everyone, who now stood in frozen horror as they waited to see what displeased the new master so soon. Nobody breathed. Everyone looked at Rollo, including Petal, whose heart began to thump heavily in her chest. She daresn't look, but she knew that the master of the house was looking straight at her. His steady gaze burned into her, scoring her soul in a way she was aware would leave her forever changed. The small hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. So much so that she struggled not to flinch beneath the careful scrutiny.
What have I done wrong? She thought frantically as she waited; an inevitable sense of doom hanging over her.
Aidan studied the staff in a receiving line, some of whom he recognised, two of whom he most definitely didn’t. He knew he had never seen either of them before, especially the delightful young woman directly in front of him. Something deep within his chest jolted annoyingly with awareness and began to flood his body with lambent warmth. He hadn’t felt anything like it before; and was flummoxed to find a cause beyond the delightful woman standing mere feet away.
His first thought was that he hoped she was his nurse. Then he remembered he had Edwards, the somewhat shrill harridan his mother had employed against his wishes, and cursed bitterly.
“She is staff,” he murmured blandly.
He didn’t need to see Rollo nod to confirm it. He eyed the starched uniform the new member of staff wore and sighed deeply. It seemed such a terrible waste of a delightful creature to have her doing menial tasks around his home.
Cursing Fate for being so cruel to condemn someone who looked like her to a life of servitude, Aidan glared at Rollo, his butler.
Petal’s heart lurched when she realised the master had a problem with her. She cast a worried look at Mrs Kempton, whose dark scowl was anything but reassuring. Sucking in a deep breath, Petal’s hands clenched tightly behind her back she began to tremble as she waited for the axe to fall. The urge to fidget beneath the master’s piercing study made her shiver all over. She started to feel sick with the ferocity of the nerves that made her knees shake. The need to poke at her hair to make sure none of the honeyed strands had slipped loose of the tight, mandatory bun they were supposed to be in was so intense that she had to cross her fingers to fight the urge to do so. It was more than her life was worth for her to move a muscle, or demand to know what was wrong. She knew she would be out of the door faster than she could blink if she did anything untoward right now.
With that in mind, she remained frozen in place and waited.
Several slow minutes ticked by with painful regularity.
“Who are these two? I recognise everyone else from my brother’s house. You have done well to select them,” Aidan assured the butler when he realised the man looked uncomfortable.
Rollo smiled with relief. “I am afraid your brother protested at losing them, sir. You have taken his best staff.”
Aidan snorted and threw his brother, Jeremy, a rueful look before he turned his attention back to the new staff.
Unwittingly, Petal’s gaze dropped to the new master of the house. Immediately, she sucked in a startled breath. Her world slid to a halt; everything hung suspended as she stared helplessly at the devilish good looks and glorious green eyes. This was her first good look at him. What she saw left her speechless.
Oh, my, he is handsome.
Suddenly, a tall, rather buxom woman in her mid-thirties appeared between them, all brisk and no-nonsense efficiency.
“Come along now, you cannot remain here all afternoon,” she rapped out.
