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Chapter 8
Sam stood outside the Somerset townhouse with her maid the next afternoon. She’d received a note from Evie earlier this morning, asking her to come to her with all haste. She wondered if something was amiss. Her heart was pounding loudly, and her palms grew wet from perspiration. After the strange and emotion-filled talk she’d had with Ashbury the night before, she hadn’t seen him. Had he proposed to Evie? Was that why she’d asked for Sam to come? Sam wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that. Her maid, Gina, had barely knocked on the door when it flew open, and there stood Evie’s butler, Rogers.
“All deliveries go through the servants’ entrance,” Rogers said loudly, winked at her, and closed the door in her face.
Sam blinked. Had he really just winked at her? She saw Gina’s outraged face as she was about to knock on the door again, ready to give the elderly butler a piece of her mind.
“Gina, stop.” Sam tugged her maid toward the other side of the townhouse and the servants’ entrance. “Rogers wasn’t mistaken. He knows me very well. He must have had instructions to lead me to the servants’ entrance.”
The side door opened before they reached it and Mrs. Lambert, the housekeeper, greeted them from inside. She quickly closed the door behind them and led them to the kitchen.
“Miss Samantha, how glad are we to see you.” The motherly-looking housekeeper, plump and rosy-cheeked, enfolded Sam in a hug, something she had never done before.The state of the household must be dire indeed. Mrs. Lambert indicated for Gina to take a seat and instructed her to stay there, while she drew Sam out of the kitchen and toward the stairs in the servants’ quarters.
“Her Grace is in her chambers,” she whispered to Sam, mounting the steps. “The new masters are in another wing of the house, so no need to fret that you will be discovered. I shall send a maid in with a tea tray,” she added as she pulled open the door that led to the hall.
No need to fret that you will be discovered.Why did her visit need to be so covert? Sam frowned as she stepped into the family quarters. She had never used the servants’ stairs in the townhouse, but she was familiar with this hall, as she had visited Evie’s suite on numerous occasions before. After reaching her destination, she knocked on the door softly.
“Enter, please,” answered Evie’s quiet voice.
Sam came in and closed the door behind her.
Evie was sitting at her desk scribbling something furiously.
“Evie.” Sam delicately cleared her throat. Her friend looked up and when she saw Sam, her eyes lit up.
“Oh, Sam!” Evie all but flew out of her chair and into her friend’s arms. “I am so glad you came!”
She drew out of Sam’s arms and looked her over. “Come, let’s sit,” she said, already dragging her toward the armchairs and a settee arranged in a semicircle on the other side of the bed.
“I’ll ring for a maid to bring us some tea.”
“It’s not necessary,” Sam said hastily, putting a staying hand on Evie’s shoulder. “Mrs. Lambert already took care of that. Sit, please.”
They both seated themselves in the armchairs facing each other.
“I’m so glad you are here,” Evie repeated quietly.
“Of course, I am here,” Sam said vehemently. “I came here as quickly as I could. Although, if I had known I was going to use the back entrance, I wouldn’t have waited for the appropriate calling hours.” She smiled at her friend.
“Yes, well…” Evie huffed a breath of air. “This is a matter of utmost urgency. I didn’t have time to explain everything in the note.”
“What is wrong?”
“Oh, Sam, you are not going to believe this!”
Sam leaned in closer to her friend.
“One of the maids overheard a conversation between Lady Montbrook and Lord Lansdowne last night. She said… Oh, Lord!” Evie covered her face with her hands. “She said she would make me marry him! Lord Lansdowne! And in return, all their debts would be cleared.”
“Pardon?” Sam’s eyes widened. “Are you certain about this? Are you certain the maid heard her right?”
“The household staff is still devoted to me. They wouldn’t tell me this if they were not certain.”
“Did you talk to your cousin? Did Lord Clydesdale investigate Montbrook?”
Evie grimaced. “No, I didn’t think it pertinent at the time. But after this… There is nothing Clydesdale can do, even if he confirms that the Montbrooks are indeed in a strained financial state. The only thing for me to do is to marry. Otherwise, I am solely at their mercy.”
Sam knew it to be true. An unmarried lady was defenseless in this society. Evie still had nine months before she reached her five and twentieth birthday, and she wouldn’t be able to outlast the Montbrooks if they decided to marry her off.
