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With a sigh, she reached for a towel and got out of the tub, only to be startled by a soft knock on the door that separated the bathroom from the bedroom.
“Yes?” she called, expecting Jocelyn or Allison.
“It’s Maggie,” called the young maid who had watched over her the day she’d arrived at Jocelyn’s. “Lady Jocelyn sent me to ask if you wanted some food sent up and to help you get ready for bed.”
Hurriedly drying off, Heather slipped on her robe and opened the door. “Surely there’s been a mistake. I don’t need any help. And I definitely don’t feel like eating anything.”
All she really wanted was to cry herself to sleep in the big, soft bed that beckoned from across the room.
Maggie bit her lip, her big brown eyes filled with worry. “But I’m to be your lady’s maid, Miss Heather. It’s a great honor that Lady Jocelyn picked me. I’ve only ever been an upstairs maid, but I’ve watched the lady’s maid here, and I think I can do it. I’d really like to try.”
“I’m to have a lady’s maid?” Heather bit her lip, unsure whether to laugh or cry. This was too much. It was all too much. But she also knew that this truly was a huge promotion for young Maggie, and she didn’t want to ruin the girl’s chances to make a better life for herself.
Maggie frowned, obviously sensing her hesitation. “If you’re not happy with Lady Jocelyn’s choice, I’m certain they’ll find you someone else,” she said dejectedly.
Heather sighed in resignation. “I’m certain you’ll be perfect.”
* * *
NESS AND O’BRIEN ARRIVEDat Drake’s house for the agreed-upon meeting to discuss their next steps to deal with Danbury just a little before midnight. It had been a long, stressful day, but he’d been glad when they arrived because the house already felt too empty without Heather in it.
He ushered them into his library, where a fire burned in the grate but seemed to do little to dispel the chill in the air. It seemed as though summer would never come.
The two men were somber as they took the pair of chairs in front of the fire and Drake poured them a drink. “Thank you for coming,” he told them as he handed them their glasses. He hadn’t wanted to go to Ness’s house, given that Heather was now residing there along with the rest of them.
O’Brien nodded as he accepted the glass. “Heather is fine,” he told Drake with a hint of a smile. “In case you were wondering. She had a bath and settled in for the night.”
Drake turned his back and returned to the sideboard to pour his own drink, not wanting them to see how glad he was to hear that. He cleared his throat and finally went to join them, taking a chair that was a bit apart. “Let’s get to the matter at hand. You said you had a plan regarding Danbury?”
“We do,” Ness said, twirling his drink idly in his hand and staring down at the amber liquid. “We just don’t know how you’ll feel about it.”
“At this point, I’m willing to listen to anything,” Drake said with a sigh.
The two men exchanged a glance, and then O’Brien set his glass aside and leaned forward. “We’d like you to talk to your father about committing Danbury to an asylum.”
Drake sucked in a surprised breath, his mind racing. Danbury was a monster and needed to be locked away, but after talking to the magistrate today, he didn’t believe his brother would ever see the inside of a prison cell. He wouldn’t wish the madhouse on anyone, but when he thought of Evelyn Lindsay’s mangled body, he knew that his brother truly was insane. He couldn’t get the system of law to work against a member of the aristocracy, but what did it matter where his brother was locked up, as long as he was?
His momentary elation dimmed almost immediately as he thought of his father and what the marquess would say if he even suggested that he lock up his heir, the one he’d set all his hopes and dreams on. But surely, even his father must know what kind of a man Danbury had become.
“It will be difficult,” he finally admitted. “My father will fight against it with every breath in his body.”
“We were afraid of that.” Ness shrugged, looking defeated.
Drake shook his head. “I just said it would be difficult. I didn’t say I wouldn’t try.”
“Good.” O’Brien gave a sigh of relief. “It seems the only way we’ll ever be able to eliminate the threat he poses to the people of this city.”
“I’ll try and impress upon my father the scandal that could be brought down upon our name if Danbury gets caught. He would do anything to avoid that.” With a pang, Drake remembered the conversation he’d had with Ness about how the scandal of his own marriage to Heather would be eclipsed by his brother’s arrest. He supposed he needn’t worry about either of those things now.
He could go on being the perfectly respectable member of thetonhe’d always been.
So why didn’t that give him any comfort at all?
