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Why hadn’t she realized just how difficult obeying orders would turn out to be, she thought, sinking gingerly onto a chair opposite him. A maid’s life was to take orders, bob and curtsey, and swallo
w back any retort. Clearly this was a far greater challenge than she ever imagined.
The elegant young man nodded approvingly. “That’s right. We haven’t met yet, but I’m a close friend of your employer and his fiancée. My name is Rufus Brown.” He paused, watching her.
Was the name supposed to mean something? Because she’d never heard it, never seen the man in her life. “Good afternoon, Mr. Brown,” she said with automatic courtesy, then realized it was more the response of a lady than a maid. “What may I do for you?”
“Oh, a great deal, my dear Miss Greaves. I have a small, rather charming house in the countryside near Avebury, and we’re dreadfully short staffed. I promised my housekeeper I’d rectify the problem while I was in town, and I’ve been told you’re a prodigiously hard worker, not to mention the fact that you’re very ornamental. I’d like you to come back with me, and I promise I won’t be ungenerous.”
She didn’t blink, despite her surprise. “And exactly what position were you thinking of, Mr. Brown?” she said finally, unable to keep a slightly caustic note out of her voice.
He laughed, a light sound that should have put her suspicions to rest. “Oh, my dear, acquit me of designs upon your person! I must confess I tend to share Mr. Quarrells’s preferences, though doubtless I would be at your feet if I were differently inclined. I promise, there’s nothing untoward. We need a new parlor maid, one who could assist my housekeeper, and I promise she’s the salt of the earth, by the way, not an old bitch like Mrs. Crozier.”
She blinked at the language, but said nothing, waiting for him to continue.
“And there’s always room for advancement. My sister lives with me, and while she’s only just leaving the schoolroom she’ll be needing a personal maid, and she’s a sweet, undemanding child.” He sighed affectionately. “My only sibling, and we’re quite close. Or if you prefer to have control of minions, my housekeeper is elderly and will be wanting to retire before long. I expect she’d be delighted to train you to take her place. There’s no question how high you might rise.”
He was watching her too closely beneath those half-closed lids, trying to gauge her reaction to his odd proposition. She had no intention of giving him one. “You’re very kind to think of me, Mr. Brown,” she said, “but as you know I already have employment, and I find I like being here. I have a great fondness for the sea.” She was surprised to realize it was the truth. The captain aside, she loved looking out the front windows of the house to the harbor, the boats and ships bobbing up and down on the swell, the noise and confusion of the docks. The idea of actually stepping onto the deck of a ship might terrify her, but that didn’t mean she didn’t love watching the world of shipping, a world she knew so well. She realized with a shock that she’d missed it. Sorting through the captain’s rain-soaked papers, she’d felt more at home than she had since her father had died.
“Ah, but Miss Greaves… may I call you Mary?” he said, leaning forward, holding his elegant malacca cane with its gold head in both hands. “Well, Mary, the truth of it is, in a very short time you’ll be out of a job and we both know it. Miss Haviland is a close friend, but she’s plagued by the green-eyed devil.”
Maddy blinked, momentarily confused. “She drinks absinthe?”
He let out a short bark of laughter. “No, my dear. That’s the green fairy. She’s jealous, whether she’d admit it or not. She doesn’t like the idea of a beautiful woman swanning around her fiancé’s house, and who can blame her? She’s a lovely young woman, but she looks just a bit faded next to you. She’ll boot you out the first chance she gets, and if she doesn’t have a reason I have no doubt she’ll manufacture one. Why don’t you save her the trouble and accept my generous offer?”
Odd, how it didn’t sound the slightest bit flattering. “I’ve told you, sir. I have a job, and I signed papers promising to stay for at least six months.” That was a complete lie. She’d heard of people insisting on such contracts, to offset the expense of training a new employee and ordering uniforms, but the Russells had never insisted on such a thing and neither had the captain. Luca. “And besides, I like it here.”
Mr. Brown was not looking as benevolent as he had, though the smile was unwavering. “Ah, Mary, I was so hoping you’d want to come with me on a permanent basis. But the truth of the matter is that Captain Morgan offered me your services for the next few months, just to help me out; a great kindness on his part. I was hoping you might be interested in a permanent change, and once you’re at Highfields you may find you like it very much indeed, but if, once I find the right person for the job, you wish to return then I would hardly detain you. It was very thoughtful of Morgan to lend you to me, and I think you’ll find you enjoy the change of scene.”
Maddy blinked. “But I don’t wish to go.”
The benevolence was slipping a bit. “My dear, you’re a servant. You go where your employer sends you, do what he tells you to do, if you wish to retain your job. Indeed, if you have no wish to continue on here you may refuse Captain Morgan’s orders, but I think that would be a mistake, since I believe it’s your fondness for your employer’s… house that makes you reluctant to come to my aid.”
Maddy lowered her eyes to her lap, glad she’d hidden her hands, which were now clenched in impotent fury. How much did the man know? What had she given away in this short conversation? How could he know what she wouldn’t admit to herself?
Gwendolyn Haviland! The woman was so possessive she would think everyone wanted her fiancé. It was no great perception on Mr. Brown’s side, though she had hardly been as circumspect as she ought to be. But why was she worrying about giving away emotions that she was doing an excellent job of resisting? Wasn’t she?
Now what was she going to do? Was a servant really at her employer’s beck and call to this extent that she had to go wherever she was sent? It seemed grossly unfair, but then, life in service was hardly a world of equality. She suspected Mr. Brown was right—she either had to go with him or lose her position entirely.
Going with him would ruin her plans anyway, but perhaps she could put him off for a bit. After all, her time was rapidly running out here anyway, and if she couldn’t find anything incriminating she had no choice but to return to Nanny Gruen’s, a failure.
The one good thing was that she’d never have to see him, Luca, again. Never feel his dark, flashing eyes running over her, never risk the touch of his hands, the taste of his mouth. Her future was set—Lord Eastham would do what Tarkington had done, she would have a baby, and the old man would eventually die, leaving her a complacent widow with no need for a man like the unsettling captain.
She lifted her eyes, perfecting shy deference. “Very good, sir,” she said meekly. “And when would we be leaving?”
For a moment he looked slightly taken aback, as if he hadn’t expected her to agree, but he rallied immediately. “Excellent. Why not now?”
Oh, hell no, she thought, looking demure. “I’m so sorry, sir, but if it’s immediate help you’ll be needing then Lucy might suit you better.”
He frowned. “But why can’t you come now?” He brushed aside the notion of taking Lucy, one of the new maids, as inconsequential.
“Well, sir,” she said in a low, confidential voice, “I’m afraid I have certain… er… difficulties with my health, which can make things a bit… complicated.”
Most of the affability had vanished from Mr. Brown’s handsome face, which was just fine with Maddy. She’d never believed it in the first place. “Enlighten me,” he said with a bit of a snap.
You asked for it, she thought. “Well, it’s me women’s parts,” she said in a confiding tone. “When I get me monthlies, which have just started, I expect, because I saw some blood on my pantalets, I find I have to take to me bed for three days at least, and nothing gives me ease.”
He had been pale already, but now it was faintly tinged with green. But he wasn’t ready to give up, no matter how graphic she was being. “That’s no problem. A bit of morphine should take the edge off your pain, and you may ride in the good carriage with a warm brick to your stomach.”
