Summerset Abbey (23 page)

As Prudence made her way through the crowded room, she noticed that she raised a small commotion as she passed. Not among the wellborn, who had no idea who she was, but among the army of servants, most of whom were waiting for the traditional dances between the Lord and Lady and the housekeeper and butler to be finished so they could begin their own fun. They didn’t even bother to whisper as she passed, speaking so that she could hear them: “Look at her putting on airs, acting like she’s one of them.” “Wait till Mrs. Harper sees her. She’ll be out on her cheeky arse, mark my words!”

Mortified, she looked around and found herself surrounded by the people she worked with every day, dressed in their Sunday best outfits, a pretty collar or a new shirt the only indication that this evening was different than their half days off. Their eyes were filled with rancor, envy, and outright malice. Victoria and Rowena had dressed her up to make her happy, and instead she only felt like a traitor, a fool, and, more than ever, an outsider.

She reddened, then tilted her chin upward, refusing to be cowed. They were judging her just as the gentry had, and she was jolly well tired of being judged. She focused instead on Vic and Ro’s welcoming faces across the room. But the gauntlet continued with each step.

“You have to wonder what sort of duties one has to perform to get a dress such as that,” someone said as she passed.

“I’ve heard she thinks she’s so far above the other servants, she won’t even use the servants’ privy,” one bawdy voice sniggered.

Prudence’s fists clenched together and she felt the bite of her fingernails as they cut into her own flesh.

Then Susie, braver than Prudence ever knew she could be, shoved her way through the crowd and gave her a huge hug. “You look so fine! And look at me, thanks to you!”

She twirled, completely ignoring the people surrounding Prudence. As often happens with bullies who are being ignored, the crowd lost its momentum and dissipated. Prudence almost cried with relief.

“Well?” Susie asked, posing. She still wore her ill-fitted dark brown wincey skirt, but the blouse, made of fine linen, was perfectly tailored for her with deep ruffles at the neck and cuffs.

“You’re welcome. It was the least I could do for Christmas, as you’ve been so nice to me.” Prudence hugged the girl in return.

Susie was swept off to dance by a gardener, but before Prudence could reach her destination she was stopped by Andrew, whose grayish green eyes twinkled at her. “I was going to ask you to dance but you look so fine, I’m half afraid you’d break in my arms!”

Prudence pushed the words she’d heard from her mind. “I keep trying to reach Victoria and Rowena, but in this crowd I can’t seem to get to them.” When she looked over to where she’d last seen them, she noticed that Victoria was dancing with Kip, and Rowena was dancing with her cousin, Colin. Prudence threw up her hands in surrender. “I would love to dance with you, Mr. Wilkes, and I promise I won’t break!”

He took her hand and Prudence noticed he was wearing the suit that was too small for him again.

“Rowena!” she called, as Rowena and Colin danced by. Rowena held out her hand and Prudence slipped her the locket.

“What was that?” Andrew asked, but Prudence just shook her head and indicated they should join the dancers. His arms slipped around her waist and she relaxed, feeling safer and more comfortable than she had all evening. She soon noticed how absorbed he seemed to be in counting and she smiled to herself. “It’s more fun when you don’t overthink it.”

He grinned. “But perhaps more dangerous for you?”

“I told you before I wouldn’t break.”

The music stopped. “We were cheated on that dance, would you like to try another?” Andrew smiled and squeezed her hand a bit. “I promise not to break you.”

Before she could open her mouth, someone came skidding to a stop next to them and Lord Billingsly broke in. “I’m afraid Miss Tate promised the second dance of the evening on her dance card to me.” He nodded at Andrew, whose brows drew together in confusion. Taking advantage of his opponent’s slow reaction, Lord Billingsly appropriated Prudence’s hand from Andrew’s and whirled her away.

“I certainly did not promise you the second dance, Lord Billingsly,” she huffed, searching for Andrew over his shoulder. But then his hand cupped her waist, sending a shiver up her spine, and she forgot about Andrew, forgot about everything except trying to breathe.

“I knew if I didn’t do something quickly, he was going to keep you for the rest of the evening and we couldn’t have that. And please, call me Sebastian. I think we’ve known each other long enough that we could consider ourselves friends.”

She tilted her head back and looked into his eyes, which for once weren’t teasing her. They looked serious, as if they were asking her a question. She wished she could look into his eyes and give him the answer he wanted, but knew it was impossible. They would both be hurt by such a friendship. How could he understand? Until she had come to Summerset, she hadn’t understood either. “I’m not sure what the point of that would be. A friendship between a lord and a lady’s maid is frowned upon, even in these
enlightened
times.”

“The point is that I like you and would like us to be friends. And you know that you aren’t really a lady’s maid, Prudence.”

Prudence’s cheeks flamed. He didn’t know anything about her. Didn’t know, for instance, that she was the illegitimate daughter of a servant girl. Maybe her father had been a groom, or perhaps a hall boy. She couldn’t be sure. What did this young, handsome lord with his perfectly fitting suit and impeccable bloodline want with her? What would he say if he knew the truth?

“No, but I
am
the daughter of a servant.” Prudence stopped dancing, her throat constricting. “A friendship between us would lead to no good at all, Lord Billingsly, and I am not interested in any trouble. If you will excuse me.”

Just then there was a loud commotion at the other end of the hall and the music faltered for a moment before continuing. The dancers craned their heads to see what was going on. Prudence watched Cairns carting two struggling young men out of the room by their arms. As they made their way through the door, Prudence gasped when she saw that one of them was Andrew.

*   *   *

Lady Summerset glided through the crowd, her face fixed with an expression of nonchalant enjoyment. That was the look she intended and she pulled it off, in spite of the half dozen pressing emergencies that always occurred when throwing an event of this size. Her steadfast companions in keeping everything running smoothly during the double balls were Hortense, Mrs. Harper, and Cairns. All three knew that in spite of it being their night to have a good time, their duty came first. Lady Summerset could hire extra servants from town to serve dinner, but no one could take the places of those three. In fact, Lady Summerset was certain that if Cairns, Mrs. Harper, and Hortense had been in charge of the Boer War, it would have come to a much speedier conclusion.

The servants’ ball was coming along splendidly, except for that one little difficulty concerning their footman and Sir Dalton’s valet. But Cairns had taken care of that. He had just given her the report and surprise, surprise, it had concerned Prudence Tate. Lady Charlotte unfurled her ivory fan and fanned herself slowly, her eyes scanning the room.

It was the second time this evening that the girl’s name had been brought up. She was becoming every bit the nuisance she’d feared, though for entirely different reasons. Her dear friend Edith had already come up to her and asked who Prudence was. Evidently, she’d found her son having a rather intense conversation with the lovely Prudence on the grand staircase. Having to tell her dear friend that Prudence was her nieces’ lady’s maid was one of the single most mortifying things she’d ever had to do. She and Edith had long cherished the hope that their two families would be united through marriage, and she was sure that, given time, Sebastian’s and Elaine’s friendship would blossom into something more. Until it did, every female was a potential threat, and if the daughter had the cunning and wiles of the mother . . .

Lady Summerset spotted Prudence standing with Victoria, Rowena, and Elaine and a few of the other girls in their set. They were watching the dancers and chatting. Only with discipline was she able to keep the slow-burning irritation she felt in her stomach from showing on her face. How dare the girl dress that way? If Lady Summerset hadn’t known better, she would have taken the girl for aristocracy. There were very few servants, no matter how comely, no matter how fine the clothing, who could pass for gentry. Something in their language or speech would give them away. But you could introduce this girl to court and no one would know that her mother was a slatternly maid who’d had a child out of wedlock when she was barely old enough to wear long corsets.

The burn increased as the Duchess of Kent stopped to speak to the girls. Lady Summerset watched, incensed, as Prudence was introduced, gave a heartbreakingly perfect curtsy, and chatted with the Duchess as if she had a right to it all. The Duchess moved on and Lady Charlotte sauntered in that direction. There had to be a way to put a stop to that creature before she could cause any more mischief. She was stopped a few moments later when Lord Billingsly, accompanied by Lady Summerset’s son and young Kittredge, descended upon the girls, laughing. In spite of several shakes of her dark head, Prudence was led out onto the dance floor by Lord Billingsly, who had glanced at no one else, not even the comely Lady Diana Manners, who had also joined the group.

Warning bells rang in Lady Summerset’s head as she observed the couple dancing, their eyes full of each other. Glancing around the room, she spotted Hortense in the arms of Sir James McLeod, a retired commander of Her Majesty’s Navy. Lady Summerset caught her eye and indicated that her presence was needed. If Hortense was displeased at her inconvenient summons, she gave no indication and was by her ladyship’s side in moments.

“I need to speak to Prudence as soon as possible. Send her to the drawing room just before the bell is rung for supper. And please let Cairns know that I changed the seating arrangements. Put Elaine next to Lord Billingsly. Seat whoever was there next to Mr. Pettigrew, please.”

That accomplished, she made her leisurely way through the Great Hall, chatting with her guests and asking her servants whether they were having a good time. Her servants assured her they were and whispered to one another, gratified that she’d remembered their names.

By the time Lady Summerset made her way to her lovely new drawing room, it was almost time for the bell to be rung for dinner, always a trying time, as the extra servants from town were bound to do something wrong, unlike her own servants, who served impeccably. She trailed her fingers along the satiny-smooth marble of the fireplace mantel, considering her next move. The fact that the girl was still here, after all the subtle attempts to force her out, indicated a tiresome stubbornness and loyalty. Two character traits that may be applauded in others but were rather an inconvenience in this case. Her continued presence at Summerset was not only the threat of a possible scandal but now it was also a risk to her daughter’s happiness. Something must be done.

She heard Prudence enter the room behind her.

“You wished to see me, my lady?”

Lady Summerset turned to face Prudence and her stomach churned uneasily to see the Buxton eyes staring back at her. She wished her own daughter had received those signature eyes instead of her own commonplace blue ones. But then Prudence lowered her eyes in a subservience Lady Summerset knew she didn’t feel.

“Do you know why I asked you here? No, of course not,” Lady Summerset continued without waiting for an answer. “You couldn’t possibly know.”

The girl’s eyes shot up to Lady Summerset’s face for a moment before she lowered them again—the only evidence of her surprise.

Perhaps Lady Summerset’s greatest unacknowledged talent was her gift for cards. She was a skilled player in any game society chose to play that season, and her chief talent was the ability to both win
and lose
at will. It takes real skill to lose a game without arousing the suspicion of the other players. This skill came in very handy with Poor King Edward, who was a passionate and talentless card player. She knew exactly when and how each card should be played and it was time to play one now.

“I’m sure you are quite aware that you are not wanted here at Summerset.” Prudence’s head came up and she paled. Lady Summerset continued. “Don’t take it personally, my dear, because it really has nothing to do with you, but rather the whole situation.”

The girl made no attempt at subservience now. She kept her eyes trained on Lady Summerset in a way that was rather unnerving. “Exactly what would it take for you to leave, I wonder?”

“Excuse me?”

Lady Summerset held in an impatient breath. “I suppose you are staying on because of your loyalty to Victoria and Rowena, and that is commendable, but surely you can see now that it’s not necessary? This is their home and they are among family. I know their upbringing was unconventional, but surely you can see that this is the life they were born to and it’s a life that you definitely were
not
born to?”

“Isn’t it?” the girl asked, rather saucily. “I’m the daughter of a maid and I am here as a lady’s maid. You might say this is exactly what I was born for.”

Lady Summerset had an urge to slap her but smiled instead. “You misunderstand me. Yes, your mother was a maid, but you were not raised to be in service. And really, your presence here is making both Victoria and Rowena unhappy, though in different ways.”

She watched the girl’s face carefully and saw that her words had hit home. She pressed her advantage. “I’m not unkind. I am simply of the school that believes like should stick with like, and I am afraid your continued presence in my home will only serve to upset my nieces further.” She paused to let her words sink in. “So what would you need in order to leave comfortably?”

Prudence pressed her hands together until her knuckles were white. “You are offering me money?”