His face was flushed, and she suspected he had just come in from outdoors. She wondered whether he had been out riding. A part of her longed to ask. She would have liked to know which horse he had chosen. She would have liked to talk to him about Chester, who was her favorite, and to learn which horse he preferred.
She had to fight that instinct. It was going to lead her into trouble. She hurried across the foyer and into the kitchen, feeling his eyes on her the entire way.
“What are you doing in here?” the cook demanded. “Always underfoot, you are. Haven’t you any chores to do?” She stared. “What ails you, child? You look as if a ghost passed over your grave.”
“Nothing,” Lenora lied. “I’m all right.”
“You’re pale. Are you ill?”
“No. No, I’m fine. Truly.”
The cook shook her head. “Well, take this,” she said, picking up a hot roll with a cloth and handing it over to Lenora. “And take an apple as well. You’re such a skinny little thing, it’s a wonder you don’t take ill more often.”
Lenora accepted the food and tucked it away in the pocket of her apron. “Thank you,” she said.
“I know it’s what you came for,” the cook said. “God knows it’s what all of you come here for every morning. Not that I can find fault! The Duchess ought to be more mindful about her staff’s meals, and that’s a fact.”
Lenora didn’t dare agree with the cook. With her luck, any criticism she voiced would make its way back to the Duchess, and Lenora would suffer for it. It wouldn’t matter that she hadn’t been the one to make the complaint in the first place. It certainly wouldn’t matter that the cook had only spoken the truth.
“All right,” the cook said. “Run along now, unless you want to wash dishes.”
Washing dishes doesn’t sound so bad, Lenora thought. Today’s chores included scrubbing the hallways on the second floor, and it was bound to take hours. At least if she had been assigned to work in the kitchen, she would have been able to spend the day upright instead of on hands and knees.
Still, her responsibilities did carry with them a few perks. She would have plenty of space to relax. She would be on her own. No one would be on the second floor until late in the evening. All the socializing and entertaining in the manor took place out on the grounds or on the first floor.
There would be no chance of crossing paths with Lord Galdhor.
Or so she thought.
She was proved wrong only a few hours later. “There you are, Lenora!”
She whirled around and almost upset the bucket of soapy water she had been using to clean the floor. In her surprise, she squeezed the sponge in her hand harder than she intended, causing it to wring dirty water onto her apron. She let out a cry.
“Oh,” Lord Galdhor said, sounding thoroughly abashed. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“Are you lost, My Lord?”
“No, no,” he said. “Not lost, not this time. I think I’m finally beginning to feel at home here. At least, I know how to navigate from my quarters to the parlor.” He laughed. It was a charming laugh, one that seemed to welcome Lenora to share in the joke. “I can’t thank you enough for taking time away from your work to show me to where I needed to be yesterday.”
She didn’t know what to say to that. She had only been following orders. “Yes, My Lord,” she said finally.
“I hope you didn’t meet with any unpleasantness,” he said. “It did rather seem as though the Duchess was displeased with you.”
“She’s often displeased with me,” Lenora found herself saying. She could have bitten her tongue. Why was she encouraging this conversation? She knew she shouldn’t be speaking to the Marquess.
“Is she?” Lord Galdhor seemed surprised. “Why? You seem as though you work very hard.”
“You couldn’t know how hard I work,” she said. “You’ve only been here for a few days.” Now she was disagreeing with him! This was going from bad to worse.
“That’s true,” he said. “But I see you, and every time I see you, you’re working. You can’t tell me you don’t work hard.”
Lenora felt deeply uncomfortable. That she was a hard worker was something she longed to believe about herself. She wanted to take the Marquess’ assessment as gospel. Yet, how could she? He didn’t know her.
And they shouldn’t be having this conversation at all.
He seemed to sense her discomfort. “What is it?” he asked. “Have I given offense?”
“No,” she said quickly. “No offense. But…but you shouldn’t be talking to me, My Lord.”
“Why on earth not?”
“Lady Katherine wouldn’t like it,” she said.
“Lady Katherine doesn’t like much, does she?”
Lenora was horrified. “She’s your intended.” Could he really expect her to speak ill of Lady Katherine?
“She isn’t,” he said. “We’ve signed no contracts as of yet.”
“But you’re here to court her,” Lenora persisted, “and she wouldn’t want you to speak to me.”
“What about you? Do you want me to speak to you?”
She swallowed hard. She dared not say what she really felt. “I want to serve My Lady faithfully.”
Lord Galdhor nodded, but there was a shrewdness in his eye that worried her. “I see,” he said. “I’ll let you return to your work then.”
Long after he had walked away, he was still a presence in her thoughts.
* * *
Lenora hurried through her chores that day, eager to retreat to her room. In the sanctuary of her own private space, she would feel free to indulge in thoughts of the Marquess, to try to figure out why she couldn’t seem to put him out of her mind.
But her hopes of being alone were dashed. He was waiting at the top of the stairs.
“You shouldn’t be up here,” she stammered at the sight of him. “It’s only servant quarters. There’s nothing up here for you.”
“Would you believe I got lost again?” he asked.
She could tell by the smile on his face that that was pretense. “No,” she said, “you said yourself you were familiar with the manor now. And surely Lady Katherine must have told you there was nothing of importance on the top floor.”
“She might have mentioned it,” he said. “To tell you the truth, Lenora, I can’t be sure. I find it a bit difficult to listen when Lady Katherine speaks.”
“I wish you wouldn’t speak of her so.”
“Why?”
“You know why,” she said. “You know the position you’re putting me in.”
“I just want to talk to you,” he said.
“But you shouldn’t!” she burst out. “It would be nothing but trouble for both of us if we were discovered. Lady Katherine would be absolutely furious at the thought of you speaking to me.”
“That does sound like her,” the Marquess said.
“You mustn’t speak ill of her,” Lenora said. “Not to me. She is My Lady.”
Lord Galdhor nodded slightly. “Very well. I understand. Please accept my apology. I should have been more thoughtful of your situation.”
Lenora felt as if all the air had left the room. He was apologizing to her? How could he? It felt wildly wrong, almost inappropriate. It felt as if she had tricked him somehow. Had he forgotten that she was nothing but a servant?
He’s never treated me like a servant, she realized. He’s always spoken to me like…like an equal. A peer.
How could he do that? No noble had ever spoken to her that way before.
“Are you like this with your servants at your home?” she asked.
“Am I like what?”
“Do you speak to them as if…as if they’re your social equals?”
He looked amused. “Is that what I’m doing?”
“You treat me very strangely,” she said. “No one has ever treated me the way you do.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“It’s a surprising thing.”
>
His liquid amber eyes held hers. “Do you want me to stop?” he asked softly. “I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable, Lenora. I talk to you because you interest me. But if it bothers you, I will respect that. I’ll leave you alone.”
She couldn’t seem to look away from him. It was as if his eyes were pulling her in. It was strange, hypnotic, a little frightening. She tightened her grip on the sponge in her hand, trying to center herself, and inadvertently wrung a bit more water into her lap.
He was offering her exactly what she wanted…wasn’t he?
Hadn’t she been determined to avoid him, to stay away from him? Hadn’t she felt frustrated and thwarted every time he’d snuck up on her or taken her by surprise? And now here he was, pledging to leave her alone if that was what she wanted.
All she had to say was yes.
So why couldn’t she do it?
Don’t be a fool, Lenora, she told herself. You’re going to get yourself into trouble. Tell him yes. Tell him you want him to keep his distance. He isn’t even asking you to explain your reason. You’re not going to get a better offer from him than the one you’re getting right now.
But she couldn’t do it.
She couldn’t close the door to the possibility of speaking to him again. Without realizing it, without consciously thinking about it, she had come to look forward to the moments their paths crossed each day. She had found herself listening for his voice as she went about her chores.
And when he’d surprised her, as he had now by meeting her on the servants’ floor of the manor, she hadn’t only felt frustrated. She had also felt—dare she admit it, even to herself?—excited. She had been pleased to see him.
She couldn’t ask him to stop. She didn’t want him to stop.
“No,” she said quietly, “it doesn’t bother me.”
“Are you sure?” he asked.
No. I’m not sure at all.
“I’m sure,” she said.
“You can change your mind,” he said. “Any time you want. All you have to do is say the word, and I’ll never speak to you again, if that’s really what you want.”
“That isn’t what I want.” She was sure of that.
And she was sure, too, that it wasn’t normal for lords to speak to servants this way. It wasn’t just that she was used to cruel treatment from the Duchess and Lady Katherine. This went beyond mere kindness. He had taken an interest in her.
What would make him do such a thing?
And what would Lady Katherine do if she ever found out about it?
I can’t allow her to find out. I’ll just have to make sure she never sees us together, that’s all. Because if she does, she might well get the wrong idea. She might think I fancy myself a romantic interest to the Marquess.
Lenora allowed herself a little laugh at that thought.
“What’s funny?” Lord Galdhor asked.
“Nothing,” Lenora said. “I was just thinking…how strange it is to speak frankly to a marquess.”
“I hope you continue to do it,” Lord Galdhor said. “I find you very interesting, Lenora. Very interesting indeed.”
* * *
The next time he found her, she was dusting the parlor. “Good evening,” he said, taking a seat by the fire.
“We shouldn’t speak here,” she said.
“You always say that, you know,” Lord Galdhor said. “Every time I engage you in conversation, you immediately tell me I shouldn’t.”
“Well, you shouldn’t,” she said, but she couldn’t help smiling. “At least Her Grace the Duchess and Lady Katherine are out in the gardens, so there’s little chance of them walking in on this.”
“Exactly,” Lord Galdhor said. “If anything, this is the perfect time for us to speak, because there’s so little risk of our being discovered.”
“And why aren’t you out walking with them?” Lenora asked. “I’m sure Lady Katherine would prefer to have you with her.”
“I’ve seen the gardens,” he said. “I’ve seen them several times now.”
“You don’t enjoy the flowers?”
“I don’t enjoy the company.” Immediately he looked abashed. “My apologies, Lenora. You did ask me not to speak so.”
“And now I must ask you to stop apologizing to me,” Lenora said.
“Stop apologizing? But why?”
“You’re a Marquess,” she said. “Surely it’s obvious?”
“Is it your claim that a marquess can never be in the wrong? That he can never repent of his actions or his words?”
“No,” Lenora said. “Of course not. A marquess may offer an apology to another marquess, or to another member of the peerage. But to apologize to me—”
“And why not?” Lord Galdhor asked. “Why shouldn’t I offer apologies to you, if what I’ve done is wrong?”
“Because of who you are,” Lenora said. “And because of who I am.”
“Because you’re a servant and I am noble?” Lord Galdhor shook his head. “I would hardly be deserving of my title if I failed to treat my servants with respect and dignity. Sometimes a marquess may be in the wrong and a servant may be in the right. A wise man recognizes when he is wrong, no matter who he is with.”
Lenora nodded slowly. That made sense.
“Why does it trouble you so?” he asked her.
“Because it feels…unnatural. As if you’re expressing deference toward me.”
“Respect isn’t deference,” he said. “You and I may respect each other without either one of us showing deference toward the other.”
That was highly improper. But arguing with him would have been improper, too. Lenora settled for inclining her head slightly. “Yes, My Lord.”
He regarded her. “You have very firm ideas,” he said. “You seem to have given considerable thought to your place in the world.”
“I suppose I have,” she said, startled. In truth, it was something she thought about frequently. How could she not? But no one had ever mentioned it before.
“It surprises me,” he said. “I’ve never noticed that my own servants have given a lot of thought to their role in society.”
“I suppose they’re too busy working,” Lenora said. “Hard work doesn’t leave a lot of time for introspection.”
“No,” he agreed. “I suppose that’s a privilege generally reserved for members of the ton, isn’t it? And yet you seem to have made the time.”
“I think while I dust,” she said, moving her duster along to the end table by the mantelpiece.
He nodded. “You must be uncommonly intelligent,” he said.
“Why do you say so?”
“You have such a well-defined perspective on this topic, when you’ve had no one to discuss your ideas with.”
“I don’t have no one to discuss my ideas with,” she said. “I have my friends among the staff.” But he was right. She had never asked Mr. Henderson what he thought about social structures. She and Jimmy never talked about the fact that there was no point in conversing with members of the noble class. The closest they ever came to discussing such things was pondering why Lady Katherine seemed to despise Lenora so strongly.
And that was a topic Lenora was reluctant to explore too deeply with anyone.
“You seem to be well educated,” Lord Galdhor persisted. “You’re well spoken, certainly.”
“His Grace saw fit to educate me,” she admitted. “I owe him a debt of gratitude.”
“Surely that isn’t common?” Lord Galdhor asked. “None of my servants have received any formal education.” He frowned. “Perhaps it’s a failing on my part. Does the Duke educate all his staff?”
“Not all,” Lenora admitted.
“Then why you?”
A question she couldn’t answer. “Whatever the reason,” she said evasively, “I deeply appreciate everything His Grace has done for me.”
“Do you enjoy working as a maid, then?” he asked. “I’ve always thought it must be an unpleasant life.”
“I
t’s the only life I know,” she said. “I imagine it’s much like any other life. It contains both good and bad. Isn’t that true of your life?”
Lord Galdhor laughed. “Very astute,” he said. “I knew you were clever. Tell me, then, what are some of the good things about the life of a maid?”
A Game 0f Chess With The Marquess (Historical Regency Romance) Page 9