by Mia Caldwell
When I asked about his impeccable English, I discovered that he had spent his youth in California. His family was French, but his parents moved to America after he was born. His father, Quentin Malveaux, died when Julien was young. That’s when he had been brought back to France. Apparently he’d been raised by the Belgards; an older couple that now worked for him at the castle.
I also learned that Julien bought the “château” as he called it, to get away from being under his mother’s thumb. He said that he preferred the countryside to the city… I didn’t blame him, it was gorgeous here.
I asked him why he had gotten into the business of helping the U.S. government out, and he shrugged.
“There are so many people suffering out there. If I can help just one person alleviate some of the pain by opening up my home to them and giving them the safety they need to feel at peace, then it’s all worth it. There’s a lot of paperwork involved, a lot of international barriers to cross, but at the end of the day I feel it was the right thing to do. Even now.”
So basically, he’s pretty much perfect. If he was this good on paper, I hated to see the kind of skeletons that were in his closet. At least with me, what you see is what you get. I’m just a girl from New York with a big mouth that sometimes gets me into trouble. I just don’t believe in sugar-coating things. I like the honest truth, and I don’t see the point in beating around the bush for nothing.
Julien seemed genuine, but he also had an air of calculation to him. Like you always felt as though he was summing you up. Maybe he was, who knew? Maybe that was the kind of person I wanted watching over me right now.
I quickly finished my sandwich, embarrassed at how fast I put it away—I really was starving.
“Now that you’ve had your meal, I have a couple questions for you.”
I frowned. What could he possibly want to know about me? Didn’t he have that mysterious file on me?
“Okay, what do you got?”
“As I’m sure your handler, Agent Wilson, explained to you, you will be required to begin looking for employment while you’re here. I looked through your file of course and saw that you were previously employed at the Barxton Hotel, as a housekeeper, yes?”
“Uh-huh . . . “ my voice trailed off, waiting for him to get to the point.
“We have a staff of six people on board right now. One of my maids is getting ready to have a baby, and I’m needing someone to fill in for her while she is on family leave. The position is open for approximately three months. It’s a paid position, obviously, and it would begin tomorrow morning. Would you be interested?”
I raised my brow, a dozen different things on my mind all at once. I realized deep down that he was offering me something very helpful, but I couldn’t help but wonder if that’s all he thought of when he looked at me. Just another maid?
I slowly pushed my empty plate away, placing my hands in my lap and trying to focus on what I was about to say next.
“That would be very helpful... I suppose that would give me extra time to find a place of my own.”
I could tell that Julien picked up on the flatness of my tone, but he nodded anyway.
“So you’ll accept?”
I bit the inside of my cheek and nodded, part of me bummed that I was already getting put back to work. You would think I would have a chance for a little vacation after all I had gone through. But then again, I was just thankful for the job. It made me feel better knowing that I was working to pay my own way…
“Excellent. I’ll go show you to your room and inform Marie and Alain about your acceptance. They are my heads of staff. You’ll like them.”
“Okay then, let’s see this bedroom of mine.”
We walked through the incredible estate, and I had to laugh as Julien opened the door to my new room. It was at least three times as big as my apartment back in Brooklyn.
I wandered over to the massive-sized bed that was actually coming out of the wall itself. It was fitted with fancy bedposts and a dark blue canopy, only a few shades darker than the royal blue wallpaper of the room. Half of the walls were covered with the wallpaper, while the lower half of the walls were covered in intricately carved wooden panels. Dark wood was everywhere in the room—on the bed, on the walls, the trim around the doors and windows, and even in the frames that supported the giant paintings hanging on the wall across from the bed.
It most definitely was not my taste, but for some reason I loved it just the same. I ran my hand along the soft fabric of the canopy and curtains, remembering how I always wanted to have a pink princess canopy over my bed when I was a kid. Boy, I had no clue.
Somehow I had managed to forget that Julien was standing there in the doorway still, watching me. He smiled at me, giving me a gentlemanly bow before taking off. I sighed, once again feeling completely alone.
Even though it wasn’t quite dark out yet, my body was already telling me it was time to lie down. Stupid jet lag.
I opened up my suitcase and found the comfiest pajamas I had packed, slipping them on before hopping into the bed. The mattress was perfectly soft, just enough that I sunk in a little, but still had support for my achy back. Working as a housekeeper for five years will do that to you.
Before long, I had drifted to sleep, my nightmares keeping away at least for the night.
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Chapter 7
The knock at the door startled me awake. I turned over, trying to place my surroundings before I realized where I was again. I had been moved around so much lately that this was a common occurrence.
“Yes?” I called out from the bed. If it was just someone reminding me to eat, that mess could wait. I was still exhausted as it was.
“Mademoiselle Jackson? Monsieur Malveaux said you were to work today, yes?”
I sat there in my bed for a moment before everything started coming back. Oh crap, I thought. I had totally forgot about starting the housekeeping job today. That must be Marie, the head maid.
“Oh, yes. I’m just . . . getting ready! I’ll be right out,” I answered her.
I quickly got out of bed and stretched out my back. I dumped the contents of my suitcase out on the satin covers before I realized there was a freshly-pressed maid’s uniform laid out at the end of my bed.
When did that get there?
I pulled the tight uniform on over my head, wishing I had just a little bit more room to squeeze into it. Once I buttoned the front buttons though, it wasn’t so bad. It looked like those fancy uniforms you see in old movies.
I pulled the brush through my hair, wincing because I was rushing. My mama used to hate that when I was little; she’d get so mad when I’d start complaining as she did my hair in the mornings before school. Then she would usually call me a tender-headed child, always muttering under her breath about how even my baby sister Nia didn’t cry so much. I rolled my eyes at the memory, but slowed down a bit on my own head. Maybe I was tender-headed. I’d give anything to hear her call me that now.
Marie knocked at the door again. “I will be in kitchen. You know your way?”
I thought about it for a moment, trying to picture how Julien led us there yesterday. I was drawing a blank.
“Yes!” I’ll figure it out eventually.
Her footsteps click-clacked down the hallway, announcing her departure.
The trek to the kitchen wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, thankfully. There were a few turns I had to go back and make along the way, but all in all my memory wasn’t so bad.
When I got there, there was a woman opening up the large set of curtains by the table, and busily moving around the rest of the room, wiping down surfaces and straightening things as she went.
“Mrs. Belgard?”
She did not stop, but looked up at me and gave me a quick nod. “Bonjour, Mademoiselle. You sleep well?”
I nodded, finding myself standing up straighter as I took in her appearance. She looked like she would fit in as a headmistress at a
n all-girls boarding school. Her gray and white hair was pulled back into a neat and severe bun. She had a small, upturned nose that gave her the look of always finding something unpleasant smelling. Her uniform was perfectly in place, her black shoes shiny.
She finally did pause what she was doing to come up to me, sizing me up at once. I nearly cringed, hoping she didn’t notice how scuffed up my white sneakers were.
Her eyes narrowed as she looked back up at me. Even as short as she was she made me want to look away from her cold gaze.
“I am Marie. Head maid of Monsieur Malveaux. Mon mari, ah . . . my husband, Alain, is his personal majordome. I help you get to work. We start in foyer, and work out from there. Come, come,” she explained, her accent thick.
Yep. I definitely needed to learn French.
I followed Marie down the hall, surprised that I needed to hurry up to keep up with her. She was a fast little old lady, that was for sure. In that aspect she reminded me of my granny.
When we got to the foyer, Marie opened a closet door and handed me different cleaning items.
“We start here. You clean with this, and we make sure everything shiny. Okay?”
I chuckled to myself, taking the rag and can from her. “Make everything shiny, got it.”
We worked like that in the foyer for a little while, before she redirected me into another hallway I hadn’t been down yet. We worked room by room before she finally announced it was time to take a break. After having been on my hands and knees scrubbing baseboards for the last four hours, I was excited for a little fresh air.
“Marie, what do you usually do on your break?” Okay, maybe I didn’t need direction in how to take a break, but I was new here, and if there was a TV in this castle I hadn’t found it yet.
Marie thought to herself, tapping her finger on her chin. “Take walk outside. C’est une belle journée.”
Well I didn’t know what the last part meant, but her suggestion seemed like a good one.
I let myself out somewhere around the middle of the château, not too far from the path that led down to the horse stables. It was a pretty blustery day, and I quickly wished I had a jacket with me.
I walked along the path, figuring that I could at least have a look at the horses if anything else. I had never seen one up close and I was curious. Were they really as big as they looked?
I took in a deep breath, enjoying the fresh air. The mountain air was different, much different than what I was used to. I felt invigorated as I jogged down the steeper part of the path…
But someone jogged along after me…
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Chapter 8
I didn’t realize I was being followed until I rounded the corner of the first horse stables building. I ran faster, my heart strained against my chest. I hadn’t been this panicked in…. Well… A week or so anyway.
I finally risked a glance back, taking in a deep breath as I realized it was Mr. Malveaux.
“Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
He frowned. “I apologize, Miss Jackson…er, Miss Kyle. Amira. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
I huffed, trying not to roll my eyes at him. “I kindof feel likes someone’s following me everywhere I go. So if you wouldn’t sneak up on me like this, it would really make me feel better... Know what I mean?”
Okay, maybe I was being a little rude in my inflection with the last remark, but dammit, I was already paranoid enough as it was.
I could’ve sworn I saw his lip quirk up in the corner, but he stood there not saying a word.
I took in a deep breath. “I apologize. I’m not trying to be rude, it’s just that I don’t want to feel crazier in my head than I already am. Did you need something, Mr. Malveaux?”
“Julien, remember? Actually, I was just checking in on you and your first day. Marie said you’d left the house and didn’t come back… I wanted to see how everything was going. I know Marie can be a little demanding at times. She’s pretty good with keeping a tight schedule, if you could imagine that.”
Ha, I thought. I’d be more surprised if she couldn’t keep a good tight schedule.
“Marie is fine. I understand her demeanor. She’s got a whole giant place to keep track of, and I’m sure she likes to have a little bit of a life on her own as well. Or maybe she doesn’t, I’m not really sure about that part yet,” I laughed.
I pulled my arms around myself, trying to guard my skin from the winds that were blowing down the mountains around us.
“Would you like my jacket?” he asked me, already taking it off and offering it.
I smiled, pulling it around my shoulders. “Thank you.”
“Were you coming down to see les chevaux? They are magnificent creatures.”
“The horses? I wanted to see one up close… Is that okay? That’s not like frowned upon or anything is it?”
Julien laughed openly, shaking his head. “No, no—that’s fine. I can show you them if you’d like.”
I hesitated. Part of me wanted to just kind of be on my own at the moment, taking everything in a little bit at a time. The other part of me, maybe even the bigger part, wanted to know more about Julien.
Maybe I was just lonely, but I agreed.
We walked along to the very ending building, Julien opening the door for me as we walked into the closed stables. The stench hit me like a truck, surprising me. I quickly covered my nose as Julien laughed at me.
“Yes, they are beautiful. But they also smell terrible. Or at least their shit does.”
Ah, I thought. So Mr. classic gentleman has little bit of a foul mouth, does he? Thank God. I was starting to think that he was a robot or something.
We walked along the stalls, Julien pointing the horses out by name.
“This is Jacqueline. She is my horse, or at least the one that I’ve had the longest. She thinks of me as her baby, I think. Bonjour maman! Comment sont l’avoine?”
The horse just snorted at him with what looked like annoyance, and I let out a little laugh.
“Ah, she’s having one of her days I guess. Usually she loves me. Trust me.”
I walked up to her gate to stand next to him, still in disbelief at how powerful the horses looked. Jacqueline was the biggest of them all, but she was beautiful.
“Would you like to touch her?”
My eyes widened. I wasn’t really sure if I was ready for that.
“Um, should I do that while she’s eating? I don’t want her to bite my hand off or anything.”
Julien carefully took my hand, guiding it up to the horse’s backside where her tail was swishing this way and that. His skin was so warm, especially against the chill in the air. I tried hard to focus on Jacqueline’s soft and velvety fur under my fingertips, instead of thinking about the way my skin was tingling from Julien’s touch.
“Wow,” I whispered under my breath.
We stayed there for awhile before finally making our way back up to the château. Halfway there, Julien stopped to answer his phone. I stood and waited quietly, pulling his jacket even tighter around me.
“I apologize for that,” Julien finally said, pocketing the phone.
“Is everything ok?” I asked, noticing the change in his demeanor after the phone call.
“Just business as usual. I have to get back to my office. Do you know your way back to where you left off?”
“Yeah I think I’ll figure it out. I guess I will see you around...”
Something flickered in Julien’s eyes, but he politely nodded at me before walking away up towards the front lawn.
“Wait! You forgot your jacket!” I called out to him, meeting him halfway to hand him his jacket back.
“Thank you. My mind just isn’t completely focused it seems,” he replied, taking off again.
I didn’t know what he was so unfocused about, but I knew why mine was feeling a little cloudy. This man was out of my league, but I’d never been good about coloring inside the lines…
&nb
sp; I sighed as I watched him disappear around the corner, already missing his company. I had a feeling this was going to be a pretty lonely stay.
I was used to being lonely…
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Chapter 9
That evening I had dinner completely by myself. Finishing up, I laid in bed and dialed Agent Wilson’s number on the cell phone he gave to me.