Authors: Stephanie Maddux
“You’ve made it. I am
so
delighted. Good afternoon
,
Lady Felicia and Miss Fairchild
,
I
do
hope the drive went well?" A voice said behind her. Sarah turned around and
her eyes
met with
Lord Trent
.
“Thank you. The drive was long, but
well
worth it
,
" Lady Felicia answered.
"Are we late, my lord?” Sarah interrupted, ignoring the frown her mother gave her. It was her right to ask anyway.
“No, you are early
,
actually.” Lord Trent
gave her what she thought was a forced smile. “Follow me. I’ll have our housekeeper show you to your rooms to freshen up after such a journey.” Sarah followed
Jordan
until they encountered the housekeeper.
“Where is the
Duke
today?” She politely asked him. Some responsibilities are more important than others are. She considered herself the most important one.
“He should be around shortly. There were some business matters to attend to
,
”
h
e said. “I’ll see you at dinner. It will be the highlight of the day for me
,
”
h
e said impishly before he left. Sarah stared at him as he walked away. She was confused. Why would dinner be a highlight?
They followed the housekeeper upstairs through the beautifully decorated halls,
where the
family portraits
hung
. They finally stopped at the end of the hall. As Sarah walked into her room, it dawned on her that her mother was following her in. The housekeeper spoke up, noticing the frown on her face.
“I’m sorry
,
Miss, but you two will have to share,
because
we are short on rooms
,
”
t
he housekeeper informed her in a stiff voice.
"There must be
some
mistake, the
re
must be." There was no way she would share a room with anyone. “There must be a mistake!” Sarah repeated.
“No, Miss
,
there is no
mistake
.” The housekeeper’s answer was clipped as she strode away.
“Utterly rude!” Lady Felicia muttered.
“Mother, do something
,
” Sarah demanded. Lady Felicia threw her hands up
,
clearly
not wanting a scene with her daughter.
“I’ll go find the
Duchess
and maybe
she can get this mistake corrected
. Although, I am not quite sure what the problem is.” Lady Felicia stomped off.
Sarah stared at her mother’s receding back. The problem was she could not share a room with her mother or anyone else. How would she succeed in trapping Jake? His chambers would be in the family wing
,
and it would be impossible to sneak
out
and
find
h
is
room. It was
all the way
on the other side of the mansion. She was going to have
to make
Jake come to her, but now that would not happen. Maybe her mother could double up with someone else. She could not see why
her mother could possibly be opposed to that idea
.
She glanced about the room, taking in her surroundings. It was elegant and fit for a queen. Luscious colors blended well with the paint and décor. It was perfect and it was a guest room. She was desperate to know what the
Duchess
’
chamber
looked like
. She turned at the sound of the door opening. Her mother strode in with
their hostess
following behind her. She curtsied and smiled. “Thank you for inviting us your
Grace
,
”
s
he said.
Lady
Katherine ignored the greeting,
“Is there a problem with the room and
with
whom you will be sharing it with?” She asked.
Sarah was taken aback at the curt tone of her voice. “Why no, I suppose not. I just thought maybe my mother would like a little more privacy
,
”
s
he lied, knowing her mother would not correct her.
“Your mother
has
assured me she was delighted with the room and had no problem with the accommodations. If you don’t like them, I suppose there is a hotel along the way somewhere
,
” Katherine stated calmly.
Sarah was appalled, leaving her with no choice
,
but
to concede. “This will do. I am sorry to have been an inconvenience to you, your
Grace
,
” Sarah mustered.
“
W
e can only hope that there will be no other problems,
"
Katherine
exited the room, not bothering with any more civilities.
Sarah watched her leave the room
,
leaving her mother’s jaw hanging open.
“Well
,
I never! That woman was horrid to you. What did you do to her?” Lady Felicia looked at Sarah with a
wide-eyed
expression.
Sarah had no idea. She had only met the woman once at a ball and she was sure she
had
made a good impression.
Sarah shook her head. “It’s not her
,
I
will be
marrying. When Jake and I marry, she will move to the dow
ag
er house and I couldn’t be happier
,
” Sarah stated. “Now
,
M
other, I have to change and
prepare
for
dinner
tonight.” Sarah left her mother to change and freshen up for dinner later.
Jake woke up already regretting the tasks ahead of him for the day. He bathed and dressed before he made his way downstairs. His main job for the day was to greet the guest and get everyone settled before dinner. He went downstairs and overheard his mother complaining. From what he gathered from the bits he heard, was
that
Sarah was not happy about the room accommodations. He would deal with the situation later. He made some discreet inquires
as
to the whereabouts of Ana. He intended to ignore her as much as he could. The best way to do that was to know where she was
at all times
.
They had over thirty guests arriving throughout the day and they had a huge dinner planned. He was still trying to figure out what to do about the moment Sarah realize
d
he
had inadvertently
lied to her about Ana attending. Would one call it lying when he had no
idea
he was lying
? He knew Ana would never make a scene, but he did not know about Sarah. Good breeding dictated she would not either, but one never knew what goes through the female mind. Jake of all people, could
attest
to th
at
.
Several hours and
many
guests later, Jake stopped to take a small break.
"Have you greeted Miss Fairchild and her mother yet? She was
in
quiring about you earlier
,
"
Jordan
asked. He joined in to help with the day's chores.
"No. I have been busy with greeting guests and making them comfortable
,
" Jake said, as he was watching yet another carriage pull up to the house.
"You are avoiding her. While I understand your motivation in avoiding her, Mother and I are not happy about being stuck with her. She has been a nuisance already
,
"
Jordan
said with a disgusted look on his face.
"I heard about the problem concerning her room. I will admit I am avoiding her. I will see her after I am done attending to
our other guests,
" Jake replied as he was walking up to the newest guest
getting
out of the
ir
carriage.
Thankful for the small reprieve he
had
once he
received
his newest guests inside, he went to do some manual labor to help ease his tension. It was unusually hot outside and he was actually helping his servants haul the luggage indoors. He knew what the guest would say about his actions, but he could not have his servants overworking themselves in this heat
and besides, h
e needed the hard labor.
He caught glimpses of Ana and
Viscount
Langley
,
arm in arm
,
exploring
the gardens
. Several times, he had to stop himself from joining them and breaking up the happy scene.
“It’s almost
time for dinner
. You should be the first one down
in the drawing
room,
”
h
is mother said as he passed her in the hallway on his way to
freshen
up. He sighed, rubbing a dirty hand over his face,
and
pinching the top of his nose. He could not put it off any longer. He came to a stop at his door and looked across the hall at Ana's door, tempt
ed
to go and open it to see if she was in
there
. Shaking his head, he
instead
opened his own door and went in.
Ana finished dressing and her maid was finishing her hair when the knock on the door sounded. Eliza came in and she was ready to go
downstairs
. Dinner was in twenty minutes
.
“You look stunning
,
Ana, but
then
you already know that.” Eliza smiled and still it did nothing to ease her nerves. Ana was wearing a dark green evening gown that was modest and
hugged her
figure. There were no frills,
ribbons,
or lace. The dress was simple
. It was made of silk
,
and she loved the feeling of the fabric against her skin as she moved.
Nothing about the dress would call attention to it and that was just the goal she was trying to achieve.
“Come on. Let us go down a little early. Jordan and Greg
ory
are already down
stairs,
” Eliza said.
Eliza was right, the earlier the better. Taking deep breaths, she followed Eliza downstairs. Ana kept repeating to herself that everything would be fine. She looked beautiful, she felt composed
,
and she
knew she
could do this.
Ana could see dinner was going to be a big and lavish event
, when she
walked into the drawing room.
Ana became aware of the other guests shuffling in
,
and took note of the ones she recognized. She was relieved to see Sarah and her parents were nowhere
in attendance
.
Maybe this was not going to turn out so bad
ly
after all.
When all the guests were ready,
Jordan
escorted
Ana to a seat
in the dining room
, and
Eliza sat down beside her.
In her opinion,
it
was too close to Jake
, who was waiting
for seating
at the front of the table
.
However,
short of making a scene,
nothing could be done about it
. Greg
ory
s
tood
a few
seats
down
from
her. Eliza’s parents sat down on the opposite side
from
them. After polite greetings and
trivial
conversation, Ana
noticed
Katherine
taking a seat at the other end of the table.
As the seats
began
to fill up, the room
became
steadily louder
,
and Ana was feeling more at ease. She could feel Jake’s eyes on her. She looked at him and their eyes met. Her heart quickened and she could feel her face getting hot. She could clearly recall the feel of Jake’s hands and mouth on her and knew she was blushing even more, but she did not break
the
contact.
Everything
in the room ceased to exist except
him, which caused
time to stand still.