Lady In Waiting (26 page)

stairs and throw herself into his arms. Despite everything, she missed him horribly.

"Come o
n
.. . how did he
see
m
!"
Jenny's heart pounded unnaturally loud in her ears.

"Oh." Meredith thought about it. "He looked tired, I suppose. Really weary, as if he hadn't slept in nights."

Meredith's observation brought a smile to Jenny's lips. His conscience had been plaguing hi
m
—
a
nd well it should after what he said to her. Perhaps then, after seeing her, he would regret his decision and recant. Oh, yes, the cream gown was exactly the one to wear.

******************

When Jenny appeared in the doorway, Lady Viola, who stood behind and just off to the side of Callu
m
, shook her head violently and waved Jenny away.

Jenny crinkled her brow. Had she not been summoned?

She started to back away from the door, but somehow Callum sensed her arrival. He went to her and reached out for her hand. But Jenny guessed his intent and pulled it away before he could touch her.

"Jenny, nay. Please dinna leave.
'Tis
ye
I came to see."

Jenny looked past him to Lady Letitia for direction, who begrudgingly beckoned her into their fold.

She walked solemnly into the drawing room and stood before the settee, where both Featherton sisters joined her, one to her left and the other to her right.

The sisters each grasped one of her hands, and as if arranged by a dance master, on the eight count they all sat down at once.

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Ever in control, Lady Letitia gestured for Lord Argyll to take his ease in the japanned chair directly across from them. Callum's eyes never left Jenny's as he silently seated himself on the edge of the chair.

Lady Letitia gave Jenny's hand a quick squeeze as if to urge her to speak. But la, what was she to say ... the first words that entered her mind? Yes, that was it.
Do not think. Just speak.

But she knew the words in her heart, her lowly lady's maid heart, /
love you, Callu
m
,
were not to be uttered now, but rather held painfully to the breast. And so Lady Genevieve, her glittering alias, spoke in her stead.

"Has your intent changed, Lord Argyll? For if it has not, I do not understand the purpose of your visit this day." Jenny cringed inside. She could see the turmoil in his eyes. See how his decision had tortured him.

And for heaven's sake, she could not fault him for not wishing to marry he
r
—
s
he was a lady's maid. If he only knew the truth.

"It has, lass." He swallowed. "In part."

But Jenny was so gobsmacked by "It has" that she hardly heard the conditional he'd added to it.

"W-what did you say?" she stammered. Her heart pounded deafeningly in her ears and she leaned forward so as not to miss his next words.

"I've changed me mind, in part." Callum came to his
f
eet.

Jenny watched, unable to move, as he came toward her, kilt swaying gently, and knelt before her. Reaching forward, he opened his palm to her.

She knew he wished to take her hand, and though she tried to offer one to him, neither lady would release her grip.

200

Lowering his hand, Callu
m
laid it far too intimately atop her knee. Jenny needn't look around to know t
h
at the ladies were scowling. Whatever he was about to tell her, they were not pleased.

This made Jenny even more of a victim to her nerves.

As if gathering his courage, Callum dropped his chin toward his chest. By degrees, he slowly raised it again. There was a purpose in his gaze now.

"Jenny, I ken the ladies are aware of what happened when ye stayed with me in Laura Place."

"Yes." Jenny nodded. "I saw no reason to lie."

Callum's breath left his lungs, almost as if her statement had knocked it from him.

. "Och, just let me say it," he finally managed. "If ye are with child, Jenny, I will marry ye. I will not condemn ye to a life of embarrassment and dishonor."

Lady Letitia grunted. "How magnanimous of you," she muttered.

From the corner of her eye, Jenny saw Lady Viola shaking a finger of disapproval at her sister.

Jenny considered his words carefully, wanting to make sure she understood him. "But if I am not carrying your child .. ."

"Then I canna marry ye. Ye ken my purpose. I will put an end to the Argyll line." There was a break in his voice, and she knew all of this was killing him inside.

She knew too that she alone could release him from the conflict he had been facing since they shared his bed.

"Lord Argyll," she began, "before you say another word, there is something I must confess to you."

Suddenly both Featherton ladies came to their feet.

"No, Lady Genevieve, you do not," Lady Letitia

201

broke
i
n, cutting off Jenny's words. "Lord Argyll has not presented an honorable offer, and therefore you are under no obligation to explain anything whatsoever to him!"

Jenny looked up at Lady Viola. Why were they doing this? She must tell him the truth. She must release him from his pain.

But as her eyes met with the watery blue of Lady Viola's, she saw an urgency in them that confused her.

"No, Jenny, not another word. Not now.
Not yet,
"
the old woman said in a slight voice, barely more than a whisper. She began to waver and grow unsteady on her feet. Oh, heavens, she was going to have a spell.

"Please, what did ye want to tell me, Jenny? I am here, listenin'." Callum's hand tightened over her knee.

Lady Viola crumpled and crashed down in a sitting position upon the settee. As she struck the backrest, her frail body seemed to lose solidity and she tipped to the side, careening with the firm seat cushion. But strangely, the old woman's grip on Jenny's hand remained ever tight.

Callu
m
jolted as Lady Viola toppled, but having witnessed her spell before did not take his attention from Jenny.

"No, not another word!" Lady Letitia snapped, thrusting her free hand forward and whisking Callum's palm from Jenny's knee.

Jenny's gaze darted from Callum to the sleeping Lady Viola and back again.

"In fact, Lord Argyll, since my sister is unwell, I must ask you to away.
Please.
"
The stern look in Lady Letitia's eye made clear her seriousness.

"
Jenny."
Callum's gaze held hers firmly.

202

"No, I am sorry, Lord Argyll, but I must insist." Lady Letitia shot a glance at Mr. Edgar, who had been standing sentry in the corner of the room. Taking his cue, he shuffled forward and stood over Lord Argyll.

Callu
m
slowly came to his feet.

"I meant what I said, Jenny. If ye carry my bairn, I will marry ye. /
will."

Jenny looked helplessly into his eyes. She wanted to run to him and beg his forgiveness for her grand lie. She knew she could break away from the two old ladies' f
i
rm grasps and go to him if she truly desired. But there was a part of her, a selfish part, that did not wish to confess her true identity. The childish, greedy part of her that wanted Callum so much that she would live a lie forever to retain his love.

Callum took his coat and gloves from Edgar and with one long, meaningful parting glance at Jenny, he left the Featherton household.

Meredith, who had slipped into the drawing room unseen and had hidden behind the thick curtains, made her way around the settee to Jenny and began to sputter.

"Are you mad, Jenny? Why didn't you tell him who you really were? You started to do it, and you know by now he certainly deserves the truth!"

Jenny lowered her eyes and stared down at the gold and cream sunburst pattern in the center of the Aubusson carpet. She said nothing.

But Lady Letitia did. "Because it was not yet time." Jenny looked up for her to continue. "He has not acknowledged the depth of his feelings for our Jenny yet."

Lady Viola opened her eyes and quickly sat up. Her supposed spell was clearly a ruse.

"Once he has, he will offer for Jenny no matter the

203

circumstance," Lady Viola said, adding, "and it will not matter if she is a lady's maid or a fine lady."

Meredith did not seem convinced. "You are putting quite a lot of faith in a ma
n
—
n
o,
a rak
e
—
y
ou barely know."

Lady Letitia opened her mouth to speak, but very uncharacteristically, Lady Viola raised her hand to quiet her and spoke in her sister's place.

"We knew his mother well, and though he is unruly and does not conform to our society's rules and expectations, he is his mother's son and his heart is warm. You will see, Meredith, he will not disappoint young Jenny here."

"I wish my faith in him matched your own, my lady," Jenny said to Lady Viola. "I truly do.
"

"Mark my words, he shall marry you, Je
n
ny. He shall."

Jenny looked into Lady Viola's eyes, and saw the Herculean strength of her faith in Callum. And for a brief moment, she actually believed it could be true.

Meredith plopped down on a footstool and stared up at her aunt. "So a rogue with a warm heart i
s
... redeemable," she murmured to no one in particular. "But how does a lady learn these things?"

"Sadly, gel, through trial and error." Lady Letitia bobbed her head solemnly.

Meredith wrapped her arms around her knees and hugged them to her chest. "Well, someone should write a guidebook on dealing with rakes, scoundrels, and rogues, so young ladies will know what sort of men they are dealing with, and will not be so easily deceived by their charming ways."

The two Featherton ladies laughed at the absurd com-

204

m
ent, but Jenny noticed that Meredith did not join them. No, instead the right corner of her mouth lifted, and Jenny could see the machinations of a working mind in her shifting eyes.

Oh, dear.

******************

Later that evening, Jenny pocketed a guinea and slipped next door to check Molly's progress on her second project, a velvet pelisse she'd quietly assigned her a week before. Since she was trying to put aside a few bob each day for her shop, she had dismissed the notion of lining the garment with beaver fur for warmth, and instead settled for wool. Horrid, rough wool.

She'd never be able to step into a wind, for she would be sickened to have the plain wool exposed. It would ruin the effect of the pelisse. And how lovely and luxurious would
fur
have been? She sighed, for there was no use lamenting over it. What was done, was done.

To appease herself for the cost-cutting measures she was forced to accept, Jenny had convinced Mr. Bartleby to supply her with a dozen gleaming onyx buttons.
I
n exchange, she only needed to add two gallipots to his next order. That was a bargain, for the buttons were worth at leas
t
. . . hm
m
. Not two pounds.
Not anywhere near that.

The pleased smile dissolved from her face as she realized her mistake. Maybe it wasn't such a grand arrangement after all. No wonder Bartleby was so eager to seal their deal. She'd have to watch that man. He was far cleverer and half as trustworthy as she'd first thought.

205

Jenny rapped three times on the servant portal and Molly opened the door, appearing more than a little nervous.

"Come with me," the girl whispered. "But don't say nothin'. The mistress has been scaring the pudding from :he service staff by surprising us below stairs all eve. She's havin' a grand guest tonight, and is giving Cook f
i
ts about the menu. She's changed it three times already! Imagine the waste."

"Who is the guest?" Jenny asked softly as the two of them slipped into the bedchamber Molly shared with a parlor maid.

"Oh, some sotted highborn, I don't doubt. What was his name . . .
Argyl
l?
.
Yes, I think that's it."

Jenny began to cough and choke.

Molly slapped her on the back. "Are you well, Miss Penny?"