Lady In Waiting (30 page)

After leaving Lady McCarthy in his capable charge, Jenny dashed back down the passageway for the study, for she did not want to miss any part of the unfolding drama.

But by time she returned, clearly the most interesting snippets of conversation had passed. Callu
m
stood, his towering frame in complete contrast to Lady Viola's tiny body, which he hugged tightly to him.

"Shhh, dinna cry," Callum said softly into her hair. "Ye cudna have known what happened to me after she left."

Lady Viola tilted her head all the way back to look up into his eyes. Tears cut trails of white through her heavy face powder. "I would have come for you. I swear it. You must believe me."

"I do believe ye. But ye must stop the tears. This day should be joyous, fer today I learned that I wasna alone in this world. I have blood kin. I have a grandmother."

"And an aunt!" Lady Letitia added exuberantly, rushing forward to join her sister in hugging Callum.

Though Jenny had remained in the shadows and had said not a word, Callum seemed to know she was there. He turned around and looked straight at her.

"Jenny, did ye know of this?" he asked her. The two Featherton ladies turned to look at her.

231

"
On
m
y honor, I did not." As soon as the words had sailed from her mouth she regretted her choice. On her
honor.
Bah. What honor had she? She was living a li
e
—
a
n
d
enjoying every day of it!

"
Come, lass." Callum lifted his hand from Lady Viola's back, releasing her and Lady Letitia as he beckoned to her. "Please, Jenny."

Hesitantly, she went to him and when she stood before him, the two old women drew back, taking Jenny's place in the shadows.

Callum lifted Jenny's hand in his. "I had come here this eve with a purpose."

The Featherton sisters looked at each other, clearly perplexed.

Settling Jenny in the same chair he had placed her in earlier, Callum knelt down on his knee as he had done
ju
st before the widow had so rudely interrupted.

"Jenny, I have not yet discussed this with Lady Letitia and Lady Viola, but I must approach ye now. I've left this too long already." He paused but an instant before bringing her hand to his lips and gently kissing the tops of her gloved fingers. "Jenny, would ye do me the great honor of
b
ecomin' me wife?"

Jenny's eyes flooded with hot tears. She could not agree, could not scream
yes,
though it was what she wanted most in this world. "Callum,
I
—"

Lady Letitia hurried forward, and Jenny glanced up to see her violently shaking her head and placing her index finger vertically across her lips.

Lady Viola, hands folded over her heart, was beam
in
g. "Oh, Jenny, say
yes
!
You love him, and he loves you. Now is the time to listen
only
to your heart, dove.

232

Nothing else matters at this moment.
Nothing."
Her gaze that held Jenny was crystal clear in meaning.

Jenny looked at Callu
m
, and at the Featherton sisters, all watching for her reply with joyous anticipation.

Listen to her heart? Golly, could it be so easy?

Say yes, embrace this glorious moment, and make everyone happy. Or should she do what her conscience dictated . .. and confess.

"Young Callum has had such a difficult hour, love. Make this moment one he will recall happily 'til the end of his days." Lady Letitia stared hard at Jenny, her eyes pleading with her to accept his troth.

But how could she when their entire relationship was based on a massive lie?

Jenny thought silently for several moments, until Callum withdrew a brilliant ruby ring from his sporran. As he peeled back her glove and slipped the ring onto her third finger, Jenny gasped at its beauty.

The facets of the bloodred center stone caught the candlelight, its brilliance enhanced by a circlet of sparkling diamonds.

And all at once, that little scolding voice in her head started to fade away.

It made no sense, but for some reason, when she looked at the ring, that stunning ruby and diamond ring, she could barely hear that nagging little voice at all.

Jenny raised the ring before her eyes and blinked at it. And then it happened.

Four words slipped past her lips before she could bite them back.

"Yes,
I'll marry you!"

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

233

L
ate that night, as Er
m
a toiled in the kitchen filling
two
dozen pots of cream, Jenny sat on her small bed, head dropped forlornly to her chest.

"Heavens above, child, how could you have accepted Lord Argyll's troth, his ring, when you've still not told h
i
m who you are?"

"Because I love him, Mama."

Her mother grabbed Jenny's hand and, bending her f
in
gers toward her palm, forced her to look at the ring. "Look at that, Jenny. Here is proof that he loves you. If
y
ou truly love him as well, you owe him the truth!"

Pulling her hand away, she let her back fall across the width of the horsehair mattress. Her feet tapped nervously on the stone floor. "I know 'twas wrong. You needn't remind me. And I was about to admit everything to him, really I was, but then the ladies started shaking their fool heads and signaling for me to shush. 'Listen to your heart' they told me. And so I did."

Her mother folded her arms across her chest. "I repeat, gel, you owe Lord Argyll the truth."

"I know. I
know.
I just love him so much and the instant I tell hi
m
—" Jenny sat up and sadly rested her head in her hands, but the moment she felt the smooth cool band of the ring against her cheek, she had to lean back and take a quick peek.

But Jenny's mother knew where she was headed. "You must give the ring back and tell him who you really are. If the ladies are right about him, your true identity will not alter the way he feels about you. He will still love you, still honor his offer, and still marry you."

"Can't I wait
,
for just a wee
k
... until after Meredith's

234

ball at the Upper Assembly Rooms? I swear, I will tell him then."

"Waiting will only make it worse."

"Heavens, Mama, don't you think I know that? But you should have seen the look in his eyes. Had I not accepted, I would have destroyed him."

"The viscount is stronger than you know. Do what is right, Jenny. And you know what that is." Then her mother turned her nose upward and sniffed the air. "Best check on Er
m
a too. Something's burning."

Er
m
a.
Bleedin' Erma.

She'd paid both the scullery maid and her spy inside the widow's lair, and did she get so much as a whisper that Lady McCarthy was about to expose dear, harmless Lady Viola's past?
No.

Well, Jenny wanted to know why.

With hands clenched into fists, she charged into the kitchen to find Erma capping the last of a dozen gallipots.

"Oh, there you are," Erma said the moment she noticed her enter the kitchen. But the smirk on her face melted the moment she saw the hard expression on Jenny's face.

"Why didn't you tell me what Widow McCarthy had learned? You must have heard."

"I heard, I did. Surprise it was too. The prim Lady Viola must have been quite the tart in her day. Who'd have guessed."

Immense heat boiled up into Jenny's temples and her fisted knuckles went white with rage.

But Erma didn't seem to notice, for she'd turned away and set herself to the task of placing the pots into

235

th
e harvest basket. "But I didn't tell you because it wasn't none of your concern."

Placing her hand on the base of her back, Er
m
a
s
traightened her stiff spine. “The widow's on your trail
t
hough, Miss Penny. She doesn't like it none that you
an
d the viscount are gettin' all sweet like, so she's been do
i
ng some pryin' into your lineage as well."

"My lineage? But h-how?" A sick feeling tore through Jenny's stomach.

"Well, from what I've heard, she's got her maids and
f
ootmen pumping our house staff for any information about you. The first one who comes forward with something interesting gets a reward of some sort." Er
m
a sat down on the stool and rested her elbow on the table, and her chin on her hand. "If I was you, I'd be thinkin' about the value of pressin' a few guineas in the hands of the staf
f
... in both houses."

"Both? But I haven't got that sort of money."

Erma scoffed at that. "Well, maybe you might consider wearing a gown more than one time once in a while. Listen, I'm tellin' you to find the money, or the widow will have your mask in her hand in no time at all. I"m serious, Jenny."

Jenny dropped her head in thought as she turned from the table and started for her chamber. She couldn't let the widow learn who she really was. She had to protect Callu
m
, for at least another week. Until the ball.

Cri
m
iny, just where was she going to get that sort of money?

Why, she still needed to pay on her accounts at four shops on Milso
m
—
f
or she'd been warned that they would cease to allow her to frequent their establishments if payment was not made soon.

236

But most importantly, she needed every guinea she'd earn this week to pay for her finest, grandest ball gown of al
l
—
t
he one for Meredith's birthday ball.

Well, she'd just have to find a way to get the money. She just had to, else Ca
l
lum and all of Bath would soon be reading a great dark heading in
The Bath Herald's
weekly
on-dit
column:
Lady Eros revealed to be Miss Jenny Penny, lady's maid and liar extraordinaire.

She shivered at the thought.

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

That Saturday, Jenny was summoned by her employers to the breakfast table, where, as more often than not, she found them chatting over the newspaper's latest
on-dit
column.

"A whole day it took the columnist to scrounge up the details of Lord Argyll's betrothal to our Jenny. Imagine that." Lady Letitia chuckled. "The columnist's spies must be slipping up."

Lady Viola wrinkled her nose. "Does this not disturb you in the least, Sister? No one knew of his offer except those inside this house."

Jenny swallowed hard as she stood at the sideboard alongside her mother. A little tremor shook her bones. It was happening already, just as Er
m
a had foretold. Information was dripping from the house like tea from a leaky pot.

Her employer gazed up at her. "Jenny, have you told anyone about your betrothal?"

"No, my lady."

"And you, Mrs. Penny?" Lady Letitia asked.

"I needn't tell a soul. All of below stairs knew of the

237

m
atch before the conclusion of the rout." Her mother
q
uieted for a moment as she organized her next words. Begging your pardon, my lady, but George, the footman
,
overheard two of the party guests discussing it before the lot of you left the study."

"
Dear me, Letitia!" Lady Viola's eyes lit with alarm.
'
Was it possible someone was listening from the pas
s
age?"

Meredith set her toasted bread on her plate and looked up. "More likely someone was in here."

Lady Letitia snapped her head around. "The dining room?"

"Oh, yes," Meredith replied as she rose from the table and walked to the south wall. "If you stand right about here, and place your ear against the wall, like so, you can hear everything said in the study."

She turned around and smiled, but seemed startled to
s
ee that everyone was staring at her with harmonized looks of shock. "What? The study is just on the other
s
ide, you know. Would you like me to go into the other room and demonstrate?"