Lady Thief - By Rizzo Rosko Page 0,26

that my companion is actually listening to what I’m saying.”

Olma’s lips lifted, though she still had trouble keeping her eyes away from her feet. With her pale complexion and light hair the smile did add beauty to her face that no one would otherwise be able to see had Olma continued to point her nose at the floor.

Good, she was getting through to her already. With any luck Mariane would find more maids eager to please and they would help her train the rest of the castle.

Since asking politely did not help with the servants, Marianne loudly made her demands known. She set about to her task with a ferocity she had not known she possessed.

“This pheasant is cold! Send it back up and tell the cooks that if they try to serve their lord one more frozen meal they will be sleeping outside come winter!”

“I want the gardens lush before the month ends or I’ll have someone’s hide! There’s still time to have herbs before the first snow!”

“Look at this! There is so much dirt on this shelf that I can make pictures on it with my finger!”

Marianne expected the servants would attempt to escape the tasks she set out for them. To stall her efforts most moved at the pace of slugs. There were some who were willing to jump at the high pitched screech of their lady, and Marianne worked them first.

She received polite smiles when in the same room as them, but she had Olma to tell her what they really thought of her.

“I do not wish to upset ye, milady, but the others do not like having ye here or the rules ye set out for them. Some of the women say,” she paused to brace herself. “That ye are a…a red haired demoness.”

Olma bobbed quickly and averted her eyes under her headdress as if she thought Marianne would be taking her anger out on her.

Marianne felt her eye twitch, and she reminded herself that she had pressed Olma for this information. “And the men?”

Olma ducked her head further until her chin touched her chest. “I do not speak to the men, milady.”

She forced a gentle smile for the girl. “No, of course not. Thank you. I do appreciate your efforts.”

Along with the cleaning of the rooms and kitchen, hot meals and hard work, Marianne made a habit of ordering daily baths since she first arrived at William’s castle, but she would no longer take cold water from the lake.

The fires were lit, the castle warm and the evening meals were served hot and on time.

She sighed and sank into her haven. She could never bathe every day while in her father’s care, he wanted the servants at his disposal, not hers, but now that she was a lady she could do as she pleased and enjoy the water. Provided she remained near the fire when she got out.

“I must say that I am impressed, Marianne,”

She tensed in the tub when William’s silky voice called to her but did not look up. Olma and the other servant girls scrubbed her back and prepared her gown for the laundress as though he were not there.

And why wouldn’t they? She thought. He was the lord of the castle and she his wife. He had every right to be there if he wished it.

Still, despite his promise to become more attentive to her, he spent most of his nights off doing whatever he did to occupy himself, and she had not been expecting him.

William stepped closer, and when she did face him his glittering eyes matched the smirk on his face. “All of you, leave us.”

The girls scuttled from the room like mice. Marianne was suddenly alone with him, naked in her tub and wishing that at least Olma had stayed. Marianne had been with the girl for barely three days and her desperate need for female companionship had made her love Olma already despite the lack of equal conversation.

Marianne’s muscles twitched as she struggled to keep from covering her chest with her hands. They were visible to him, so close to the water’s surface that her nipples peaked above the water just so. Pretending he could not see them made her feel only a little better, and she dared not adjust how she sat lest he see right through her calm facade.

“Impressed with what, my lo—William?” She quickly corrected herself, swallowing hard and trying to calm her labored breathing.

He stepped closer and knelt next to the tub.