you than that.” His long fingers curled around her wrist and jerked her hand away from him.
Had he thought she was someone else, then? “If not the White Lady, then who?”
“I will no longer speak on this subject.” His voice was soft and controlled, but no less menacing for it. “You will prepare yourself to leave Darlington Castle first thing tomorrow morning. You may take a meal in the kitchen beforehand.”
“Did you think one of the villagers had sneaked into the castle?” That had been Cecilia’s first thought. Perhaps he didn’t have a guilty conscience, and was only concerned for Isabella, as she had been. “Would they go so far as to—”
“Stop it, Cecilia.” His voice was harsh, and his eyes had darkened to a stormy black.
She began to shake her head, but to her shock he caught her chin in his hand to still her. She gasped at the press of his fingertips, the heat of his touch. “My lord—”
“No. Listen to me. Tomorrow you will go back to Stoneleigh, or London, or wherever it is you’re from.”
Cecilia jerked her chin out of his grip. “What were you afraid of tonight, Lord Darlington?”
“Leave me.” He nodded once at the door to his study, then turned his back on her and strode to the tall window behind his desk. He didn’t speak again, but stood gazing out into the darkness, waiting for her to leave.
The frigid note in his voice chilled Cecilia to her bones. She stared at that stiff, broad back, his big, white-knuckled hands gripping the windowsill, and her shoulders sagged. How could she persuade him to let her stay if he wouldn’t even look at her?
Who was she to argue with a marquess?
No one who mattered. No one at all.
That was it, then. She’d been summarily and permanently dismissed.
She turned on her heel without another word and made her way from the study down the hallway and past the row of Lord Darlington’s grim ancestors, who seemed to watch her every step. Her feet dragged as she mounted the stairs to her solitary bedchamber on the second floor of the house.
She closed the door behind her and dropped down onto the edge of her bed. How would she explain herself to Lady Clifford, and Sophia, Georgiana, and Emma? They’d been so proud of her, so encouraging. This had been her chance to prove herself worthy of Lady Clifford’s faith in her, but here she was, returning to London in disgrace after only a day at Darlington Castle, having learned precisely nothing.
What had ever possessed her to enter the late marchioness’s bedchamber when Lord Darlington had expressly forbidden it? Yes, she’d heard a sound, but now she’d experienced the result it seemed a foolish reason to have disobeyed his orders. She’d have been much better off if she’d kept to her yes, my lord, and no, my lord.
Cecilia smothered a sigh, crawled under the covers of her little cot, and drew the blankets up to her chin, vowing nothing short of a blood-curdling scream would induce her to leave it again.
She squeezed her eyes closed and waited for sleep to take her, but though her body was exhausted, her mind wouldn’t allow her to rest. A voice inside her head prodded and poked at her, enumerating all the reasons why she couldn’t simply turn her back on Darlington Castle.
Cecilia rolled onto her side, then onto her other side, then tried to silence the voice by burying her head under her pillow, but it was no use. At last she squirmed onto her back with a heavy sigh. Her eyes popped open of their own accord, and she threw her arm over her forehead.
“It’s not as if there’s a blessed thing I can do it about it,” she muttered aloud. “Lord Darlington’s dismissed me, and there’s rather an end to it.”
There must be a way to change his mind, the voice insisted stubbornly. Why, you hardly even tried.
“I did try. I stood there and argued with an enormous marquess who’s quite likely a murderer. What else would you have me do?”
Try again, harder this time.
“Short of simply refusing to leave, I don’t see how I can—”
Ah. Now there’s an idea.
Cecilia huffed out a breath. The voice was beginning to sound a bit like her friend Sophia, who never gave up on anything, regardless of how hopeless it seemed. She was the bravest person Cecilia knew.
And yet…
“What’s to prevent Lord Darlington from simply throwing me out?” Cecilia shivered at the