White’s. He was doing this out of spite.
“Also,” Miss Britcher continued, “I will spend the day teaching you how to conduct yourself as a lady.”
“I already conduct myself as a lady. I don’t discuss investments, smoke pipes, or drink brandy.” Except for two times, but there was no need to bring that up.
“I’m talking about the way you bend and walk.”
“There’s nothing wrong with the way I bend and walk.”
“Your husband disagrees. I will send for the supplies needed to make more dresses, and then we’ll get started on your lessons.”
“No!”
Miss Britcher had the nerve to look surprised. “You don’t have a choice.”
“I most certainly do have a choice. This is my body, and I’ll do what I want with it.”
Before Miss Britcher could respond, Kitty ran out of her bedchamber and headed straight for Aaron’s room. Without knocking, she threw the door open, but the room was empty.
“You can’t just go rushing into your husband’s bedchamber,” Miss Britcher admonished her. “You need to wait for him to invite you in there.”
Kitty looked over her shoulder and noticed that Miss Britcher stood at the threshold of the doorway. Kitty waited for the lady to come in and grab her, but the lady remained where she was standing. Kitty went further into the room to see if she would follow, but she didn’t.
That was interesting. Up to now, Miss Britcher had followed her all over the place. Kitty hadn’t been allowed to get a single moment by herself since her wedding because the old coot insisted on following her everywhere. What was it about Aaron’s room that made the lady reluctant to come after her now?
“Lady Northton,” she began, “I understand you don’t like the situation, but you have no choice. Your husband gave me specific orders. I have to do them.”
“Or what?” Kitty asked.
Miss Britcher’s eyebrows furrowed. “Pardon?”
“What will happen if you don’t follow his orders?”
“I’ll lose my job. Mr. Stonewall will lose his job if he doesn’t do as you wish, too. That’s why we’re both making you and your husband do the other’s bidding. Now, if I must, I will get the butler to retrieve you from that room.”
“Why not come in and get me yourself?”
Feeling the spirit of rebellion welling up within her, Kitty went to Aaron’s bed and sat on it. When the lady didn’t budge from her spot, Kitty decided to push her luck and laid down on it. Again, the lady didn’t make a move to get her. Curious to see how far the lady would let her go with this, Kitty rolled on the bed, intentionally messing up the bedding so that Aaron would know someone had been in his room.
Miss Britcher let out an irritated huff and departed from the doorway. Kitty sat up in the bed and scanned the room for anything else she might do to get even with Aaron for all of the grief he was giving her. At the moment, she had a brief period of time where she could do anything she wanted. She didn’t want to waste this opportunity.
She ran over to the small room off to the side of the bedchamber. She opened the top drawer of the desk and pulled it open. She wasn’t looking for anything in particular. She figured she’d just leave the drawers open and take the quill out of the inkwell just to spite him. Yes, it was childish, but this whole situation he’d put her in had pushed her beyond what she could endure.
She found some blank parchment in the top drawer and an idea came to her. She pulled out one of the parchements and wrote, I hope your wife doesn’t find out about our tryst, my darling Aaron. She hurried back to the bed and put the parchment on his pillow. Then she rushed back to her bedchamber, selected one of her least favorite gowns, and ran back to the room and shoved it under the covers of the bed.
Since Miss Britcher hadn’t returned with the butler yet, she still had time to do something. She ran to his dresser and opened the drawers. Everything was neatly folded, and to her surprise, his clothes were organized according to color. With a snicker, she moved all of the clothes around until they were mixed up. Then she pulled open the armoire and, noting those clothes were also arranged according to color, did the same with them. She had almost finished with her mission when the butler came into