The Last Eligible Bachelor - Ashtyn Newbold Page 0,64

me. He is quite firm in all his convictions, and does not change his mind easily.” I wished I could tell them that one of those convictions was never to marry at all, but I held my tongue.

“You must be so very proud,” Miss Downsfield said between gritted teeth. It may as well have been a hiss. I would have laughed, but the spite in her eyes struck me silent. Her body was angled just far enough away from Mrs. Ollerton to hide her expression, and her voice somehow managed to sound polite.

I took a deep breath. The pride that coursed through my veins had nothing to do with Mr. Hill, but the fact that I had not sunk into the chair. My hands shook in my lap as I found my voice again. “In truth, I am not proud,” I said, shaking my head. “And perhaps that is why Mr. Hill chose me over you.”

Miss Downsfield’s jaw unhinged slightly.

I stood, offering a curtsy. “Excuse me.”

I made it to the door and out into the dim hallway without stopping to catch my breath. The moment the door closed behind me, a smile stole over my cheeks. I covered my mouth to hide it, as if the portraits on the wall would scold me for it. Before Mrs. Ollerton or any of the other ladies could have a chance to come after me, I hurried toward my room, not stopping until I was safely behind the door.

My smile faded as I pressed my back against the wall. Where were my manners? What had I been thinking? I couldn’t risk displeasing Mrs. Ollerton too much, or she would simply send me back to Kent. My heart pounded with a warning, and my cheeks burned with shame despite the victory I had just recently felt. My words were not my own, they were Sophia’s.

I had forgotten that.

There were too many important things I had forgotten of late, the most important being that I was not a lady. I was not at liberty to say and do what I wished, not really. I was still a lady’s maid in disguise, no matter how unsavory that reality tasted now that I had tasted something sweeter.

I rubbed my right temple with my fingertips as I paced toward the chair by the mirror. Breathing was suddenly difficult—perhaps due to the maid who had laced my stays too tight. As I sat down, something small caught my eye in my reflection, tucked beneath the brush that rested on the vanity. Something red and shiny.

I moved the brush, and the chain of a necklace fell in a tangle onto the vanity.

The ruby glared up at me. It was Mrs. Ollerton’s missing pendant.

Chapter 19

I stared at the necklace for a long moment.

With the chain tangled up near my brush, I could only assume it had been hastily placed there.

My heart thudded as betrayal crept over the edges of my mind, rimming my vision in darkness. Of course Miss Downsfield had placed it here. She hoped to have me sent home, or even punished further. My thoughts flashed to Papa. All it had taken was a stolen tusk to put him in the Canterbury Gaol. How much worse would a punishment be for stealing an expensive heirloom like Mrs. Ollerton’s pendant?

Considering the fact that I was likely not currently in Mrs. Ollerton’s good graces, I didn’t dare take it back down to the drawing room, claiming innocence. Papa had tried to return the tusk and had still been sent away. Pressing a hand to my chest, I tried to calm my breathing, a sudden panic overtaking my lungs. I collected myself, meeting my own eyes in the mirror.

You are innocent, Tillie.

That single thought sent a wave of calm over my shoulders. I had already known the ladies were combating against me. I just hadn’t expected to be framed for thievery. Even Miss Downsfield seemed too refined to do something like that. And there was no reason Mrs. Ollerton wouldn’t take my word if I told her I didn’t take the necklace. Was there? I could tell her I found it on the floor in the hall.

With shaking fingers, I scooped up the necklace, planning to take it to her that very instant.

But as I made my way to the door, I stopped in my tracks.

Mrs. Ollerton might take a lady’s word, but she would never take a maid’s. If it were ever discovered that I was not Sophia, then Mrs. Ollerton