Page 213 of From Rakes to Riches

“Ready?” Cassandra asked, her hand on the door.

“Yes,” Fiona breathed.

Then they were inside the rather dim interior of a corridor. Their plan was to find cleaning implements and make their way upstairs. Fiona had managed that part of the scheme. They’d polish furniture or clean floors. In truth, they’d do neither, but that’s what they would pretend if they encountered anyone, which, of course, they would.

Immediately, as it happened.

As they made their way along the corridor, another maid—dressed in a gray gown and dark green apron, just as Prudence had said—walked past them without a word or eye contact.

“Excellent,” Cassandra murmured.

Fiona glanced about, eager to find their props. She poked her head into one doorway, only to jerk it back out again after seeing two maids in conversation. “Not in there,” she whispered.

Moving on, she tried another door, this one closed.

“Careful,” Cassandra urged.

Shewasbeing careful. Fiona gently opened the door and peered inside. It was a pantry of some kind with…cleaning supplies! “Success!”

Removing a bucket and some rags, she turned and handed the former to Cassandra. “We should fill this before we go upstairs. Otherwise, we won’t be convincing at all.”

“Where do we do that?”

“There might be a pump in the kitchen?” Fiona wasn’t familiar with houses like these.

Cassandra shrugged. “I’m not allowed on the lower level of the house. But at Woodbreak—that’s my father’s country estate—it’s in the kitchen.”

Creeping cautiously along the corridor, they found the kitchen and the pump. Fiona traded the rags for the bucket and filled it. Then, finally, they went in search of the stairs.

A few minutes later, they emerged on the ground floor, stepping out of the servants’ stairway into a sitting room inthe back corner with windows facing Duke Street and the back garden.

Decorated in delicate gold and ivory, the space felt warm and welcoming. It also, somehow, seemed to shimmer. Fiona strolled around the perimeter. “It’s such a pretty room.”

“Whoever designed this is brilliant,” Cassandra said, running her fingertips along the back of a brocade settee. “I feel right at home here.”

“How wonderful that women have such a splendid place to gather.” They’d discussed whether they might run into any of the members today. If so, they’d just keep their heads down and hurry away from them. Fiona doubted anyone would recognize her, but they might Cassandra.

“What are you girls doing in here?” The high-pitched demand came from behind them.

Fiona let out a soft squeak as she whirled around. Tossing a glance toward Cassandra, Fiona was impressed to see that she didn’t look as if she’d been caught somewhere she oughtn’t be. But perhaps her heart was thudding as wildly as Fiona’s.

The middle-aged woman, whose costume varied from the other maids in that her apron was white with an embroidered phoenix on the chest, narrowed her eyes at them. She stood in the wide doorway that led toward the front of the house. “I don’t recognize either one of you.”

Fiona froze. This was it. They’d been found out. The woman—the housekeeper?—would alert Lord Lucien, and perhaps even Lord Overton. Would he send Fiona back to Shropshire?

“We’re new,” Cassandra said evenly. If she was even half as terrified as Fiona, she didn’t show it in the slightest.

She looked as if she might believe Cassandra. “Lord Lucien hired you?”

Cassandra nodded. “Yes.”

The woman exhaled and shook her head. “Wouldn’t be the first time he forgot to tell me.” She glanced at the bucket Cassandra held. “You’re supposed to be ensuring the ballroom is tidy.” Her gaze flicked to the right. “Go at once, before the ladies arrive.”

“We will,” Cassandra said earnestly.

After the woman left, Fiona sagged, reaching for a nearby chair to steady herself. “I feared we were discovered.” She stared at Cassandra. “However did you maintain your composure so well?”

“Years of avoiding my father’s disdain when I did something he didn’t care for.”

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