Page 3 of The Scandalous Deal of the Scarred Lady
“I am your father’s servant,” he reminded her. “Charged with keeping the house safe in his absence.”
“Pish tosh, what nonsense. There is a woman freezing outside from the cold and you are standing there arguing semantics. May I remind you I am the mistress of his house?”
“A moment ago, you were my friend,” he pointed out with a slight lifting of one rather furry eyebrow. “And I daresay your aunt would argue with you.”
“My aunt is not the mistress here,” Helena muttered darkly. “And while I will show her the respect she deserves for raising me, I will humbly disagree with her notions of being in charge. In my Father’s absence, it is I who will make the decisions.”
“Which explains why we have pudding at every meal,” Antony said in dark amusement. “And if I might clarify, you were left in charge of matters of the household. Choosing dinner, as has been pointed out. And whether to give Adele a free weekend that she might visit her mother who is ill.”
“Adele’s mother is ill? Why of course she can—stay a moment! You will not trick me so easily. I have already decided a course of action. We shall find that poor wretch if she has not already frozen through and bring her into this house. I would have her fed and warmed, and given a safe place to sleep for the night.”
“The latter being more than we shall have if I were to follow such orders,” Antony muttered half under his breath, tugging at his cuffs. “Very well, Lady Helena, if this is your order…”
“Do not be such a dreary thing. I love you dearly and you know it,” Helena said, hugging the old man with such violence that he staggered under the assault. “Now, do fetch that poor woman before she falls ill for having been out in such conditions as these. I will find your wife and make sure she has something hot waiting that we can feed her.”
“As if Bridget has evernothad something hot and ready to eat in that kitchen of hers,” Antony murmured but put out a hand to catch at Helena, before she could go. “I will do as you say, only because ’tis our Christian duty to do so. But I wish to also put some conditions on my doing so.”
Helena’s eyes opened wide. “You would order the mistress of the house?”
Antony replied, “I would order the child I set upon her first pony only to have her give it such a kick that she had to be fetched from the next county over, and still had not fallen off despite the distance involved.”
“Nonsense, that happened at the estate. The next county was only a mile or so distant.”
“You werefive,” he reminded her and sighed. “Be that as it may, I still would set these conditions. The first being that you will stay out of sight. This is a stranger to us and I would not have you exposed to someone who might be…common.”
Helena sniffed. “As though that were such a bad thing. I have met many an individual that might be thought of as common. I might point out that some would say you might be considered such had I not allowed you such familiarity.”
He leveled his gaze upon her. “Have you now? For the life of me, I cannot imagine where you get such ideas.”
She waved that away with her hand. “ ’Tis inconsequential, but I will accede to the demand all the same. I will stay out of sight. And the other?”
“That you shall stay safe in your chambers with your aunt to attend you tonight. I will bring you a tray to take dinner myself.”
Helena stared at him in horror. “You would lock me in?”
“I would ensure your safety for when the master returns,” Antony stated. This time it was he whose arms were crossed, being firm in his demand. He would not be moved when he looked at her like that. She knew this well from experience.
Helena shot an uneasy glance toward the window. How much time had passed while they’d stood there arguing. “Agreed. But do hurry! The poor woman!”
“The ‘poor woman’ indeed,” Antony said, and rolled his eyes. “Go talk to Bridget, then if you would be so kind as to retire to your quarters, I would much appreciate it. In the meantime, I will attend to your strange guest.”
Such was her relief that he had agreed, Helena kissed the wrinkled cheek and darted for the door, her golden skirts rustling as she moved swiftly across the floor.
“And do not forget your gloves!” he called after her. Helena made a show of tugging on the second glove from the doorway, waving as she finished. Antony only shook his head and moved slowly toward the opposite door, heading for the servant’s stairs no doubt.
Helena watched him go before spinning and continuing on her way with a most unladylike shout of glee. For it was not often they got visitors, and while she had promised that their guest would not seeher, Antony had said nothing about her not seeing the guest.
Chapter 2
The woman, for indeed it was a woman, was near froze through by the time she was escorted in to the fire.
Helena stayed to the shadows, one hand lifted to her cheek, touching the ravaged flesh there and thinking perhaps it a good thing that she had been thus confined, as her appearance now would only add to the horrors of this poor creature’s misery. For miserable she was, wrapped within a blanket and shivering despite the wood piled high on the fire.
They had stayed arguing too long. This was entirely her fault.
Chagrined, Helena eased shut the door that had afforded a view of her unexpected guest and leaned against it, deep in thought. She wanted very much to talk to their guest but was unsure how to manage it with Bridget fussing over the woman, practically spooning soup into the poor creature’s mouth.
Her fingertips brushed her cheek again. Helena swallowed hard, knowing full well how she must look to the outside world. Even without the mirrors that she’d had removed from every room, she had never lost the image of her affliction from her mind. Her skin, naturally creamy white, beneath the dark mahogany of her hair, carried not the roses of youth within her cheeks, but the stain of her sin.
