Page 14 of His Unforgettable Bride
An unexpected glimmer of hope buzzed inside her, but she told herself to calm down. If the sisters taught her the ins and outs of ladylike behavior, she’d become more respectable, and that sounded awful nice for a change. “I believe it’s to my liking.”
“Very well. After you change, please join us downstairs, and we’ll start the tour.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Livy excused herself, and Juliet quickly dried off with a plush towel. Then she grabbed a plain brown dress with buttons from the waist to the collar from the wardrobe. She tugged it on, draped her wet garments near the fire, and spread her few other meager belongings on the gold-carpeted floor to dry. Even her grandfather’s journal had damp, but not ruined, pages. She bent to kiss the cover, grabbed her hairbrush, and pulled the bristles through her locks.
Already, she adored everything about the room. What if she fell madly in love with the place and then had to leave? How long could she stretch her stay in paradise?
Based on her employment record, not long enough.
Juliet abandoned the hairbrush on the bureau and rushed downstairs. At the front of the house, she entered the empty drawing room, decorated in greens and blues. A noisy grandfather clock interrupted the quiet. Next to a square piano, an empty birdcage dangled from a hook attached to the ceiling.
Juliet stepped closer. Scattered seeds covered the bottom. Someone had carved the wordsDearestPeachesonto an attached brass plate above the open door. Though she knew nothing about birdcages, the latch appeared busted. Had the cherished pet escaped?
Later, she’d investigate the home and the bird mystery more thoroughly, but now she needed to meet with the sisters. She briefly poked her head into a library, then a dining room, and finally a sitting room with a bed shoved in the corner. Each one charmed her as much as the next. Yet she failed to locate the sisters.
A glorious aroma led her down the remaining hallway to an expansive, welcoming kitchen with a black-and-white checked floor. Iron hooks held a mix of pots, kettles, and a griddle. A blackened vessel with a burping lid perched on a massive stove built into the wall. The remnants of a squash, a knife, and a wooden spoon claimed space on the sideboard.
She closed her eyes and savored the rich, nutty scent only briefly. The last thing she wanted was for the sisters to think she plodded along. Were they in the carriage house? There was only one way to find out, and she moved toward the rear door and opened it.
The second she did so, a green bird with a yellow head and bright orange beak swooped past her head, whistling as she escaped.
What in tarnation?
But then again, if Juliet lived in a cage, she’d probably try to flee too.
Juliet charged outside in pursuit of Dearest Peaches.
Five
If nature has not invested you with all the virtues which may be desirablein a lady, do not make your faults more conspicuous by thrusting them forward.
Nobody had ever called Juliet silly. But chasing after a dad-blamed bird was nothing less than downright foolish.
For pity’s sake, the sisters would fire her for losing Dearest Peaches, hoisting her skirt in the street, and uttering common words. One mistake they might overlook. But three?
She kept her eye on the beloved critter. “Get back here, now.”
A damp breeze brushed her cheeks as she tore down a cobblestone path, pursuing the fowl. Desperation and mist swirled as she sped past a lattice fence, gardens, fruit trees, and three outer buildings of various shapes and sizes.
She pinpointed the two-story structure as the carriage house. A tall, wide-centered doorway large enough for a buggy stood on one end. The building featured a steep roof, dormer windows, and two smaller, closed doors.
She ought to peek in and see if Tabitha and Livy were waiting for her inside. But if she paused to speak to them, she’d lose track of Peaches.
Oh, blame it all.
The pathway ended, and a pine and cedar tree grove stood yonder. Or was it a vast forest big enough to lose a person, let alone the nuisance of a bird? Her sensible shoes slapped against the soggy grass as the bright yellow-headed critter, not much bigger than a sugar bowl, swooped high and low over bushes and through trees but never landed.
Please, don’t enter the woods.
Peaches soared straight into the forest. Because, of course, she would.
“Snakes alive.” Juliet followed, weaving around trees as fast as she could. The temperature dropped inside the thicket, and her borrowed dress offered little protection. Pine needles, long as a shark’s tooth but hopefully not as sharp, scattered underneath her shoes. A woodsy tang swirled around her.
After a few more steps, she stopped. Her odds of catching the creature with bare hands were higher than the treetops. Although she didn’t believe in curses, sometimes she wondered about her long streak of misfortune.
Today was one of those days.
She should swallow her pride, admit defeat, and accept the facts—she’d never catch the bird singlehandedly, especially without a butterfly net like the one the Firth daughters had used for play on the lawn.
