Lady In Waiting (23 page)

175

Rising up on the tips of her bare toes, Jenny tried to glimpse Royal Crescent on a mount in the distance, but it was just too far away and too many buildings blocked her view.

Lud, how was she to get back? She turned and glanced at her damp slippers beside the fire. Her shoes were quite inadequate for trudging across Bath in the knee
-
deep snow. When she'd picked them up a moment before, she'd found the linings still soggy with cold water from the canal. For certain, she'd freeze before she arrived on the crescent.

Yes, she could see it all so clearly in her mind. She and the baby inside of he
r
—
R
ichard ... no ...
James,
that was quite a nice nam
e
—
w
ould be found frozen midstride like a new bronze statue in the middle of Queen Square.

Everyone in Bath, or at least the loyal service staff, would mourn for her and her unborn babe. And Callu
m
would stand over their grave in the Bath Abbey Cemetery, and place flowers on their simple tomb every Sunday, knowing that his damning words had driven her into the snow, and that their deaths were entirely his fault.

Jenny placed her hand on her belly, her breath catching as she succumbed to her own fanciful story.

Callum heard her whimpers, for from the edge of her vision, Jenny saw him climb from the bed and walk to her.

He wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Oh, Jenny. Dinna cry."

Jenny daren't turn around, for she knew full well he was fully naked in the daylight. And from the slight un-

176

intentional prodding against her behind, he was in a curiously aroused state.

It was so hard to be a lad
y
—
a
nd not look at him. He was impossibly beautiful, this Scotsman.

Turned as he was to the side, the sunlight illuminated his flawless body and Jenny found she could study his reflection in the window without him being any the wiser.

And so she let her eyes wander where they would. Her gaze followed the dark hair of his sculpted chest to where it trailed off between his legs. At once she felt an insistent throbbing between her thighs, and it was all she could do to resist the urge to drag her naked Highlander back to the tester bed.

Seeing her hand atop her middle, Callu
m
slid his palms protectively over her belly. "No matter what happens, 'twill be all right, lass. Ye'll see."

" 'Twill be all right?" Jenny jerked her head around and glared up at him, knowing that growing rage sparked in her eyes. "How can you say that to me?
You
are not the one whose life will be forever changed. You will not be shunned by society, and forced to live your life with your eyes cast down in shame." Her voice shook, and this truly surprised her.

Callum trembled slightly at her words, and she knew she had struck a chord with him. And yet, she was not pleased. She didn't want to say these things, but she felt so horribly betrayed.

If he loved her, as he claimed
,
he would put aside his vendetta against his fa
th
er and offer to marry her! Of course, she could not accept, she being a lady's maid and he a viscount, but he should at least
make
the offer.

Unbidden tears erupted in her eyes.

177

"I am sorry, Jenny." When Callum looked down at her, his eyes glistened slightly in the cool light coming through the window.

Jenny stared silently up at him for several seconds as a tear rolled down her cheek and dripped from her jaw. "As am I, Callum, for until this moment, I believed you were not the rogue you claimed to be, but instead a good and true gentleman. But now I see I was horribly mistaken."

Callum blanched
,
and Jenny knew her words had carried the force of a ba
l
led fist. But she hadn't lied. She'd meant every word. Her eyes started to sting again. She had to leave now. Had to put space between her and the viscount, for it pained her too much to even look at him.

Jenny pulled from his embrace, crossed to the hearth and retrieved her overcoat, and then stepped into her mushy slippers. Without another word, she solemnly left the chamber and started down the stairs.

She heard Callum's bare feet on
the
Scots carpet above in the passage.

"Jenny, dinna be daft. Ye canna walk to Royal Crescent in the snow. Ye dinna even have yer stockin's."

She stopped and grasped the newel post at the landing and squeezed it for support. "I cannot stay." Jenny looked down at her soiled and rumpled coat, and at her muddied slippers. "I'd rather face my ruin in the harsh light of day than cower here."

Behind her, she heard Callum coming toward her. But knowing he could not follow her, naked as he was, she hurried to the door, plunged into the knee-deep snow, and started for home.

178

"What could you have been thinking, child, walking all the way from Laura Place in the snow?" Mrs. Penny poured another kettle of steaming water into the copper hip bath where Jenny soaked.

Jenny lolled her head back against the ba
l
led sheet behind her head and closed her eyes. "I was thinking that I made a grand mistake and 'twas better to leave with my pride than stay and agree to accept his charity."

"
'Tis
your overblown pride, gel, that got you into this predicament. Perhaps 'twas better that you stayed, accepted what he offered, and left your pride in Laura Place." Her mother grunted her disapproval and tossed a pot of soap into the water.

Water splashed Jenny's face. She slowly opened her eyes and stared back at her mother as the water dripped in clear strings from her chin. "Mama, though nothing is for certain yet, I may be in a real hitch. I need your compassion now, not your disapproval. You of all people should understand what I am enduring."

The moment the words came out of her mouth, Jenny wished she could have sucked them back in.

Her mother's face paled, then two angry red sunbursts burst upon her cheeks. She narrowed her eyes at Jenny. "Our circumstances are nothing alike, gel.
Nothing."

Jenny stared at her mother. She'd never seen her this upset before. Though she appeared angry, for some reason, she was shaking too. "What do you mean, Mama?" she asked hesitantly.

Her mother stared back at her and for a moment Jenny was convinced she was about to explain herself. "Never you mind," she finally snapped, then turned and left Jenny's bedchamber.

179

Jenny
was
sitting in the cooling bathwater, dumbstruck, when Er
m
a walked into her chamber with the harvest basket and plunked it down on the floor.

"When the snow started coming, Mrs. Penny brought your basket inside, but it's getting in me way in the kitchen so I'm bringing it to you, Miss Miser Bag ... or should I say
Lady Eros
?
"

Jenny grimaced. "You better not say either one again if you know what's good for you."

Erma crossed her arms over her chest. "I ain't afraid of you none, Jenny."

"Really?"

"That's right, because I know it'll only take a few words to those newspaper fellows that 'ave been snoopin' aroun
d
—
l
east I 'eard that's who they ar
e
— and your fancy 'I'm a Great Lady' game is over for good."

Jenny looked up at the pearl earbobs dangling from beneath Er
m
a's
m
obcap and a sly smile skated across her lips. "If my identity is revealed by your doing, I have no doubt Mr. Bartleby will be most displeased. In fact, he might rethink any gift he might have given you for giving him access to my tingle cream."

Erma's fingers flew up to the pearl earrings and stayed there. "You wouldn't dare tell him."

"Of course I would.
If
I
were given no other choice."

"You are a wicked girl, Jenny Penny."

Jenny rounded her mouth and her eyes. "I am not wicked at all, Erma. But I am a shrewd merchant who will protect her business. I should think you'd want me as your ally rather than your foe."

Jenny scrutinized the scullery maid. Erma was a real threat. And though Jenny gave not a hoot about her

180

cream business, she had to admit the money was very,
very
nice. Still, being exposed as Lady Eros could deeply hurt a number of people, including the dear Featherton ladies ... and Callu
m
. She felt a twinge in her heart at the thought.

Then an idea came to her and she fashioned a bright s
m
ile for the scullery maid.
"
Er
m
a, how'd you
l
ike to make a few bob?"

******************

The next day, Jenny quietly came to stand next to her mother beside the linen-dressed breakfast table, having been summoned above stairs by the Featherton ladies, who had only just heard of her return to the house.

Not noticing Jenny's arrival, Lady Letitia propped her lorgnette on her nose and stretched the hand that held the newspaper to arm's length. "I say, 'tis almost like living in London. I would not have believed it possible that so much purse-snatching, violence, and thievery would have ever occurred within the walls of Bath."

Taking a sip of chocolate, Lady Viola nodded in agreement. "Just Thursday last, Lady Avery was hit in the head and her rings were snatched right from her fingers. It's true, I tell you. I saw the cut on her brow and I own it was as long as my little finger." She wiggled her pinkie in the air. "To think, this all occurred just outside the Upper Assembly Rooms. Then at the Ash rout on Monday, the countess's jewel box was stolen from her bedchamber. Her own
bedchamber.
Imagine that!"

Lady Letitia let out a long sigh. "I daresay, there is a thief among our ranks."

"Indeed. Frightening, just frightening. Why I am

181

feeling
l
ight-headed just talking about the horrors." Lady Viola waved her hand weakly. "Mrs. Penny, my vinaigrette, please."

As Jenny listened to the Featherton ladies, her thoughts became centered on the little man she'd seen outside the Pump Room and then later at the Bath Abbey.

Why, he was small enough to slip right by a person, sneak up the stairs, and make off with a fortune in jewels.

She wondered again if the magistrates ought to hear of her revelation, for if they already knew of him, he wouldn't be scurrying around highborn Bath snatching up treasures, now would he? She really should report him to the authorities.

But wouldn't it be better if she were to find the baubles he'd taken and turn those in as well? She'd be a heroine and they'd throw a parade in her honor. Of course, everyone would be so grateful for her quick thinking that they would probably gift her with a jewel or two in thanks.

Besides, a few bob or a sparkler might really come in handy if she was with chil
d
—
b
ut of course nothing was for certain yet.

"Ah, Jenny, there you are. Come, sit down." Lady Viola patted the empty seat cushion beside her.

Jenny dolefully glanced at her mother, who shot her a sullen look as she settled a silver and crystal vinaigrette before her ladyship, then politely excused herself from the room.

"We received word from Lord Argyll about your unfortunate accident, but Mrs. Penny has informed us
that

182

you are perfectly well now. You undoubtedly have a strong constitution to have survived with nary a chill."

"Yes, my lady." Jenny couldn't seem to raise her eyes and look at her employers. If she did, she knew the tears would start again. Lud, she'd tried very hard to block the heartache of Callum's betrayal from her mind. And had actually succeeded in thinking of other things for a full quarter of an hour.
Blast.
They were going to dredge the whole painful event to the surface again.

"Oh, dear. Such a glum face." Lady Letitia clucked. "Viola, I think our gel is not nearly as happy as she would have us believe. Just look at the poor pup."

Heat began to rise into Jenny's cheeks as she felt two pairs of faded blue eyes scrutinizing her.

"Oh, my, you are right, Letitia." Lady Viola set her cup into its saucer and leaned toward Jenny. "Didn't Lord Argyll afford you the attention you desired when you left for your stroll in Sydney Garden?"

"Oh, yes, my lady. Much more than I
ever
imagined." Jenny glanced up from the floor to see the two old women exchange concerned glances.