Read Online Beyond Rubies (Daughters of Sin Book 4) by Beverley Oakley - Free Book Online

hiss. “Don’t ever say such things aloud. Who knows who might be listening?”
    Jane’s expression became sorrowful as she cradled the lone embroidered slipper. “What are yer goin’ ter do, m’lady, when yer time comes an’ the babe is full growed but...” she heaved in an outraged breath, “...two months early?”
    “My jeweled comb, if you please!” Araminta clapped her hands imperiously, then muttered as she stared into her hand-held looking glass, “And it’s only six weeks if I have my calculations right. However...I will make a plan.”
    “Like the plan yer made when yer was determined ter make Sir Aubrey wed yer—’cept ’e’d already wed yer sister leavin’ yer in a right old mess? Yes, yer can dismiss me if yer like fer speakin’ so plain, m’lady, but you ’ave jest got ter find a way out o’ this conundrum else yer’ll suffer fer it most sorely, and then I really will ’ave to find meself another job.”
    Araminta put down her looking glass and closed her eyes. Jane spoke only the truth. Her child could be born at any time within the next four weeks, and when it was discovered to be at full term, she very much feared that Debenham would kill her. It was no exaggeration, either.
    All the fears she’d tried to keep at bay surged up her throat. She sent her maid a beseeching look, very different from her usual careless hauteur. “You have to help me, Jane.” The situation was indeed as dire as Jane had painted it, and she’d been a fool to pretend the problem would simply go away. When Jane said nothing, she swung around and gripped her maid’s wrist until the girl cried out in pain. “Promise you’ll help me. I’ll think of something, but to do whatever I may need you to do, you must promise me your utter loyalty.”
    “Yer know yer’ve always ’ad that, m’lady.”
    Araminta suddenly felt petulant. “You like Hetty more than you ever liked me.”
    “Yes, m’lady. I like ’er too much to tell ’er the truth ’bout yer and what I reckon yer tricked Sir Aubrey ter do wiv yer. But I’ll no’ destroy ’er ’appiness when she an’ her new ’usband are smellin’ o’ April an’ May. So yer can rest assured yer secret is safe with me, for it’s over me dead body that I’ll ever let poor Miss Hetty know that it’s Sir Aubrey’s babe in yer belly.”
    For a moment, rage blurred Araminta’s vision. She drew back her hand to strike the impertinent and challenging look from Jane’s hateful face but managed, just, to master herself. She rose. “How do I look, Jane?” she asked with a regal smile. “Will my husband be pleased with me?”
    “I reckon ’e’s always pleased when yer look so beautiful and do what ’e says.”
    Araminta shuddered, her attempt at acting clouded by the reality of what her life had become. “I’ve learned to be very good at that. Now,” she waved her hand toward the door, “I shall present myself downstairs. I shall probably carry on to supper after the play, so you may go to bed in the meantime if you arrange to be woken so can attend to me when I return.”
    “That’s uncommonly thoughtful of yer, m’lady.”
    Araminta smiled. “I always look after those who have pledged me their loyalty.”
    ***
    T onight was one of those rare occasions Araminta preferred to be in company with her husband. Since Hetty and Sir Aubrey had returned from their wedding tour in Italy a month ago, the two encounters she’d had with her sister and Hetty’s new husband had been thoroughly uncomfortable, bringing back hideous memories. Of course, if Sir Aubrey hadn’t given her to believe he was about to make her a marriage offer, she’d never have done what she had to in order to spur him on. The truth was, she’d been motivated by nothing other than the good of the family as a whole. With Papa on the verge of losing all his money, Araminta had to save innocent Hetty from having to earn her living as a governess. Only look what had happened? She