Read Online Never a Mistress, No Longer a Maid by Maureen Driscoll - Free Book Online Page A

quarters.  Growing up, he and his brothers had gone to the kitchens
at least once a day, usually to steal biscuits from Cook.  The staff at Lynwood
had always been treated with respect.  The only raised voices Ned could
remember between family and servants had been when the servants needed to get
the attention of rambunctious boys with more energy than sense.  The only
physical discipline had been the occasional swats on the bottom from Cook –
with full authorization from their parents.  To this very day, he, Arthur and  Hal
could make Cook turn a delightful shade of red when reminding her how many
times she’d spanked the great Duke of Lynwood. 
    As Ned left the Barrington property and walked into the
woods, he thought about his parents and the love they’d showered on their
children and each other.  They’d been gone for eight years, ever since a fever swept
Lynwood Manor in the country, killing both his parents within days of each
other.  As much as it pained all who knew them to lose both at once, theirs was
such a deep bond that it would’ve seemed unnatural and cruel if one had been forced
to live without the other.
    That was at the heart of Ned’s dissatisfaction.  He wanted a
marriage like his parents’.  And he didn’t know if it’d be possible.
    “You must come down!  I shall be in so much trouble if you
don’t!”
    Ned looked up to see a young girl of maybe six or seven
years.  Possibly eight – it was so hard to tell how old children were when you
didn’t have any.  She was turned away from him, looking up into a tree.
    “Can I help you with something, miss?”
    The girl turned around and froze.  She had blonde hair and
eyes a brilliant shade of green.  She was barefoot.  Obviously a laborer’s
daughter.
    “My apologies,” said Ned.  “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
    “I’m not frightened,” said the girl, sounding a bit
offended.  “I’m just not supposed to talk to people I don’t know.”
    “That’s very wise.  My name is Ned.”  He bowed.
    “I’m Vi,” she said as she dropped into a curtsy that would
pass muster at Almack’s.
    “That’s a very pretty name.”
    “Thank you.  You have eyes like mine.”
    Ned looked at her eyes a bit closer, but still kept his
distance.  He didn’t want to frighten the girl or offend her once again by
implying he’d frightened her.
    “So I do.  They look rather nice on you,” he said.
    “Thank you.  They look rather nice on you, too.”
    “Thank you.  Now who’s in the tree and why won’t he or she
come down?”
    “Titania’s in the tree and she’s the best mouser we’ve got. 
She followed me to the woods and I’m not even supposed to be here.  Now she
won’t come down.”
    “Well, Vi, you have a few problems, I’d say.  The first is
you weren’t supposed to come to the woods.”
    “But I like it here.”
    “I’m sorry to disillusion you at such a young age, but life
is made up of countless things we’d like to do, but, for one reason or another,
we cannot.  So, from here on out, if your papa tells you not to go into the
woods, you should not go.”
    “My papa is dead.”
    She said it in a very matter-of-fact way that made Ned’s
heart lurch.
    “I’m very sorry to hear that.”
    The little girl shrugged.
    “Then you should obey the person who told you not to go into
the woods, no matter who it was.  That’s the first lesson to be learned.  The
second is your mouser up there will likely come down when she wants to and not
a minute earlier.”
    “But what if she doesn’t?”
    “She will.”
    “How do you know?”
    “Because I’m old and wise.”
    “How do I know you’re not just old?”
    “You’ll have to trust that I’m both.”
    “Why?”
    So that was how Lord Edward Kellington, brother to the Duke
of Lynwood, a Lieutenant of the Guards who’d been praised by Wellington and an
agent for the Crown who’d faced death on more than one occasion in service to
his country,