Read Online One Week as Lovers by Victoria Dahl - Free Book Online Page B

bedroom to retrieve his boots before slipping out the door. Cynthia slept on.
    Before reaching the kitchen he heard female voices, one of them raised in anger.
    “If you leave now, you’ll never have a job in his lordship’s home again.” Mrs. Pell’s voice quivered with outrage.
    “But I don’t plan to work here again,” a girl replied, nervousness clear in the shaky words. Lancaster snuck his head around the corner.
    The two new maids cowered near the door. “It’s haunted! We heard ghosts running through the walls!” Mary cried, and Lancaster jerked back with a smile. Perfect.
    “Come now,” Mrs. Pell scoffed. “’Twas only a mouse.”
    He dragged a reckless hand through his hair to muss it, then took a deep breath and lurched around the corner. “Damn big mouse if you ask me.” All three women gasped and stepped back before dropping hasty curtsies. “I heard it too,” he continued. “Banging and rustling. Even a scream, I daresay.”
    “Yes!” Lizzie cried. “Screams and horrible moaning.”
    Moaning? Oh, my. Well, perhaps he’d moaned a bit after she’d bashed him in the head. He raised a hand to touch a careful finger to the lump at the edge of his eyebrow.
    “Now, milord, I’m sure you’re just not used to the sounds of this old place settling at night—”
    “I was attacked.” He touched the aching spot with a bit more flair. “Pounced upon in my bed while I slept.”
    The two maids let out little screams and scrambled for the door, but Mrs. Pell’s face paled to a sickly white that even the frightened maids couldn’t match.
    “Attacked?” she croaked.
    The door banged against the wall and the maids were gone, vanished into the dim morning.
    “You won’t be paid!” she called after them, though the words fell weakly from her mouth.
    Lancaster pushed a chair toward her and Mrs. Pell sat down hard.
    “I do believe those girls have a fear of restless spirits,” he said, his mood inching up to even greater heights. If there were no maids about, Cynthia would be free to live openly in his home. “I say, Mrs. Pell, is there tea this morning? I’m parched.”
    “Yes, sir.” She stared at the open door for a long moment before she blinked back to her wits. “Oh, pardon me, milord!” She jumped to her feet so quickly that her skirts flared around her. Her eyes darted to the wound on his head. “I’m so sorry. The water’s ready. I’ll have breakfast for you in a moment, if you’d like to relax in the library. You’re an early riser today, sir.”
    “I couldn’t sleep.”
    “Aye…Well.”
    “And I’ll take breakfast in my chambers, if you please—”
    “Of course.”
    “Cynthia will likely wake soon and I’m sure she’ll be famished.”
    “Yes, sir. I’ll…” The whites of her eyes showed all around as his words finally sunk in. “Pardon me?”
    He was unkind enough to thoroughly enjoy the stunned disbelief etched across her features. “That vicious ghost who attacked me in my chambers last night? I managed to catch her. She’s quite lively for a spirit.”
    “You…You caught the…ghost?”
    “I did.”
    They stared at each other for a long moment before Lancaster relented and smiled. “Thank you for helping her, Mrs. Pell. She looks quite healthy for a young woman who’s been living in the attic for weeks.”
    The housekeeper’s face didn’t move.
    “But we shall have to find her a proper chamber now.”
    Her eyes turned liquid. “Milord?” she whispered, just before the tears overflowed her eyes.
    Oh, no. He couldn’t bear to see a woman cry. “I’m sorry,” he said in a rush. “I shouldn’t have teased you like that. Cynthia is well. Everything is fine.”
    “Sir!” Her face crumpled.
    “Ah, Christ.” Unable to take it a moment longer, Lancaster jumped forward and pulled her into his arms, hoping she wasn’t the kind of woman who’d cry harder when embraced.
    She took a deep breath. Lancaster held his. Her shoulders ceased their