To Seduce a Sinner (Legend of the Four Soldiers #2)(20)

Mr. Pynch was still watching her. “I suggest you knock.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “I know well enough how to wake my mistress.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“Perhaps she’s not alone.” She felt her hot blush rise again. “You know. What if he’s in there? Right fool I’d look if I go trotting in there and they’re not . . . not . . . not”—Sally inhaled deeply, trying to get a grip on her runaway tongue—“right. I’d be most embarrassed.”

“He isn’t.”

“Isn’t what?”

“In there,” Mr. Pynch said with utter certainty, and entered the room of their master.

Sally scowled after him. What a nasty man. She gave a last tug to her apron and rapped smartly on her mistress’s door.

MELISANDE WAS SITTING at her desk, translating the last of the fairy tales when she heard a rap on her door. Mouse, who’d been lying at her feet, jumped up to growl at the door.

“Come,” she called, and was unsurprised when Suchlike peeked in.

Melisande glanced at the china clock on her mantel. It was just after eight o’clock, but she’d been awake for over two hours. She rarely slept past sunrise. Suchlike knew her routine and usually came to dress her much earlier than this. The maid probably had been circumspect because of Melisande’s newly wedded status. She felt a flash of mortification. Soon the entire household would know that she’d slept apart from her husband on their wedding night. Well, it couldn’t be helped. She’d just have to get through it.

“Good morning, my lady.” Suchlike eyed Mouse and edged around the terrier.

“Good morning. Come here, Mouse.” Melisande snapped her fingers.

Mouse gave a last suspicious sniff at the maid and ran to sit under the desk next to Melisande’s legs.

She’d already pulled back the drapes from the window over the desk, but Suchlike went now to open the other drapes as well. “It’s a lovely day. Sunshine, not a cloud in the sky, and hardly any wind. What would you like to wear today, my lady?”

“I thought the gray,” Melisande murmured absently.

She frowned over a German word in the story she was working on. The old book of fairy tales had belonged to her dearest friend Emeline, a memento from her childhood. It had apparently come from Emeline’s Prussian nanny. Before she had left to sail to America with her new husband, Mr. Hartley, Emeline had given the book to Melisande so that she could translate its stories. When she’d accepted the task, she’d understood that it meant much more to both of them than a simple translation. Giving the cherished book to her was Emeline’s way of promising that their friendship would endure this separation, and Melisande had been touched and grateful for the gesture.

She’d hoped to translate the book and then have the stories copied out and hand-bound to give to Emeline when next she visited England. Unfortunately, Melisande had run into a problem. The book consisted of four related fairy tales, each the story of a soldier returning from war. Three of these stories she’d translated handily enough, but the fourth . . . The fourth was proving to be a challenge.

“The gray, my lady?” Suchlike repeated doubtfully.

“Yes, the gray,” Melisande said.

The problem was the dialect. And the fact that she was trying to translate the written word. She’d learned German from her mother but had mostly spoken the language, not read it, and the difference was proving to be key. Melisande stroked her finger across the brittle page. Working on the book reminded her of Emeline. She wished her friend could have been there for her wedding. And she wished even more that she was here right now. How comforting it would be to talk to Emeline about her marriage and the puzzle that was gentlemen in general. Why had her husband—

“Which gray?”

“What?” Melisande finally glanced at her maid and saw that Suchlike wore an exasperated frown.

“Which gray?” Suchlike opened wide the doors to the wardrobe, which, admittedly, was filled with a rather dull-colored collection of gowns.

“The bluish gray.”

Suchlike took down the indicated gown, muttering under her breath. Melisande chose not to comment on the sound, instead rising and pouring out a basin of tepid water to wash her face and neck. Thus refreshed, she stood patiently while Suchlike dressed her.

Half an hour later, Melisande dismissed the maid and made her way to the lower hall, paneled in palest pink marble with gold and black accents. Here she hesitated. Surely breakfast was served in one of the lower rooms. But there were so many doors to choose from, and yesterday, in all the excitement of meeting the staff and moving in, she’d not thought to ask.

Nearby, someone cleared his throat. Melisande turned to find the butler, Oaks, behind her. He was a short man with round shoulders and hands that were too big for his wrists. On his head he wore an extravagantly curled and powdered white wig.

“Might I help you, my lady?”

“Yes, thank you,” Melisande said. “Could you have one of the footmen take my dog, Mouse, out into the garden? And please show me to the room where breakfast is served.”

“My lady.” Oaks snapped his fingers, and a lanky young footman sprang forward like an acolyte to a priest. The butler gestured to Mouse with a flick of his hand. The footman bent toward the dog and then froze as Mouse lifted a lip and snarled.