Not that he would ever admit it.
‘Come in,’ Liam said some time later, as the knock he’d been expecting finally sounded.
He straightened and adopted a most convincing, imperious and commanding manner. Gathering the papers concerning her, he set his gaze on them, unable quite yet, it seemed, to look her in the eye.
‘Mrs Hardwicke.’
‘My lord,’ Rebecca said, striding over to stand before the desk. ‘You asked to see me.’
‘Yes, I did,’ he drawled, his eyes affixed to the papers before him. ‘If you would...’ Liam waved his hand to beckon her, only to start slightly when he looked up and found her already before him. ‘Oh.’
‘Mrs Murray asked me to bring you the week’s menus.’
Gingerly, Rebecca offered over the stack of papers, and his eyes flitted to her neck. He winced inwardly when he noticed the scarf she wore today.
‘Thank you,’ he said gruffly, tossing the menus to one side. ‘About last night...’
‘Did something happen, my lord?’
Rebecca stood there innocently, a polite smile on her face.
Liam frowned. ‘No,’ he said finally. ‘Nothing of consequence, it seems.’
‘If that is all my lord, I have—’
‘Actually, Mrs Hardwicke,’ he said, recovering his businesslike tone, and stopping her as she made to leave. ‘I have here a list of your previous posts, and I find myself wondering, Mrs Hardwicke, why you seem to change households every two or so years. Rather odd, is it not? Almost a pattern, one might say.’ Liam paused for effect, joining his hands before him, surveying her with idle condescension. ‘Mrs Hardwicke?’
‘Yes, my lord?’
‘Nothing to say?’
‘I did not realise there was a question, my lord.’
‘Why is it, Mrs Hardwicke, that you seem to find no stability in your positions when it is rather the fashion, as far as I’m aware, for housekeepers to serve for, well, life? You, on the other hand, seem almost to berunningfrom something. Why, in the past five years alone, you have served three different houses.’
Now he’s asking about my suitability?
The fact that his last remark had hit rather too close to home for comfort didn’t help ease Rebecca’s rising anxiety.
‘I have seized opportunities for advancement when they have presented themselves, my lord. With the exception of my last household, in which case I did serve until death, that of my mistress. I think you will find, however, my references irreproachable.’
‘With one exception here,’ he countered, perusing the papers to bring forward a particular letter. ‘You remained in the Duchess of Stonehaven’s London household for a mere six months before a sudden departure, which you said was due to an ailing mother. Yet I have it on good authority that you have no family, and have not for some time. Mrs Hardwicke?’
‘My apologies, was there another question I failed to detect, my lord?’
‘Tell me, Mrs Hardwicke, do you make a habit of lying to your employers? Or is it Thomas to whom you lied when you told him of your family, or rather, lack thereof?’
‘My lord?’
‘You are hiding something, Mrs Hardwicke, and I do not suffer lies nor secrets under my roof.’
The irony of that statement was lost on neither of them, but Liam forged on.
‘Now, I ask again. Why so many households in so little time?’
‘It is as I said, my lord. If you wish to dismiss me,’ Rebecca barrelled on, her apprehension rising with every passing moment, ‘you need not make a pretence of finding fault with me, for, as far as I am aware, I have given cause for none. Though I am sure many a master has been discovered in many a more compromising situation than you. You need find no excuses.’
‘This is not about the events of last evening, Mrs Hardwicke,’ he countered harshly. ‘Enquiries were made before then, and I assure you, whatever you may think of me, I am not one to dismiss servants out of pride. What are you running from?’
