Drat.
I should have paid attention to what Beatrice had been talking about while I stared at every dark shadow on our way to my room. Regardless of her friendly nature, I didn't feel like I could tell her I already hadn't been paying attention to her.
It shouldn't be too hard to find it, right?
And she'd told me I was allowed in all areas of the house, except for the study. I had hours yet to find the dining room.
So I nodded in response so as not to voice my little white lie.
"Good, good," she responded before pushing open the door. "I'll leave you to it then. You should have plenty of time to unpack and freshen up before dinner. I won't be in attendance, as it's my evening off, so I'll see you in the morning." She noddedat me and turned in her cute black shoes before rushing off back down the hallway.
Goodness.
I stepped into my room. That's when what she said earlier truly penetrated.
Beatrice had told me this was myrooms. As in plural.
What I stepped into wasn't just the small room I'd expected to find as befitting a maid. Nuh-uh. It was a large suite. With two more doors leading off the main room.
What on earth?
CHAPTER TWO
JOLIE
Shit. Fuck. Dammit.
I should have just swallowed my pride and just asked Beatrice to show me the dining room again.
But how hard could it possibly be to retrace our steps and find a room filled with a giant table and a dozen of chairs?
The answer? Way too fucking hard.
Somehow, I'd gotten turned around and so lost, I couldn't even find my rooms at this point.
Rooms I wasdefinitelynot thinking about or marveling over. No. Absolutely not.
The master giving a housemaid a suite fit for visiting royalty was not on my mind.
Nope. Notat all.
Okay, so maybe I was laying on the sarcasm a bit thickly, but it was my default when I was freaking out and I couldn't help it. I was going to be late meeting the damn master!
A master, I might add, that still didn't have a name. It wasn't until I was getting ready to hunt down the dining room that I realised Beatrice had not once referred to him by name. How on earth was I to greet the man if I didn't know what to call him?Sir? Master? Somehow, saying'hey, you'didn't seem like the wise option.
I shook my head at my own idiocy.
Not that any of it mattered. For me to greet him, I had to actuallyfindhim.
As dinner crept closer, I hadn't run into a single soul. But I had discovered multiple guest rooms, a couple of powder rooms, a nursery-looking space, a broom closet, and the most breathtaking library I'd ever seen.
But no kitchen. No dining room. Not even the damn drawing room I remembered seeing when Beatrice first started her tour.
My stomach growled, reminding me it had been far too long since I'd eaten a decent meal, along with sending another burst of nerves through my system because I was most certainly going to be late for dinner.
No way I wasn't getting fired before I even started. Who wanted a fool too proud to ask for help as a maid? Especially if that maid got lost in the damn house she was supposed to be cleaning!
The thought of losing this chance, of failing my papa, tightened something painfully inside my chest. Tears built behind my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I could do this. Iwoulddo this.
