“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” Alaina muttered repeatedly as she shut the door behind her. Falling against the door, she laid a hand on her chest. Her heart was pounding so hard that she thought it might break through her ribcage.
“Goodness, is this really how you live your life?” Caroline suddenly called from within the depths of the chamber.
Alaina’s eyes shot open, and she stumbled into the room. As best as she could, she tried to tear her thoughts away from the Duke of Peddleton and all the flirting they had done. She tried not to think of the way those green eyes had stared at her, nor how he had teased her, and especially not the way he had kissed her hand.
Oh, what a thrill that was … Stop thinking about it!
“Caro?” Alaina hissed, unable to see her friend. The room had to be the finest she had ever been in, even grander than the earl’s rooms. It stretched far and wide, with so many windows that she was quite pierced by the sun’s rays beyond. A grand four-posted bed dominated the space, decorated in sage green hues with a bed cover dappled in green flowers. The vanity table, made of deep mahogany wood, was twice the size of Caroline’s own back home. “Caro?” she called again.
“Ah!” Caroline suddenly yelped. Alaina ran forward as Caroline fell out of a cupboard at the far end of the room, falling amongst the many dresses she had gathered in her arms. “I should have fewer dresses,” Caroline said as she blew one of the ribbons out of her mouth. “How you have put up handling allthese,I’ll never know.”
Alaina reached down and helped Caroline disentangle herself from the dresses.
“Caro, Caro, this is mad,” Alaina said as Caroline stood to her feet.
“Mad?” Caroline giggled like a delighted child. “Our plan is working brilliantly! All the staff are calling me Alaina and treating me like staff myself. It’s wonderful.”
“Lugging portmanteaus out of carriages and up the stairs is …wonderful?”Alaina asked in disbelief, her hands on to her hips.
“I mean the way they talk to me.” Caroline giggled once again. “It’s so freeing. There’s no, My Lady this, My Lady that, it’s all just so much easier than that. More informal.”
“Funnily enough, I do know,” Alaina whispered. Frustrated to see Caroline so happy when a battle was going on in her own heart, Alaina groaned aloud. “Caro, this won’t work. We have to switch back.” She grabbed Caroline’s skirt but was batted away from her own poor gown.
“Why on earth would we do that?”
“Because the duke, he’s … he’s …” Alaina struggled for words and turned on the spot, quite terrified to put it into words. She saw again the way he had kissed her hand, the feeling of his lips against her skin.
“Well, he is a little more handsome than I thought he would be, I’ll admit,” Caroline said offhandedly as she now reached for a portmanteau and tried to unpack the many shoes hidden within.
“A little!?” Alaina cried in disbelief. “Are you blind as well as mad? Dear God, Caro, he’s stunningly handsome.” She stepped away, pacing up and down in her panic. “He’s teasing too, mischievous, and far too flirtatious. He has made me flirt – something I never thought I’d do. I am not prepared for this. I cannot handle it.”
Caroline turned to face her from her position on her knees in the cupboard.
“Alaina … do you like the duke?”
“I didn’t say that.” Alaina squeaked the words in panic. Caroline eyed her cautiously, not looking convinced in the slightest.
“Look, it’s natural for him to flirt with the woman he thinks will be his wife. Just don’t take his flirtation to heart. Remember, he thinks you’re me.”
Alaina felt as if she had been doused in ice. She dropped onto the foot of the bed, realizing that the duke had not been flirting withherso much as the money he thought she had.
Oh. It was all an act. Yet, it hadn’t felt like an act.
“Now, you have a couple of hours before dinner. Why don’t you nap?” Caroline asked as she stood straight. “I am going to go downstairs and get the lay of the land more.”
“You make it sound like we’re on a battlefield,” Alaina murmured.
“I feel as if we are.” Caroline walked towards the door and then ushered a hand at Alaina again. “Go on, have that nap.”
“Caro.” Alaina shook her head. “I don’t nap in the afternoons. I work while you nap.” Her pointed words made Caroline huff a little, then nod in acceptance.
I have never had time for naps when there is work to be done.
“Well, consider this a little holiday,” Caroline said hastily. “You will nap, and I’ll come upstairs in a bit to help you change for dinner. Sleep, Alaina. You’ll feel a lot better after that. Oh, I’m so excited.” She giggled once again, though Alaina felt far from joining in. “I’m going to go below stairs and be like any other maid!” With these final words, she shot out of the door, closing it behind her.
Alaina stared after her friend, open-mouthed.
“I’ve never known anyone want to be a maid so badly.”
