A bittersweet emotion erupted inside her. She loved him. She knew that now. It was unmistakable after their day together. If she could marry him, she would have run to the church tomorrow.
Yet it can never be. If Caroline comes down the stairs at that ball to meet him, he’ll realize what lie we have told. He would surely never forgive me for that.
***
“Say that again.” Caroline poked her head out from where she had been stuffing shoes under the bed. Still on her knees, she was staring at Alaina, wide-eyed.
“I know,” Alaina said desperately. She was already crying, though she had told herself she would not. She brushed the tears away from her cheeks. “Your father has insisted on a betrothal ball. When everyone arrives in just over a week’s time, they’ll see I am not you, and the truth will come crashing down. Oh, Caro, it’s too awful. What will Marcus say?”
“I beg your pardon?” Caroline jumped to her feet. “I’m more concerned with what my father will say than what the duke will say!”
Alaina’s breath hitched as her crying turned into great gasping and wrenching breaths. Alaina didn’t care if the earl would despise her forevermore. She didn’t even bat an eyelid at the thought of being dismissed from her position. She only thought of what Marcus would think of her.
She paced on the spot again, turning around frantically as Caroline hurried towards her.
“Wait, wait, let us think about this. Who is coming to this ball?” Caroline stood before her, wringing her hands together.
“Oh, your father was very thorough in that.” Alaina backed away, reaching for a table nearby where she had dropped papers. “Look at the list he sent Marcus.” She grappled with it, thrusting it towards Caroline to read.
“You should call him the duke, you know,” Caroline murmured.
“Is that our biggest problem now!?” Alaina asked wildly. Caroline cast her a worried glance, then turned her wide eyes down upon the list.
“Oh goodness.” Her voice grew weak as she slumped down onto the edge of the bed. “There are people who know me very well here. There are cousins, dear friends, and oh no.” She halted in her reading, looking up from the list. “Lady Markworthy. She is one of the biggest gossips in the ton. It’s said she has connections with the scandal sheets.”
“God’s blood!” Alaina called aloud. Caroline grimaced at the language but said nothing more. Her hands now trembled around the list. “Caro, that’s it. We’re going to have to come clean. We’ll come clean tonight.”
“Are you mad?” Caroline was back on her feet, now as animated as Alaina was. “No, no. I’m happier than I have ever been now.”
“Working as a maid?” Alaina asked in amazement.
“I’m not pretending it’s easy.” Caroline shook her head. “It’s hard work.”
“Bloody hard work,” Alaina agreed with a firm nod.
“Yet I am so happy.” Caroline looked desperate. “Please, we cannot reveal the truth to anyone. Not now.”
“How do you expect to get away with this next week?” Alaina asked, wiping her cheeks once more as she marched around the room. “Everyone will see I am not you. There may be a little resemblance with our hair colour, but we do not look so much like twins to convince anyone who already knows who you are.”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Caroline huffed and dropped the list back down onto the table. She joined Alaina with her pacing around the room. When the two practically collided with one another, they moved away again. At any other point in their lives, they would have laughed at such a thing, but today they couldn’t manage it. They both just halted, staring at one another. Caroline grimaced once again, laying her hands on her cheeks. “We cannot hide it, can we?” she murmured in realization.
Alaina shook her head.
“When my father arrives, he’ll see at once you are not me. Even if we were to swap places in the night, having two Lady Carolines in a room would surely be impossible to hold up. Every time my father tried to introduce my betrothed, the duke would walk forward with you on your arm.” Her breath suddenly hitched. “Imagine what my father will say to you?”
Alaina did not have the words. She had never felt particularly warm towards the Earl of Woolworth, but she knew she had to be grateful to him. When she was an orphan, he’d taken her into her home and accepted raising her in the household as staff. She had even been allowed to sit in on some of Caroline’s lessons. She had learned to read and write when certainly not every maid in her position would have had such an opportunity.
What would he say to her now if he saw her impersonating his own daughter?
“He’ll dismiss you at once,” Caroline breathed out the words. “Your position, your income, Allie. It would all be gone.”
Alaina turned away. She slumped down into a chair near the fire, resting her chin in the palm of her hand as she stared at the flames.
“Is it wrong that our life back in that house feels like a world away now?” she whispered. “The life I had there was like a dream, and this life …” She trailed away.
This life with Marcus.
It felt like the real thing. Something she didn’t want to let go of.
