“Are you a new maid?”
Ophelia’s eyes widened at his stern tone, unsure why he had he suddenly turned so rude towards her. She had only introduced herself out of courtesy, and here he was, acting as if she should not have even been talking to him. As the nanny, her station was far above that of a stable boy, but clearly the man in front of her did not understand that.
“As a stable boy or groom, whatever you are, I think you should mind your own business and not ask me if I am a new maid. Your arrogance is unsuitable and rather ugly,” she replied angrily, and his eyes widened at her insult.
She was glad at the reaction since it was exactly what she had hoped to achieve.
“As a groom?”
“That is what you are, isn’t it?” Ophelia asked, feeling high and mighty in front of him.
“Even if I am a groom, who gave you the right to converse with me in such a manner? You think this is allowed?”
“Absolutely. As someone stationed inside the house, I believe my position is well above yours, and you must keep that in mind. I only introduced myself and even took the time to converse with you since you were staring at me, and I had no desire to appear unnecessarily rude.”
“Rude? You already appear unnecessarily rude to me. I can only imagine how much,” he retorted, his tone still reeking of arrogance.
What is it about him?
“I was being kind, but clearly, men like you do not even deserve kindness,” Ophelia rolled her eyes, wondering why she was conversing with such an utterly useless man.
“It is women like you who believe that every man is staring at you or somehow interested in you when no one is. I am not the one who must learn to be kind, but it is you!” he answered, and Ophelia had never felt this angry in a very long time.
“No one but you have ever accused me of anything but being on the opposite spectrum of unkindness,” Ophelia replied through gritted teeth, every second between them only making her angrier.
Everything about him angered her, but she still could not force herself to walk away, her heart wishing to learn more about him. It was as if an invisible string was pulling them together, and they had no choice but to stay close to one another.
“Now I have,” he replied angrily, “what will you do about it?”
“You sound like a loathsome human, and I truly wish I never have to interact with you again. Try not to come out of the stables because your presence annoys me,” Ophelia replied, quickly taking a deep breath to calm herself down.
He is useless and vile.
He is useless and vile.
He is useless and vile.
She kept repeating the chant to herself to feel a little less angry.
“If you are stationed inside the manor, you should probably stay there. Someone like you might not want to be caught out here speaking to a lowly groomsman, do you not think?”
“I will do exactly that,” Ophelia replied coolly, “have a good day, or perhaps don’t. I could not care less.”
With that, Ophelia turned around and walked inside the manor, never wanting to converse with him again. However, the attraction and chemistry she had felt towards him were unmatched by any other she might have ever felt. She wished she could understand the reason behind such a thing, but it was quickly becoming impossible to analyse.
All she needed to know was how they needed to stay away from one another. He incited a reaction in her that she did not want to surface, and she was glad he stayed outside the manor all day, and if she steered clear of the stables, she might never even run into him again.
She was going to do exactly that.
He had angered her so in their first meeting, and she was certain any future interactions would only be far worse than this. Despite all of it, his blue eyes refused to leave her memory, and Ophelia kept thinking about him.
Who was he, after all? Some part of her did want to see him again.
Chapter 5
“Do you need anything else, My Lord?”
Edward looked up from the papers on his study desk as Mrs Bailey addressed him.
