Chapter Fifteen
Justin remained in his study and drummed his fingers against the top of his desk. Guilt continued to pound through him. He’d got Madeline (he still didn’t know her surname, blast it) terminated from her position. The poor girl had only been trying to enjoy herself at the ball for a bit. Perhaps unconventional, perhaps slightly odd, but understandable.
There was something endearing about it that made him wish she’d got away with it. She’d clearly wanted to enjoy herself and he remembered how excited she’d been to have one dance. Only, he’d come along with the earbob she’d lost and got her sacked. Still, how in the world had Eliza pieced it all together and learned that Madeline had lost her position? To that end, Justin had sent up a footman with a summons for his meddlesome sister.
It didn’t take long for a tentative knock to sound at the study door.
“Come in,” he intoned.
Eliza entered with a completely innocent look on her face. She’d always been good at feigning innocence. Not as good as Jessica, but adept, nonetheless.
“You asked to see me,” Eliza announced, stepping inside and closing the door behind her. Her omnipresent book was tucked under her arm.
“Take a seat.” He gestured toward one of the two large leather chairs in front of his desk. It wasn’t lost on him that his stubborn sister’s hair was down, and she was wearing that blasted green dress she refused to take off. Both things were battles for another day, however.
She slid into the chair and sat up straight. She perched on the edge of her seat, blinking at him expectantly as if she hadn’t a care in the world.
Justin shook his head. He might as well get directly to his point. Eliza wasn’t one to deny guilt after she’d been caught. She was level-headed that way. “What precisely were you thinking hiring Madeline?”
“I was thinking I was saving her from Henrietta Hazelton,” she replied without missing a beat. She’d obviously been prepared for this conversation. “She sacked her, you know? The night of the ball.”
Justin winced. Guilt poked at his conscience again. “Yes, I know.”
Eliza set her book on the desk in front of her. “When Mama and Jessa and I saw Henrietta at the modiste yesterday morning, she mentioned she’d just sacked her maid for stealing an earbob. I asked her name and the moment I realized it had to be your Madeline, I rushed to find her. You know how Mama’s been after me to hire a maid. And everyone knows Henrietta is awful. I couldn’t let the poor girl be tossed on the streets. Henrietta wasn’t about to write her a reference.”
So that’s how Eliza had found out about Madeline. She’d run into Henrietta. Regardless, he couldn’t argue with any of his sister’s points. Instead, he insisted, “She’s not my Madeline.”
“Isn’t she though?” Eliza replied, inclining her head toward him and crossing her arms over her chest.
“Certainly not.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I thought it was you who mentioned her beauty, her blue eyes, and her dimples that could tempt a saint. Perhaps that was my other brother.” She finished with a far-too-certain-of-herself smile.
His nostrils flared. “I thought you promised not to pry into my personal affairs.”
“I didn’t pry. You offered that information, which was so unlike you, by the by, that I assumed you were looking for assistance. You wanted to find the girl.” Eliza shrugged. “Well, I found her.”
Justin rubbed his forehead with a knuckle. Damn it. He couldn’t argue with Eliza’s logic. He had brought this on himself, hadn’t he? Would he ever learn to never tell his sisters things? Any of them? “Fine. I might have mentioned her dimples, but that doesn’t make her mine.”
Eliza shifted in her seat. “If that doesn’t make her yours, perhaps the fact that you’re the reason she was sacked does.”
He groaned as if he’d been slugged in the gut. Nothing Eliza could have said would have made him feel more guilt. And she wasn’t wrong. He cursed under his breath.
Eliza crossed her arms over her chest and lifted a brow. “Our family owes Madeline a position, Justin.”
Justin leaned back in his chair and scratched his chin, cursing the entire situation for the dozenth time. “I agree, and I have every intention of allowing her to stay. But I want to make one thing clear.” He deepened his voice and leaned toward his sister, doing his best to appear the ominous head of the family. “You had better not be trying to matchmake. It’s beyond inappropriate for more reasons than one. No more sending Madeline on errands to my study. Do you understand me?”
“You’ll let her stay?” Eliza asked, a bright smile spreading slowly across her face.
Justin expelled his breath. “I have no choice. I am the reason she was released from her position. I feel awful for the young woman.”
“Oh, thank heavens.” Eliza pressed a hand to her throat. “I was certain you’d send her away. I cannot imagine having to go on the hunt for another lady’s maid.”
Justin arched a brow, giving his sister a highly skeptical glare. “I don’t for a second believe that is the reason you hired her.”
“Of course it wasn’t.” Eliza stood, grabbed her book, and rushed back toward the door. “But if it happened to solve my problem as well, all the better.”
“One more thing,” Justin said, still staring directly at his younger sister.
