“I hope you will not think me rude if I eagerly and unrepentantly abandon you,” she said to Mrs. Buchanan.
“On the contrary. I will find you utterly ridiculous if you do not.”
Sophia needed no more encouragement. She leapt from the bench and hurried toward Duncan. His eyes danced when he saw her, and his smile formed on the instant. He held his hand out to her as she approached and she slipped hers into it. That had become their greeting whenever he returned. She spent her days looking forward to that moment.
“We were not expecting you until later tonight,” she said.
“I can leave and return in an hour or two if you would prefer.”
She shook her head at his teasing. “Your mother has been saying flattering things about you. You had best be well-behaved, or I will be inclined not to believe any of it.”
“Will you trust that I am a wonderful person if I tell you that I have good news?” They walked along the garden path, their interwoven hands swinging between them.
“What is your news?”
“I will be late tomorrow,” he said.
She stopped and looked up at him. “That is not good news at all.”
His grin could not have contained another ounce of mischievousness. “You do not yet know the reason why I will be late.”
“It would need to be an exceptionally good one for me to feel at all happy about it.”
He raised her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to her fingers. “Tomorrow I am resigning as stable master at Haddington House.”
Her first response was relief on his behalf, then excitement that he would be free of the misery of that place. But just as quickly, she realized another unsettling possibility. “Where will you work? Will you be farther away? Will you still come back and see m— see us?”
He brushed his fingers along her cheek. “I’m not leaving you, Sophia. After tomorrow, I’m coming home.”
Chapter Seven
The servants’ hall at Haddington House had likely never been as full as it was late the next morning. Not only were all members of the house’s interior and grounds staff, save two, present, but so was every member of the stable staff. Such a gathering was essentially unheard of in fine homes like this. That they were all dressed in traveling clothes with portmanteaus and traveling bags at their feet made the sight more odd still.
Duncan stood in front of them all, a carefully written list in his hands. “Aiden’s secured the post of stable master at Castle Darroch and is taking most of the stable staff with him. He’s spoken with you already, so you know who you are.”
Nods from among the stable hands met that pronouncement. Duncan looked down at his list again.
“Charles and Dougal are headed to Parley House. George and Malcolm from among the gardeners have been hired by a respectable family in Glasgow with extensive grounds.”
“Thank you for that,” Malcolm said.
Duncan gave a quick nod. “Johnny will be leaving with me. The rest of the stable hands and grounds workers have informed me they’ve secured new positions.”
He waved the butler over. He took his place beside Duncan.
“The housekeeper and I have found positions elsewhere for all of the household servants, except Mrs. Haddington’s lady’s maid and the chambermaid who’s been acting as a spy for Mrs. Haddington.”
“They’ve not been told of what is happening today,” Duncan assured the onlookers. “Nothing’ll prevent your escape.”
“And what about Miss Pemberton?” one of the maids asked. “We’ve been worrying about her.”
“She’s safe and well and not in any danger of destitution,” Duncan said. “And she’ll be relieved to hear that all of you have escaped this house of misery.”
“Thank you for helping all of us secure this escape,” another of the maids said.
“And for doing it in a way that’ll cause the most inconvenience for the Haddingtons,” Aiden added.
Laughter and declarations of agreement followed that, which were in turn followed by farewells among the staff. Slowly, the servants’ hall emptied and the belowstairs grew cavernously quiet. Duncan alone remained, just as he’d planned.
