Seductive Deception

Chapter 18

"We must discuss a new lady's maid for me," Tess demanded as they all sat around in the parlor, "I've had dreadful luck with them as of late."

It was a gray day, overcast and gloomy despite the room's gauche buttercup yellow pin-striped decor; rain lazily drizzled down the window panes.

"Dreadful? Your mum has informed me you've pushed away six ladies' maids in the past; what was it, nine months," Morgan retorted, leaning back in his chair, arms crossed.

"I can't imagine why," Strickland rebuffed as he eyed her.

"Neither can I," Tess piped up from her seat at the piano where she was plucking keys again, and it wasn't doing anything to help with Morgan's headache. Ordinarily, he might have found it amusing, but today, he found it anything but.

Morgan watched as his friend's jaw clenched with every deliberate plunk.

"Regarding the ladies' maids," she clarified, "I simply felt they did not accurately represent Clayton values. They were distracted by everything and didn't do their job."

Strickland sniffed. "How did you manage to do that?"

She pressed a hand to her chest as she slid off the bench with as much elegance as she could muster. She went to the loveseat, where she plopped down beside Strickland.

Amused, Morgan watched as Strickland's eyes narrowed for a fraction of a second, a sure sign he was displeased by her joining them.

"I found diversions for them."

"And what would those be?" Morgan asked, brow furrowed and barely restraining a smirk.

Tess crossed her legs at the ankle and bent in to take a petite four that had been left abandoned after tea.

"They were to take care of things I'd rather avoid. I sent them to collect calling cards, shop in the marketplace, and embroider."

"And... they didn't?"

"No, rather, they chided me for calling, first Leo and now you, by your given name whenever I was discussing either of you." She set her half-eaten petite four on the plate before boldly licking the frosting from one of her fingers and using them to count. "Secondly, they would never allow me to do anything I was interested in."

"What types of things were you not permitted to do?"

"Fencing, horse racing, gambling..."

Both men's eyes widened, and Strickland laughed as he slapped his knee and shook his head.

"They followed me everywhere," she protested, her bright blue eyes pleading with both men.

Morgan leaned forward, elbows on his knees, "You aware that that's their intention, correct?"

"Of course, I know that's what they're intended for," she jeered, "it doesn't mean I complied with that type of relationship. Nobody wants a bluestocking."

"Conversely, it would be difficult to marry you off if someone believes you to be ruined," he countered, drumming his fingers on the armrest.

"My virtue remains intact, for all that they are concerned, and I'm not unaware of the repercussions. Nevertheless, I find living without the joy of life is no form of living at all," she sulked.

"Do I need to assign someone else to watch over you? Have you driven the current lady's maid away?"

She shook her head. "My mum found an elderly spinster Miss Mary to keep watch of me for the current moment and made me promise to behave, else I would be sent to New York to live with Uncle Otis and Aunt Beatrice. Although, I foresee this sweet woman having an unhealthy obsession with walking in Hyde park for hours on end."