Free The Duke in Disguise by Gayle Callen Page B

father's drawing room. Beatrice, Clover, and two other women that Meriel couldn't place were just rising from the table with plates in their hands.

"Did you wish to speak to me?" Meriel asked, not knowing to whom she was directing her question.

Beatrice coldly eyed the gown Meriel was carrying. "Back to the laundry again, are you?"

Clover snickered behind her hand.

Meriel simply nodded.

"What do you need such a fancy dress for?" Beatrice demanded.

This was the question she'd been dreading. "I'm to accompany young Lord Ramsgate."

Beatrice reddened with obvious anger, Clover's mouth dropped open, and the two other women fell to whispering to each other.

" You're attending the assembly?" Clover demanded.

"There is a children's reception in the next room. I will be overseeing Lord Ramsgate there."

"But you're attending the assembly," Clover said again.

"I will be working," Meriel pointed out.

Beatrice strode toward her, leaving her dishes forgotten on the table. "But you'll be escorted by His Grace."

"He is my employer, the same as he is yours," she said patiently.

"But you'll be escorted by His Grace!" Beatrice fairly shouted it like an accusation.

"It's not fair!" Clover said to the other two women.

"It is not my wish to attend," Meriel said, wondering if she could turn her back and walk away.

"He can't have chosen her!" Beatrice said to the others. "He's been in London so long he hasn't picked one of us in ages!"

Meriel was stunned that the woman was near tears. "He has not chosen me for anything other than as governess to his son."

"And she's stupid, too!" Clover cried, aghast. "Everything's going wrong. He's never waited this long to choose one of us!"

Meriel stared uncomprehending between them, and was relieved when the voice of sanity in the person of Mrs. Theobald spoke from the doorway.

"Girls, what is going on here?"

"Has he chosen her , Mrs. Theobald?" Beatrice demanded as spokesman for the group.

The housekeeper's lips formed a thin line as she glanced at Meriel with a surprising amount of guilt. "He has not chosen anyone, girls. I am always the first to know."

This seemed to mollify them. With their noses in the air, they marched past Meriel without saying another word.

Meriel stared at the housekeeper in the silence that followed, waiting for an explanation. When none came, she said, "Mrs. Theobald, what do they worry I've been chosen for?"

The older woman sighed. "Come to my office for tea, Miss Shelby."

Meriel didn't want tea. But she wanted answers, so she accompanied the housekeeper across the corridor to her sitting room. Mrs. Theobald closed the door behind her and poured them each a cup of tea from a tray on her desk. The account books of her station were lined behind her on shelves. A table and several chairs were grouped on the far side of the room, where Meriel knew she often hosted the upper servants for dessert. Meriel had never been invited.

Oh, she knew Mrs. Theobald would not deliberately hurt her. The woman was only thinking about Meriel's position as governess, one above the other servants. But Meriel would have enjoyed having an occasional conversation that was not about Stephen.

Mrs. Theobald sat back in a cushioned chair next to Meriel and released a deep sigh. "Miss Shelby, His Grace has certain…peculiarities, all of which are tolerated because he is a duke."

Meriel nodded, feeling worry begin to seep in to squeeze her chest.

"Have you noticed how lovely most of the female staff are?" the housekeeper asked.

"How could I not?" Meriel said dryly. "Nurse Weston said I was hired for the same reason, although I find that very doubtful. I am well qualified to be a governess— "

Mrs. Theobald interrupted. "I have no doubt that you are, Miss Shelby. But it is true, His Grace prefers to look upon beauty in his household. There is a purpose to this of course, one that is morally reprehensible. But he is so generous about it that none of the girls mind. In fact they