Free Summerset Abbey by T. J. Brown Page A

poached salmon when Victoria said, “I have to tell you, I am not at all happy about the way you treat guests in your home.”
    Next to her Elaine dropped her fork into her plate, spraying the table with little droplets of cream. Rowena’s breath hitched as she looked from Uncle Conrad, who had frozen in shock, to Aunt Charlotte, who hadn’t even flickered an eyelash.
    For a moment no one spoke, then Aunt Charlotte smiled gently. “And in what way do you find our hospitality lacking? Was your room not ready? I can speak to the housekeeper if you like.”
    “Oh, no. The room is wonderful as always, Auntie.” Having dropped her pronouncement, Victoria seemed disinclined to hurry, and she buttered a roll with studied nonchalance. After taking a bite and then a sip from her water, she turned to Aunt Charlotte, evidently thinking she would get further with her than with Uncle Conrad.
    “As you know, we brought our friend to stay with us. I expected her to be welcomed just as any of my guests would be, but instead I find that she has been given a much smaller room upstairs.”
    “You’ve brought a guest?” Aunt Charlotte shook her head, causing the teardrop-shaped diamonds in her ears to sparkle. “I heard of no guest. Just you and Rowena and your maid.”
    Aunt Charlotte’s voice was solicitous, and uncertainty flickered across Victoria’s face, but her little sister was nothing if not stubborn.
    “Prudence. Prudence is my friend and I would like her room to be changed, please. Or if that isn’t possible, she can sleep with me. She often did at home, you know. It’s no trouble at all.”
    Next to her, Elaine actually gasped and Rowena’s heart pounded in her chest. She glanced at Aunt Charlotte to see her reaction but there was none.
    “Oh, you sweet girl. I can understand your confusion, but the girl is a maid, not your friend. You can be friendly with your maid, and you should be, but they can get uppish if you treat them like equals. Even my own Hortense, whom I adore, will take certain liberties if I show too much familiarity.”
    Victoria looked stunned.
    “But things are changing, Auntie,” Victoria tried again, but she was cut off.
    “And not for the better. We all have responsibilities—our servants have theirs and we have ours, and one of my responsibilities is to make sure my poor orphan nieces are brought up properly and make good marriages, though why God saw fit to give me three girls to marry off, I will never know.”
    Rowena couldn’t keep still any longer. “But that’s just it, Aunt Charlotte. Though Victoria and I are grateful to you and Uncle Conrad, I would say that we’re brought up already.”
    “I won’t rest until both of you are safely and properly married. Only then will I feel I have done my duty. Isn’t that right, Conrad?”
    Uncle Conrad nodded. “I would have to agree.”
    Victoria looked from one to the other, bewildered. Rowena gave her a fierce frown, but Victoria ignored it.
    “I’m sorry. I don’t see what any of that has to do with Prudence staying with me,” Victoria said.
    Aunt Charlotte gave a stiff smile. “That’s just it, my dear. As a young girl, you are naturally idealistic. As your elders, your uncle and I have a responsibility to protect you from those who might take advantage of your kind nature. Now let’s speak no more about it.”
    Victoria threw down her napkin, exasperated. “Protect me from Prudence? What are you talking about?”
    “That is enough!” their uncle thundered.
    Everyone froze in various states of surprise. Even Cairns, their butler of twenty years, fumbled as he served the roast hare. Rowena had never heard her uncle raise his voice. He didn’t have to—he got exactly what he wanted without doing so.
    She lowered her head but observed him out of the corner of her eye. His chest rose and fell quickly and two splashes of red marked his cheekbones, but instead of looking angry he just seemed . . . pained.
    From across the