Page 45 of The Duchess' Replacement

Sarah clapped. “Excellent. Let’s get started, shall we? What is the pinkest fabric you have? I have a lot of ideas!”

Miss Cordell escorted the three of them to her back storage room.

Sarah marveled in the amount of fabric bolts she had within in the small storage room. She definitely could use some more space for all this material.

Lizzie was just as impressed. “You have a lovely selection, Miss Cordell.”

Miss Cordell cooly acknowledged Lizzie’s compliment. “Thank you, Miss.”

“It’s Elizabeth, but my friends call me Lizzie.”

“Thank you, Miss Elizabeth.” Miss Cordell corrected.

Lizzie’s eyes widened at the slant and stepped back, recognizing her place in the room.

Sarah frowned. “Now, come now, we are all friends with a common goal here.”

William cleared his throat.

Sarah scrunched her face. “Fine, us women all have a common goal. Let it be noted that William is against my plan and has been from the start. He is here under protest.”

William raised his chin. “Thank you.”

With a roll of her eyes she returned back to Miss Cordell.

“You seem to have taken issue with my maid and if there’s one thing about me is I hate unfinished business. It gets in the way of things.”

Sarah couldn’t help but feel her life was surrounded by unfinished business. If she couldn’t fully understand her husband she would put this to rights at least.

Miss Cordell sniffed in Lizzie’s direction before her eyes landed on William.

The tension was palpable and grating on Sarah’s nerves.

“William? Do you know what is going on?”

William’s cheeks reddened. “What? Me? I don’t know anything, Your Grace.”

Both Lizzie and Miss Cordell snorted causing William’s blush to deepen.

Miss Cordell sighed. “It’s just I thought we were…”

Lizzie jumped from her spot in the corner. “Wait. Do you think he and I…” her finger wagged in between her and William.

Sarah had to admit she rather enjoyed watching other people’s drama enfold instead of being the one in the middle of it. It was quite refreshing.

Lizzie broke out in fitful giggles while it took William a moment longer to understand what Miss Cordell was implying.

“With her?” William looked absolutely shocked as he pointed to Lizzie.

Lizzie’s giggling stopped abruptly. “Hey. You could do a lot worse than me.”

William scoffed. “I could do a lot better.”

Sarah cleared her throat.

“Miss Cordell, it seems whatever you may have surmised to be going on between Lizzie and William is simply not true.”

Lizzie made audible noise of disgust when Sarah mentioned William.

---