Page 12 of A Rake's Redemption
Inis arched a brow. “Ye mean until I lose me brogue?”
Alex shrugged. “It would be better if you sounded more like you were from Dublin, so perhaps we can work on that a bit.”
Inis bit back a grin. He had no idea how difficult it was maintaining the Connacht brogue of western Ireland. She suddenly had an impish impulse, or maybe a faerie was nudging her, to have a little fun with this ridiculous idea. The thought of Alex “tutoring” her had a certain appeal. She was not immune to how masculine and virile he was. Besides, the fact that she already knew how to do what he was going to “teach” her appealed to her sense of humor. She was Irish after all.
“If I agree to this, ye promise ye will nae force me to go out in Society until I feel I am ready?”
Alex nodded. “I vow it.”
If she were in charge of the timing, that wouldn’t happen until it snowed on the Shannon in the summer. What could go wrong? Inis held out her hand to shake. “Ye have a deal, then.”
Instead, Alex bowed over it, and placed a kiss across her knuckles. “I am looking forward to this.”
She startled a little at how warm and firm his lips were with that mere brush. A slight tingle shot up her arm.
How odd.
…
Inis was still pondering the situation later that afternoon when she climbed the stairs to the fourth floor, bypassing the third floor that housed the other female servants. She’d been given a separate room on the attic floor.
Elsie, one of the house servants, would be arriving soon with hot water for the hip bath that had been moved into the small chamber. She suspected she’d been given the private room—actually not much bigger than a walk-in closet—because the other women didn’t want to share space with someone who smelled of horses. That probably explained the hip bath. Not that she was complaining. The idea of being able to soak in a full tub of hot water was something she’d always taken for granted. Even a few inches of warm water these days felt like a luxury.
There was a knock on her door and Elsie entered with two footmen lugging pails of hot water. They dumped the contents in the tin bath and left after giving her an appraising look she ignored. Elsie put a clean towel on the small chest of drawers and started to dip a curtsy and then seemed to remember Inis was not a guest. Her status as a horse handler didn’t fit into any proper category, since grooms and such normally slept in barrack-type rooms near the stables. She hadn’t been assigned any house duties, which caused a further dilemma over where she should be placed in the precise ranking of servants. Elsie seemed friendly enough—friendlier than the others—and Inis wondered if, or how much, she was resented by the servants.
The maid smiled at her. “Do you need anything else?”
It was a question she asked every day. When she’d made her escape from an unwanted marriage in Ireland, it had been with enough money to support herself until she could decide on her next move. She’d even thought about going to America and starting a new life. That option had been taken away when she was robbed.
She wasn’t sure if her present situation would be temporary or not, but she didn’t need to be waited on. Maybe that was why Elsie was friendly. Inis wondered how the servants would react once Alex began “educating” her. Maybe she could find out in a roundabout way.
“Does everyone who works for Lord Ashley know how to read and write?”
Elsie looked surprised at the question. Inis supposed it did sound strange, but if she were going to be spending time being “tutored” it might be better if the rest of the staff thought that the instruction was on literacy and not aristocratic protocol.
“Most of us do, at least a little,” the maid replied. “Why do you ask?”
Inis shrugged and sat on the edge of the bed to remove her boots. “Lord Ashley said today that me brogue was a bit hard to understand, and he mentioned educating me.”
Elsie wrinkled her brow. “I never heard his lordship say anything about how we sound. When he hired all of us, he said the important thing was loyalty.”
Inis paused with one boot still on. “When he hiredallof ye? Why was this house empty?”
“The house belongs to his brother,” Elsie replied. “When Lord George inherited the title, he moved to Mayfair and took his servants with him.”
“I suppose ’tis an advancement.”
“Maybe,” Elsie said, “but I’d rather work for Lord Ashley than the duke any day.”
Inis pulled off her other boot. “Why is that?”
“It’s the duchess, really. I have a cousin who has been one of her personal maids for a long time. She says Her Grace can be difficult.” Elsie clapped a hand over her mouth. “I shouldn’t be talking about the duchess, though.”
Inis frowned. “Why nae? Despite her title, she is human.”
Elsie shook her head. “It’s not that. Lord Ashley doesn’t want her name mentioned here.”
Curiosity rose in Inis. “Why not?”
