Page 45 of A Rake's Redemption
“She says it’s easiest to find them early in the morning,” Elsie added.
“I thought traps had been set,” Inis replied, hoping to neutralize some of the hostility she felt wafting her way.
“No mice were caught,” Mary said, looking even more dour than Ivy. “But that was not enough to convince Mrs. Bradley there weren’t any. Now we have to crawl along the floorboards looking for specks of mouse shite.”
No wonder they looked angry. Spending a morning with their knees on hard floors was not a pleasant task. “I could help you.”
“Ha.” Ivy practically snarled the word. “His lordship wouldn’t allow it.”
Inis shook her head. “Mr. Ashley—his lordship—needn’t know.”
“He will know,” Mary said and gave Inis a sly look. “He knows where you are every minute.”
Inis felt her face warm. By the saints. Was that true? There were odd moments when Alex would pop into the stable for a minute, but she always thought he was checking with Jameson about something. “I—”
“Mrs. Bradley said to make sure no spider webs lingered anywhere,” Elsie added as Fern entered the kitchen.
“We have already dusted the rooms from floor to ceiling.” Fern looked disheveled, as if she had slept too late, which she probably had since she was still carrying her mop cap in her hand. “I don’t know why we have to do it again.”
“His lordship would not forgive us if Inis got bitten by another spider,” Elsie said.
Fern gave Inis a cursory glance as she helped herself to porridge. “You healed, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” Inis said, “and I want to thank you and Elsie for sitting with me on Saturday night. There really was no need.”
“His lordship looked fit to be tied,” Fern answered, placing her mop cap on the table beside her bowl. “It doesn’t hurt to be in the lord’s good graces, does it?”
Mary and Ivy both scowled. “We would have done it, too.”
“Thank you both,” Inis said, “but I am quite well now. Hopefully, no more spiders will accost me.”
Fern reached for the small pitcher of cream as Inis rose to carry her empty bowl to the sink. “Damnation,” she said a moment later as the liquid spilled over her mop cap.
Inis stopped and turned. “Did I bump the table?”
“No, it was me,” Fern replied and picked up the sopping cap. “This was the only one I could find this morning which is why I was late.”
“We all were issued two,” Elsie said.
“I know,” Fern answered. “I must have left my other one somewhere.” She paused and furrowed her brows to think. “Ah. I think I took it off Saturday night when I sat with Inis. I think I laid it on the floor beside the chair.” She looked over to Inis. “Would you mind checking? I don’t like to go into someone else’s room, and I know Mrs. Bradley wants us to be in uniform.”
“Of course,” Inis said, glad she could be useful to at least one of the maids. “I will be right back.”
Inis didn’t remember seeing a mop cap, but then she hadn’t looked behind the chair, either. She was a little out of breath by the time she reached the fourth floor, but she knew the housekeeper would be popping into the kitchen any minute to collect the maids. And Fern was right. Mrs. Bradley expected every servant to be properly dressed.
To Inis’s surprise, the cap was on the floor. It was pushed halfway under the chair, which was probably why she hadn’t noticed it. Quickly, she picked it up and hurried out, hoping to get down to the kitchen before the housekeeper put in an appearance.
She didn’t notice the loose carpet on the second step until she felt it slip out from under her foot. She tried to catch herself, but her ankle twisted and she pitched forward with a shriek as her hands clawed at nothing but air.
Chapter Fourteen
Alex was reaching for his shirt to finish dressing when he heard a shrill cry and a series of thumps from somewhere above his second-floor bedchamber. He thrust his arms inside the sleeves and ran out the door toward the back of the hall where the servants’ stairs were.
He rushed up the steps and peered down the third-floor hall. Nothing seemed amiss, but at the same time the hair at his nape prickled. Inis? He started up the last flight to the fourth floor and halted so suddenly, he nearly pitched forward onto his nose.
Inis was lying in a crumpled heap at the mid-landing.
He dropped to the floor beside her. Thank God, her eyes were open, but she looked stunned. She tried to rise, and he pushed her back gently. “Lie still. Let me check if anything is broken.” He slipped his hands over her collarbones, down her arms, and over her ribs. Then, as he followed the curve of her waist over her hips and down her thighs, his mind niggled at him that he was touching her the way he’d wanted to for days. He pushed the thought away. Right now, his only concern was that she was all right.
