Page 36 of The Girl Out of Time
Miss Grey looked at her sideways. “I don’t believe I’ve gotten your name.”
“Em—uh—Ma—Emma. I’m a servant.” Emmeline regretted the words the instant they left her mouth.
Miss Grey’s eyes drifted down Emmeline’s—Louisa’s—fine traveling cloak, trimmed with a satin ribbon. “Thank you for informing me,” she said, her tone cold. “I’ll send my driver to extend regrets to the duke and the duchess—”
“No!” Emmeline spread her arms across the door as if Miss Grey intended to leave for the estate at this very moment.
“Emma, or whoever you are … If you do not remove yourself from my room this instant—”
“Okay, okay, look.” Emmeline extended a hand toward Maria, trying to calm her while her own heartbeat pulsated somewhere in her throat. “I’m in a slight situation. I need you to wait for a bit, because if they find out, I’ll have nowhere to go, and neither will Leon—Theo—uh—”
“I said, leave.”
“Maria, please. I’m sure we can reach an agreement.”
“How do you know my name?”
Damn.“If you’ll listen to me…” Grasping for any reasonable excuse, Emmeline frantically glanced around the room, as if the answer would be conveniently spelled out on the wall. Instead, her gaze landed on the suitcase.
Miss Grey was packed and dressed for travel. But if she wasn’t about to come to Lennemere, and she wasn’t going home, which she would’ve mentioned …
“You’re running away,” Emmeline breathed.
Miss Grey’s eyes widened. “Leave, now.” Despite her rod-straight, threatening posture, her voice shook.
“Wait!”
Everything happened in a split second. Emmeline reached for Miss Grey—only to calm her down, to tell her they could work this out—but as she extended her hand, her finger colored that familiar, dark blue. She didn’t have time to process it. She touched Miss Grey’s shoulder, and a shimmering appeared around it—like the one she’d seen in the hallway on the ship—and Miss Grey was gone.
For the longest minute, Emmeline stood there, her arm still extended, fingers shaking.
What had she done?
She collapsed on her knees and crawled forward, searching the floor as if Miss Grey could somehow be hiding underneath the planks.
No. No. No.
She had no idea how much time had passed before she wandered downstairs, still shivering. Had she just killed a person? No. Surely not. She … she …
She sent her away. The last time that shimmering happened, Emmeline came here, to a different time.
So, was Maria Grey somewhere else now?
“Miss?” The innkeeper had paused with his pen lifted above a logbook.
“Yes,” Emmeline said, only then realizing she had to do something.Cover your tracks,Brendon would say. “I’m from Lennemere. Here withLady Louisa.” Her voice felt like it was coming from far away. “We’ve picked up Miss Grey since she’ll be staying with us. Would you mind telling her driver that she … left.”
“Certainly, Miss.”
She walked out onto the street and, as if in a dream—or a nightmare—headed toward the accessory shop.
No, now she really had no business, and no time, worrying about a possible fiancé. She had to fixthis. She had to find Maria Grey again.
And she had a month to do it before her visit with the family would end.
Chapter 10
Over the next week, as Emmeline began planning, cautious optimism replaced her worries. She didn’t know what this time passage she’d created was, but if she was able to do it twice, she could do it again. And once she had it under control, she only needed to figure out where to find Maria Grey.
