Engaging Sir Isaac by Sally Britton

Author:Sally Britton
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2020-02-27T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

JULY 21, 1815

Millie penned her acceptance of Lady Inglewood’s invitation when she woke the next morning. Dread pulled at her limbs, making each of her movements slow and ponderous. Every stroke of the pen was a lash upon her conscience. Sarah took the folded note with her lips pressed tightly together, her face pale.

“I am sorry, Sarah,” Millie said quietly, her pen falling from her limp fingers to the desk. A drop of ink fell onto the wood. “This is a mess of my own making. There is no other way to look at it.”

Sarah lowered her eyes to the paper in her hand. “But what if—what if you don’t have to do this? What if we find another way?”

Millie dabbed at the ink upon the finely polished wood, staining her thumb. “What other way?”

“You’re supposed to hurt Sir Isaac. Humiliate him, somehow. Isn’t that right, miss?”

“Yes.” Millie rubbed her thumb and forefinger together, then took out her handkerchief to rub off the ink. She had dozens of handkerchiefs stained with ink, from her work creating the delicate black designs on pale wood. She kept them all for use in her art. One more would hurt nothing.

“What do you think he did to Lady Olivia, that she harbors such a desire to cause him pain?”

“I would think it’s obvious, miss.” Sarah’s nose wrinkled and her lips pulled back in an expression of distaste. “She tried to win him for herself, and he spurned her. I can’t say that I blame him at all, miss.”

That did seem a likely cause for Lady Olivia’s bitterness. “No. I would not blame him either. Though she certainly appears harmless enough, at first acquaintance.”

“Until her claws come out.” Sarah shuddered and tucked the note in her apron pocket. “I’ll see that this goes to her ladyship at once, miss. But might I offer up a suggestion?”

“Hm?” Millie’s mind had drifted into imagining the rather satisfying scene of Sir Isaac rejecting a woman as beautiful and well-connected as Lady Olivia. “What suggestion, Sarah?”

“I think you ought to tell Sir Isaac what’s happening. He could maybe find a way out of all the mess.” Sarah offered a hesitant smile, followed closely by her curtsy. “I’ll be back in a trice, miss.”

The maid left Millie alone in her room, nothing to distract her from her thoughts. Millie rose from the little table by the window and went to look outside. Her room was placed as to give her a view of the stables, placed a distance from the house, and nothing else particularly lovely. She opened her window to let in some air, then leaned against the sill.

Telling Sir Isaac would only create a bigger problem. He had already been suspicious of her when she first arrived. What would he think once he learned her entire reason for being in Suffolk was to humiliate and hurt him? It would hardly garner his trust. He would see everything she had done as her attempt to win her aim.

With her head leaning against the windowpane, Millie considered her options anew.

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