Once Upon a Murder by Samantha Larsen

Author:Samantha Larsen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CROOKED LANE BOOKS

CHAPTER 21

Opening her eyes, Tiffany did not recognize where she was. She felt like a heroine in a fairy tale, magically transported into a beautiful palace. The bed she slept on was spacious enough to fit six people and had four large posts and a canopy over the top. Everything she touched seemed to be made of satin or silk. This featherbed was the softest she had ever laid on.

Her stomach groaned and then cramped.

She remembered where she was: Astwell Palace. She also remembered that she had not eaten in hours. Pulling off the coverlet, she located her boots. She put them on and attempted to tidy her cotton gown of Indian embroidered calico with little red birds and flowers. Then she tugged up her bodice and retied the fichu around her neck. Touching her hair, she could feel that more than half of it had fallen out of her coiffure. Tiffany sighed and took out the rest of the pins, before making a simple chignon at the base of her neck.

Satisfied that she was presentable, Tiffany left the guest room and went to find the duchess. Catharine. It would be strange to think of the fashionable and formidable duchess by her first name. She did not find her in any of the parlors or the library. She opened a door that she had never been through and saw a large and empty ballroom. The tiles on the floor were a light gray–veined marble, as were the pillars. The ceiling was coffered and each square painted in a different pastoral scene. Where the woodworking beams crossed, there were countless crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Tiffany had never dreamed that a room could be so ornate and sumptuous. It was truly a room out of a Mother Goose fairy tale.

Closing the door, she went to the nursery and found Catharine holding Nat and showing him to her little son.

“I was never that small.”

“But you were.”

Beau shook his head. “Impossible.”

Tiffany’s lips twitched into a smile. Her little charge was certainly willful, and if he didn’t want to believe something, he wouldn’t.

“Miss Woodall, your color is much restored.”

The duchess’s words caused Tiffany’s cheeks to flush with heat. “I am sorry if I overslept.”

Catharine shook her head slightly. “No, but Thomas has returned from seeing the tenant and is ready to go with you to Bardsley.”

“I will go and find him.”

“Go to the kitchens first and get something to eat. You’re still looking peaky. Beau will fetch his brother and have him meet you there.”

Tiffany thanked Catharine and reluctantly left Nat with her. The duchess was proving to be a very efficient and very bossy friend. On her way to the servant’s area, Tiffany’s stomach groaned three times. Perhaps the duchess did have a point after all.

Monsieur Bonne was only too happy to make Tiffany a plate of food and a steaming cup of tea. By the time Thomas arrived, she was feeling much more like herself and quite able to travel in the carriage to Bardsley.

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