With his sacrifice, he’d done something not her mother, nor her father, nor anyone else had ever done—he’d put her security and happiness first. She lowered her head to the cool mantel and pressed her eyes closed. All he would get from her was two months service as a companion until Chloe made a match.
How could she face him, a man she loved so deeply now knowing this? No wonder he wanted her gone. She stared absently down at her satin slippered feet.
A shimmery glint captured her notice and she welcomed the momentary diversion from her father, nay the duke’s revelation. Jane dropped to her knees and hesitated. Then, casting a glance about, she picked up the necklace. There was nothing remarkable about the bauble. It did not gleam or shine like the diamonds and rubies donned by the ladies whose employ she’d once been in, and yet… She trailed her fingertips over the intricate heart pendant. There was something majestic in its simplicity. She made to set it on the mantel when a click sounded in the night. Jane started and spun about, her heart thundering hard.
A young woman stepped into the room. Her heart sank to her toes at the familiar plump form of the young lady who’d stood at that receiving line earlier that night. The Duchess of Crawford.
The woman froze at catching sight of her. With the thick veil of darkness, Jane could not make out a hint of the woman’s thoughts. Whatever they were, they surely would not be kind ones for this interloper, her scandalous guest who’d snuck off and stolen a moment of privacy in her library.
Jane swallowed and was the first to break the silence. She cleared her throat. “Your Grace.” She executed a curtsy Mrs. Belden would have had a difficult time finding fault with. “Forgive me. I—” She closed her mouth. What could she say? That the truth of her father’s disdain coupled with her husband’s great sacrifice had driven her here?
The duchess angled her head and moved deeper into the room. As she came closer, her brown eyes glinted with curiosity and an unexpected warmth from one of her esteemed status. “You?” she prodded. Her Grace’s gaze lingered a moment upon Jane’s cheeks and she gave thanks for the cover of darkness that, at the very least, hopefully obscured a hint of her tears.
Jane swallowed a sigh. Of course it would be too much to expect the woman would not want to know what had brought her to the duke’s private libraries. With all the lies she’d already crafted, she at last offered this woman truth. “I desired a moment away from,” the misery of my circumstances, “the festivities.”
The twinkle in the duchess’ eyes sparkled all the more. “You do not enjoy ton events?”
Perhaps the woman didn’t remember who she was. After all, there was a sea of guests in the crowded ballroom. What was one more lady, even if Jane was one of the most gossiped about figures present? Folding her hands together, the cool metal of the pendant pressed hard into the palm of her hand. “It is a lovely ball.” She prayed the other woman didn’t hear that for the weak lie it was.
A sharp bark of laughter escaped the duchess. “Your tone and eyes are unconvincing, Lady Wa?” So, she did remember her.
“Jane,” she hurriedly insisted as heat slapped her cheeks. Then didn’t everyone now know of the scandalous by-blow wed to the marquess. “Forgive me.” Mortification curled her toes in the soles of her slippers. “It was not my intention to offend.”
The duchess gave a wave of a hand. “I assure you, Jane, I would be least offended by your opinion of Society events.”
Those words suggested this woman, just a step below royalty, too, held an aversion to the frivolous pursuits of the ton, and gave Jane pause. A gentle smile lined the woman’s lips. “They are rather lonely affairs at times, aren’t they?” She turned her palms up. “I know that better than you might believe.”
Life was a rather lonely affair at all times. With a slight nod, Jane looked down at the tips of her slippers. “Still, I should not be here. It was unpardonable of me to have taken leave to wander your home, Your Grace.”
“Daisy,” she insisted. “Please, Daisy. The whole duchess, Her Grace, business gets very tiring.” The duchess took a step closer and then dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “And I assure you, I’ve wandered a good number of homes in search of my own moment of solitude during tedious Society affairs.”