A Rogue of My Own by Johanna Lindsey Read Free Book Online Page A

the duchess’s chambers that morning. Rebecca was grateful and tried not to appear too amused when he asked a few subtle questions about Flora.
    The chambers where she and the other maids of honor would be spending most of their time were of a decent size and nicely appointed. Mary Louise Victoria, Duchess of Kent, might have moved into the palace with her finances in a shambles, but the queen supported her now.
    Only Evelyn and another young girl, introduced as Lady Constance, were in the drawing room when Rebecca arrived. They were at a tea table, embroidering.
    Constance looked a bit older than Rebecca, closer to the queen’s age of twenty-two. Yet to have gained the post of maid of honor, she couldn’t have been married yet. She wasn’t plain-looking, so Rebecca wondered what accounted for her lack of a husband.
    “What are you both working on?” Rebecca asked as she sat down next to them.
    Evelyn held up her satin square on which a pattern of vines and delicate flowers had been traced. “It was the duchess’s idea, and in fact she’s working on the larger center square of the blanket. When it’s finally pieced together, it will be presented to the Princess Royal. If you have a steady hand, please join us. There are extra squares and thread in that drawer over there.”
    Evelyn nodded toward a cabinet in the corner next to several chairs and an assortment of large musical instruments. Rebecca hoped she wouldn’t be asked to play any of them herself.
    She enjoyed embroidering but felt a bit too nervous on her first day at her new post to undertake fine needlework for a blanket intended for the princess.
    “Has the duchess returned to the palace?” she asked.
    “Not yet, but she’s due to arrive sometime this morning. And don’t worry, you won’t be expected to try to converse with her. She keeps to her private sitting room when she’s in chamber. Lady Sarah is in there now making sure everything is in order.”
    “Terrifying the maids, no doubt,” Constance added.
    “Nonsense.” Evelyn grinned. “She doesn’t really have a verbal whip.”
    Rebecca raised a brow. “Is there something I should be warned about?”
    “Not really. Sarah just seems overly abrupt with the servants. But then we’ve heard how lazy the maids were when the queen first made the palace her residence. Sarah must have heard that, too. The palace was quite dirty, you know, soot everywhere. But Prince Albert rectified all that with the improvements he made. And the servants seem fine to me now. Sarah just insists on perfection.”
    “It’s more’n that, Eve, and you know it,” Constance said in a disapproving tone. “She even treats us like her own personal servants. Some of the errands she sends us on are highly inappropriate if you ask me.”
    “Such as?” Rebecca asked curiously.
    Constance started to answer, then frowned and closed her mouth. Evelyn chuckled, scolding the girl lightly, “Don’t worry, Rebecca isn’t one of Sarah’s spies. Elizabeth probably is, butthen we’ve seen how chummy those two are. Even now Elizabeth is off doing her bidding.”
    “What sort of errands is she referring to?” Rebecca asked Evelyn directly.
    “Lady Sarah dabbles in palace intrigue, by all accounts. She sent Constance to follow one of the ambassadors when he left the palace and report where he went and what he did. It was harmless enough. We certainly couldn’t figure out why she even wanted that information. But while we expect to run errands occasionally, Constance shouldn’t have been asked to leave the palace. And unchaperoned!”
    “Why didn’t you just tell her no?” Rebecca asked Constance.
    “You can’t tell her no,” Constance replied, aghast. “One word from her to the duchess and we’d lose our posts here. She does have that power over us.”
    Rebecca frowned. “And she’s abusing that power?”
    Evelyn sighed. “We’re making too much of this. She is in the employ of the duchess, after all. She