Amanda Scott - [Dangerous 04] by Dangerous Lady Read Free Book Online Page B

but perhaps you will be kind enough to have someone direct my servants to a room where they can await my return.”
    “Indeed, my lady,” he said with an imperious gesture toward another of his minions. “Naturally, we have allotted a chamber to your use. They can wait there.”
    “Excellent,” Letty said.
    He spoke briefly to the palace servant, then nodded to Letty and said, “If you and your companion will follow me, my lady.”
    Although the route by which he took them was not as elaborately decorated or as elegantly appointed as the magnificent grand hall and its impressive staircase, the difference did not dismay Letty. She had much experience with stately homes and knew that often the corridors and rooms beyond the state apartments were austere to the point of bleakness. Apparently Buckingham Palace was no different in this respect from any other great house.
    They passed through several long, dimly lighted corridors and up a flight of narrow but carpeted stairs, emerging on a landing with four closed doors. A footman beside the one directly in front of them leapt to open it, and they entered a pleasant, sunny, pink-and-pale green sitting room, presently occupied by two ladies.
    Letty recognized Harriet, Duchess of Sutherland, as the elder of the two. The duchess, nearing her thirty-third year, had grown plumper since the last time Letty had seen her, but she still retained a great portion of her justly acclaimed beauty. As a granddaughter of that diamond of the first water, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, Harriet Elizabeth Georgiana Howard had taken London by storm on her entrance into society. Marriage to Earl Gower, the heir to the Sutherland dukedom, had only increased her stature, and now she occupied one of the most powerful positions in the country as mistress of robes to the young queen. When the door opened, the duchess was sitting on a pink velvet claw-footed sofa. She put down the book she had been reading and looked expectantly at the intruders.
    Her companion, a younger woman, who sat bolt upright on a scroll-ended bench in a nearby window embrasure, continued knitting placidly. The results of her labor spilled over her lap to the floor in a riot of bright colors. Either she had not heard the door or she had chosen to ignore the interruption.
    The porter said, “The Lady Letitia Deverill, by appointment, your grace.”
    “Thank you, you may go,” the duchess said as Letty and Miss Dibble made their curtsies. “Step forward, Letitia, and let me have a look at you.” Her voice was pleasant enough, but Letty detected no welcome in her manner.
    Complying with what had clearly been an order, Letty remained standing for the next quarter hour while the duchess described her new duties. She learned, primarily, that while she served she would have to be present whenever the queen was up and about unless Her Majesty specifically dismissed her.
    “You will help with arrangements for state events, as well as other, less extraordinary ones,” the duchess added. “I mention that only because Her Majesty is to give the first state ball of the Season a month from today, on the tenth of May. Your primary duty is to serve her and to help entertain her guests. I understand that you are fluent in both French and German, which will be a great help to you.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” Letty said.
    “You will also help entertain the company after dinner whenever the queen invites you to dine with her party. I trust you can play the pianoforte and sing.”
    “I’ve had years of lessons,” Letty said. “As to whether anyone will want—”
    “No false modesty, if you please. There is one more, very important thing.”
    Letty waited silently.
    “Discretion is a quality prized above all others here, Letitia,” the duchess said. “One expects any lady in royal service to be a model of circumspection, but we no longer live in the time of Mrs. Burney. Her Majesty strictly forbids anyone to keep a diary while at