Page 24

When she thought she was alone, she let out a sigh.

Her thoughts were interrupted, however, when a voice called out from behind her. “Do you want me to help prepare you for bed, My Lady?”

Letting out a small sound of surprise, she turned to see Rose, her maid, standing by her dressing table.

The woman chuckled at her reaction. “My apologies, Ma’am.”

Amber shook her head. “Don’t apologize. I should have known you would be in here. Simon did send me to bed after all. I suppose I probably kept you waiting for quite some time. I’m sorry.”

“I wasn’t waiting very long, and even if I was, I really don’t mind.”

“Still, I should try and be more considerate of you.”

“I’m your maid; waiting is part of my job. If you stayed later than you had planned, isn’t that a good thing?”

She shrugged.

“I’m asking you, did you have fun at the party?” Rose asked as she started helping Amber out of her gown.

Amber frowned, thinking for a minute. The more she thought, the more she couldn’t help but smile. Her thoughts naturally turned back to her time talking to Felicity and most of all, Christopher. “You know what, I actually think I might have.”

Rose lit up. “Truly?”

Amber nodded.

Rose let out a sigh of relief, coming to start unlacing Amber’s gown. “That’s wonderful to hear! I know you usually hate when he drags you to these things.”

“That seems a bit harsh. I wouldn’t say that I hate them. I might not always want to come, but I do what I can to make the best of it.”

“You probably don’t realize how much you hate them because you’ve never had to hear yourself complain about them, ma’am,” she laughed.

“Oh, I can’t possibly complain that much. You’re just being dramatic!”

Rose leveled her with a look, pausing in unlacing Amber’s stays. “Do you remember when he had all of his friends over for a few days last month?”

“Of course, I do. Though I hardly see what that has to do with anything.”

“You ranted for over two hours before bed one night.”

Amber scoffed as Rose got back to work. “That can’t possibly be right. It seems exaggerated. What could I possibly have complained about for that long?”

“I must be honest, I haven’t the foggiest idea.”

“Then how can you know I complained the whole time? If you weren’t paying attention, I could have been talking about anything in any tone, and you wouldn’t know the difference,” she pouted. “Besides, you’re my maid, why weren’t you listening to me?”

Rose laughed, “Forgive me, but the third time you brought up Lord Hudson’s overpowering cologne, I couldn’t bear to hear it again. Between that and telling me about how Lord Ordon wouldn’t stop complaining about the fact that they served beef instead of pork, I hardly know what you could have expected of me.”

“Well, maybe if it wasn’t so strong, you wouldn’t have had to. You know I was almost sick from the smell when Simon had the audacity to seat me next to him during dinner! Perhaps if I had simply let myself get ill and sent to my room, I could have been spared from the experience, and you could have been spared from my rant.”

“Sadly, we do not live in that reality.”

“It couldn’t have been that bad.”

“I assure you, I remember, and it was. I don’t think I could ever truly put it from my memory. It was all you talked about for hours.” Finally done helping her change for bed, Rose stepped back. “I do hope the rest of your time here goes better than it did that night.”

“That isn’t a high bar to clear.”

“Perhaps not, but there does seem to be as sparkle in your eyes that wasn’t there before. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you actually found someone who’s company you enjoy.”