Page 1 of Miss Thornfield’s Daring Bargain (The Troublemakers Trilogy #1)

Miss Pollitt’s School for Young Ladies

Hertfordshire, 1846

S he had to run. Though it went against every rule of conduct Ada had been taught in her fifteen years of life, running was the only option now. When their parents died at sea, her brother Zhenyi had decided to send her to school. Taking over the family business so unexpectedly had largely monopolized his time so in the interest of her being around more girls her age, he’d sent her to Miss Pollitt’s, an exclusive boarding school for the girls in the ton. The idea was to help her socialize with other girls from affluent and connected families.

Ada had been excited at first, but ever since she’d begun boarding there, she’d been a target. She had certainly tried to fit in. When that failed, she tried to make herself invisible. However, with the features her Chinese mother had given her, there was nowhere for Ada to blend in or hide.

Sarah Hill had set her sights on Ada the minute she’d been introduced to the other students. Within a week, Sarah’s vitriolic attacks began. But Ada was nothing if not resourceful, and she knew how to make herself scarce. Today, the mail had been delivered and Ada had received a letter from her brother, Zhenyi. Sarah, as fate would have it, had received a letter from no one. Ada watched as the little harpy’s brown eyes had narrowed their envious gaze at her and knew today was going to be another day for hiding.

The music room was always empty after lunch, so Ada made a sharp left down a hallway and ducked into the room. She scampered behind a curtain and hoped she would go unnoticed again. She held her breath as the voices and footsteps came closer, pressing her body against the window as hard as she could.

“Are you certain she came in here?” she heard a girl say.

“Lottie said she always hides in here,” Sarah replied, and Ada closed her eyes in resignation. Stupid Lottie. The mousey redhead Ada shared her rooms with had no doubt been attempting to protect herself, but it still felt like a betrayal. The closer the footsteps came to her hiding spot, the more she held her breath, praying desperately that none of them would check behind the curtains.

A moment later, her hopes were crushed as the heavy brown drape was yanked to the side and she came face to face with her tormentor.

“Look who I found hiding like a little rat,” Sarah said before grabbing Ada by the wrist and jerking her forward. Beside her stood Claire Stanton, the dark-haired sycophant who never came for Ada alone but was always there to lend Sarah a hand when it came to tormenting Ada. And she wasn’t alone. Charlotte Balfe, or Lottie as she was called, refused to meet her eyes and Aliana Ricker, another blonde was standing just behind her. Probably to keep her from bolting now that her duty was done.

“Sarah!” Ada steeled herself with a breath, knowing what was sure to come.

“Didn’t you hear us calling you? It’s rude to ignore people.”

“I wasn’t ignoring you.”

“And to lie. But then I always knew you’d be a liar. Your kind are always liars.”

“Let go of my arm,” Ada said, refusing to acknowledge the slanderous words. Her brother had always told her it was best to remain calm, to find a way forward without escalating the situation. Judging by the grip Sarah had on her arm, she wasn’t certain she’d get the chance to avoid a fight.

“You come here to our country and our school and then have the audacity to demand anything?” Sarah hissed, tightening her hold until it was painful.

“I didn’t come anywhere,” Ada replied in what she hoped was a reasonable tone. “I was born here the same as you were.”

“You are nothing like me. You have no right to anything here.”

“Let go of my arm.”

“And if I don’t? You can’t tell me what to do.”

She would try one more time for peace; after that she would use her nails. “Sarah…”

The shove came abruptly, and it sent Ada crashing into the wall, then a second blow to her head forced her to her knees with her ears ringing.

I’m sorry , brother , she thought to herself.

“Where is it?” Their hands forced her head down until it touched the ground while others rooted in the pockets of her blue cambric skirt. She struggled against their hold even while they pulled her brother’s letter from her pocket. “Give it to me, Claire.”

As soon as she was released, she looked up to see Sarah peering at the envelope. Watching it in Sarah’s hands evoked an unexpectedly extreme reaction within Ada. That letter was everything, her father’s warm smile, her mother’s laugh and loving eyes, her brother’s teasing affection. She’d never receive another letter from her parents, and she hadn’t seen her brother in months. The idea of that bully holding her brother’s precious words to her made her livid. “Give that back to me,” she said, unable to keep the tremor from her voice.

“Who on earth would write to you?”

“Give it back!” She lunged forward and Sarah snatched it out of her grasp.

“Hold her back girls.”

Ada’s eyes stung against furious tears as she tried to fight off the grasp of the three girls with Sarah. “That’s from my brother; give it back to me.”

“Brother? I don’t think so, it must be from a lover.” Aliana’s eyes gleamed wickedly, “I should report it to Miss Harding.”

“No, give it back to me!” Miss Harding hated Ada. She’d only been at the school a week and the woman had already taken to singling Ada out for unwarranted criticism. Who knew what she’d do?

“I’ll read it first, of course.” Sarah broke the seal on the envelope and pulled out sheets of rich paper covered in neat Mandarin characters.

There was a vicious delight in watching the incomprehension on Sarah’s face as her eyes scanned the pages. “What does it say?” Ada asked smugly.

“You little—”

“Is that you, Miss Hill, causing all that noise?” came another voice.

Sarah turned and Ada caught a glimpse of another girl. She was slim and dark-skinned with the bearing of a dowager despite looking no older than Ada. Her bounteous tightly coiled dark hair was twisted into a top knot. She stepped forward, her dark eyes brushing over Ada and her captors to the letter in Sarah’s hand. They had never spoken before, and Ada could barely place her name. Was her last name Harrow? Harrod?

“Stealing letters again? Can’t you get your family to send you one of your own?”

“Shut your mouth you little n—” The slap rang out through the silent room before Sarah went crashing to the ground. Ada watched the dark girl with wide eyes as she crouched down elegantly to pick up the scattered sheets of paper on the ground.

“I’d let her go now if I were you unless you all would like to go a round as well,” she said coolly to the other girls holding Ada captive, ignoring Sarah’s whimpers from her place on the floor. Within moments Ada was free and the room was empty except for her and the girl who had saved her. “My name is Miss Elodia Hawthorne, what is yours?”

Hawthorne, that was it. Her father was a viscount if Ada remembered correctly. “Miss Adelaide Thornfield.”

Elodia handed Ada back her letter and smiled. “Very pleased to meet you, Miss Thornfield.”

“I can’t believe you hit her,” Ada said, wondering at Elodia’s courage.

“I’ve been aching to thrash her for over a month.”

“Won’t you get into trouble?”

“Oh, undoubtedly,” she replied with a wolfish grin. “But the worst punishment would be worth watching that vile witch hit the ground like a sack of flour.”

“I’m glad to offer the opportunity,” Ada joked. “Thank you again, Miss Hawthorne.” She gave her a small curtsey.

“That is far too formal for fellow combatants. You can call me Ellie,” she said hooking her arm with Ada’s.

“Elodia Hawthorne!” a shrill voice called out and Elodia turned to face the emaciated woman standing in the doorway. “Did you strike a fellow student?”

“I most certainly did,” Elodia replied, lifting her chin in defiance. Her unshakable spirit gave Ada the courage to meet the eyes of the teacher who had made herself the bane of Ada’s existence.

“She was helping me, Miss Harding,” Ada spoke up as the woman approached with Sarah and her minions behind her.

“Helping you to break the rules?”

“No, Miss Harding. I was trying to read my letter and—”

Miss Harding snatched the paper out of Ada’s hand and sneered down at it. “You mean this nonsense?”

“It’s a letter from my brother,” Ada explained.

“You are in England now, Miss Thornfield. English girls in English boarding schools read English letters.” With that, as Ada watched in horror, she ripped the pages first in half and then into quarters, before throwing the pieces onto the ground. Ada fell to her knees gathering up the fragments as best she could. “Leave it, girl,” Miss Harding commanded, grabbing Ada by her arm and yanking her up to her feet.

Elodia looked ready to explode, “You—”

“And you, Miss Hawthorne, will remember that it is only by civilizing your brutish nature that you will find a place in England, regardless of who your father is.”

“And what about Miss Hill’s brutish nature?” Elodia replied, “Is she allowed to steal and bully others?”

“I didn’t steal anything,” Sarah whimpered while her eyes gleamed in triumph.

Elodia’s eyes narrowed on her. “You loathsome little—”

“Enough!” Miss Harding snapped. “You two will both come with me,” she replied before looking at Sarah and her cronies. “You all return to your rooms.”

“Yes, Miss Harding,” they chorused before following the smug Sarah out of the room.

Ada numbly followed Miss Harding, and Elodia walked beside her in furious silence until they reached Miss Harding’s classroom.

“Miss Hawthorne, you will receive twenty strokes of the cane on your hand so you remember not to use it against others,” she said snatching the thin cane that hung by the door and taking Elodia’s dark slender hand in hers, forcing her palm to face up.

The force of the strikes as she carried out the punishment had Ada flinching, but Elodia only stared mutinously at the older woman, refusing to cry out no matter how hard the cane came down.

On the fifth strike, the door to the room opened and the headmistress entered followed by a dark-skinned Indian girl who wore an expression of grim satisfaction. Ada let out a small sigh of relief at the sight of her. Headmistress Pollitt was a stern woman but not unkind. Her curvy figure was bound by the severe lines of her dark green dress and her auburn hair was swept back into a utilitarian bun at the nape of her neck.

“Miss Harding,” Headmistress Pollitt called out as she approached. “I’ve heard there was some trouble. What exactly is going on here?”

“This girl struck another student; I was simply disciplining her as our Lord Jesus dictates. ‘If thy right hand causeth you to sin,’ and so forth.”

“According to Miss Mason here,” Headmistress Pollitt said gesturing to the brown-skinned girl, “Our new student was being attacked by Miss Hill. Is that an inaccurate statement?”

“Well—”

“No, it isn’t, Headmistress Pollitt,” Ada replied, mustering up what courage she had. “It’s true.”

“Miss Harding, see to it that all four girls who attacked Miss Thornfield receive the same punishment as Miss Hawthorne.”

“Yes, Headmistress.”

“Miss Hawthorne, Miss Thornfield, Miss Mason, come along with me,” the headmistress said and ushered them from the room. Ada wasn’t certain what she’d expected when they all reached the headmistress’s office, but a chocolate biscuit wasn’t it.

Headmistress Pollitt watched them for a moment as they ate their biscuits before heaving a sigh. “Miss Hawthorne, you know that I’m going to have to account for your behavior, however warranted it was.”

Elodia looked up at her in surprise “But—”

“Even in defense of another student,” she cut in. “Striking a peer is unacceptable.”

“What about Miss Harding?” Ada interjected, unable to keep quiet anymore.

“She is a capable teacher,” the headmistress replied.

“She ripped up my letter.”

“What?” Her brown eyes went wide with shock.

Ada pulled the fragments she’d managed to grab from her pocket and showed them. “I tried to explain that Miss Hawthorne was trying to get back my brother’s letter and she ripped it to shreds.”

“I didn’t know about that,” she glanced at Miss Hawthorne who confirmed with a nod, before turning to Miss Mason.

“I’d already run to get you, Headmistress,” she replied in lightly accented English.

Mrs. Pollitt closed her eyes and took a deep breath before shaking her head. When her eyes opened again her jaw twitched in frustration. “I am sorry for that, Miss Thornfield. I know how important letters are when you’re away from home for the first time.” Her warm brown eyes flicked over each of the girls before she smiled. “I think it best that you three stick together from now on. I could allow you three to share Miss Hawthorne’s room if that is agreeable to you all. It was built to hold four girls so it should be up to the task.”

“Really?” Elodia asked eagerly.

“Yes, under the strict understanding that you start no more fights with students no matter what words they use.” Headmistress Pollitt stared at Elodia, her face a firm mask. “Do we have an agreement?”

“Yes!” Miss Mason said before glancing at them nervously. “I mean…”

“We have an agreement,” Elodia replied.

“Excellent. Take your new dorm mates to your room Miss Hawthorne. I will arrange for your things to be transferred Miss Thornfield and Miss Mason.”

“Thank you.”

Ada stood and left the office with her two accomplices. When the day began, she never imagined she’d end it with two new friends. She glanced at Miss Mason and offered a smile.

“Thank you, I don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t thought to get the headmistress.”

“Sarah Hill is a menace,” she replied shaking her head. “I didn’t want to fight her, but I certainly wasn’t going to let her get away with what she’d done.”

“Your timing was impeccable.”

“It wasn’t much at all.”

“Nonsense. A little back up at the right moment can go a long way.” Elodia stuck out her hand to Miss Mason. “Miss Elodia Hawthorne, the one you helped save is Miss Adelaide Thornfield. And you are?”

“Miss Regina Mason.”

“Very pleased to meet you. Welcome to the troublesome triumvirate.” Elodia hooked her arms with Regina and Adelaide’s before continuing down the hall with them side by side.

“Proud to be a member,” Regina replied with a mischievous grin.

“Speaking of, do you really think we can avoid any more altercations while we are here?” Ada asked. Even with the inducement of staying close to these delightful girls, it seemed an impossible thing to promise.

“Well, strictly speaking we never promised not to get into any more fights with Sarah,” Elodia began, shooting a smirk at Ada that reminded her of her brother for the briefest moment. A look he always wore before he sprung a trap she had been too slow-witted to discern.

“Indeed, we promised not to start them,” Regina finished with a wink.