Page 46 of The Bastard Heir (The Gilded West #2)

“In that case, I’ll go get a little work done in my study and give Harvey some time to leave.

Let me know if I’m needed.” Able agreed, and Glory took the back stairs up to her study on the mansion’s third floor.

The top floor was private. Her apartment was attached to her study and the other ladies who lived at Victoria House full time had rooms there.

It wasn’t decorated quite as ostentatiously as the rest of the house.

The wall color was a soft cream with a blue-and-gold runner softening her steps in the hallway.

Each door boasted a wreath or some other decorative trinket that reflected the resident’s personality.

In short, this floor felt like home and was a respite from the bustle of the rest of the house.

Up here the William Harveys of the world felt far away.

Glory let out a breath, already anticipating the nice long soak in her bathtub she’d take when the evening was over.

It seemed like the nights were getting longer, or maybe she was simply getting older.

She’d be thirty in a couple of years, which didn’t seem particularly old, but this wasn’t where she’d imagined herself at this point.

Life was strange in that way. Nothing ever seemed to happen the way she meant for it to happen, but she’d learned that it could still be good.

She had about a million things to be thankful for, not the least of which were security and independence.

It was more than she’d had a decade ago.

She was smiling when she approached her study, but the smile faltered when she realized that the door wasn’t latched.

A gentle nudge revealed that her assistant’s desk sat empty.

Glory turned on the wall sconce to reveal that no one was in the antechamber at all.

How odd. Charlotte, her assistant, always closed up when she finished her work for the evening.

A stack of correspondence ready to post the next morning sat on the corner of Charlotte’s small desk, exactly as she’d left them.

It was possible that Charlotte had forgotten to lock up, but a strange sense of foreboding made her stomach tumble.

Glory took in a deep breath, consciously avoiding looking across the room at the door that led to her study.

Glory was the only person with a key to that door.

If it was open then it meant that someone had broken in and she’d have to face that her sanctuary wasn’t really a sanctuary at all.

But she was being silly. Of course, it was locked.

To prove it to herself she put her hand into the hidden pocket of her skirt and wrapped her fingers around the warm metal of the key.

It was still safely with her. Charlotte had simply forgotten to close the door to the hallway.

Her heart pounding, she turned toward her door.

It was mercifully closed. An exhale of relief left her feeling deflated and weak.

She put a hand on the corner of Charlotte’s desk to keep her balance.

Even after all these years she was wary of any irregularity.

She knew all too well how quickly life could come crashing down with very little warning.

There was no light coming from beneath her door and no sound came from within her study.

No one had been inside. She knew that, but her heart resumed its pounding as she approached the door with her key in hand.

The cool metal of the latch chilled her palm and she gave it a quick turn to test the lock.

Her key held useless in her other hand, the door latch made a clicking sound as it unlatched.

She gave a little push and the door creaked, swinging open to reveal the interior of her office.

Moonlight flooded in through the windows facing the street, spilling onto the carpeted floor.

No one was inside, but nevertheless she moved forward cautiously.

As soon as her feet crossed the threshold she saw it. It was a square piece of parchment sitting in the middle of her tidy desk, and it seemed to have a nearly ethereal glow in the moonlight. It had not been there when she’d left earlier in the evening.

Turning on the electric sconce on the wall didn’t help.

The white parchment lost its glow, but it didn’t seem any less dangerous.

It hadn’t been sent by post. There was no envelope, no markings at all.

She crossed to her desk, watching the note as if it were a living thing that could jump out and grab her at any moment.

Blood pounded through her head, filling her ears with its roar.

Somehow her life would change when she read that letter.

She just knew it. Good things rarely came along unexpectedly.

Her fingers trembled when she reached for it. The stiff paper was cool under her touch, barely crinkling as she sucked in a deep breath and flipped it open. The first five words on the page jumped out at her, sending a shard of terror straight through her heart.

I know who you are.