She leads Mrs. Riscoff away, and both Gabi and I breathe a sigh of relief.
“Good Lord. She’s a dragon. You dodged a bullet not ending up with her for a mother-in-law. Can you imagine?”
I shiver at the thought. That’s something that Mrs. Riscoffneverwould have let happen.
My train of thought is derailed when we hear McKinley scream from the hallway.
“Someone call 911!”
21
Whitney
The past
“Meetme in the hallway on the third floor in twenty minutes.”
I knew I shouldn’t be in this house. I couldn’t stop looking over my shoulder, even though I had a perfectly good reason to be here.
The Riscoffs’ housekeeper brought in reinforcements to scrub the entire estate top to bottom before some big party they were hosting tomorrow night, and through some insane turn of events, Aunt Jackie got the offer and snapped up the chance because the pay was so good.
Lincoln had seen me washing floor-to-ceiling windows in the parlor an hour after we got here, and whispered those words in my ear with one of the other household staff only a half a room away working on the chandelier.
Words that I should ignore if I know what’s good for me.
It had been two months of clandestine meetings, and every single time, I told myself it was the last time.
I’m a big, fat liar.
I couldn’t quit him. I wanted to. I needed to. But I couldn’t.
I looked around and saw that the woman in the black-and-white maid’s uniform, which thankfully we didn’t have to wear, was fixated on cleaning each individual piece of crystal before replacing it.
I could sneak away. I could meet him.But I shouldn’t.Every thought I had about Lincoln Riscoff pretty much included the wordshouldn’t, but it hadn’t stopped me yet.
I lowered the squeegee into the bucket and turned to the woman. “Is there a restroom I can use?”
She looked up from her task. “Staff restrooms are next to the kitchen, the basement, or out in the garage. Don’t even think about using another one, or Mrs. Riscoff will toss you out of this house on your ear.”
If she knew what I was doing with her son, she’d do even more than that, I’m sure.
I couldn’t even believe she let Gables into the house to clean. Then again, when I brought that up, it sounded like Jackie’s friend didn’t mention our last name to the head housekeeper when she hired us.
“Got it. I’ll be back then.”
“Try not to get lost. I spent my whole first month here wandering around like an idiot, and nearly got fired.”
I nodded with a polite smile affixed to my face and left the room.
My heart pounded and my palms sweated as my sneakers squeaked on the marble floor. For some insane reason, the scene fromPride and Prejudicewhere Elizabeth was walking through Pemberley on a tour came to mind. Was this how she felt? Like she knew she shouldn’t be there? Probably, but then again, Elizabeth was also thinking,Of all this, I might have been mistress.Her version of mistress and mine were totally different.
There was no way I would ever rule over this estate. I glanced out at the gorge through the wall of windows I passed.
Nope. This isn’t for me.The Riscoffs probably kept their mistresses hidden far away from the wives.
Oh my God. Why would I even think that?I wasn’t going to be anyone’s kept woman. Ever. And Lincoln and I couldn’t be together openly, so why was I even tiptoeing toward the grand staircase to meet him?
Because I’m dick-struck. That was all. It was good sex. Great sex. I was hooked on what he could do in bed. I nodded my head like I was agreeing with myself when I knew it was all bullshit. I was getting in too deep. I felt things I shouldn’t feel.