Midnight Secrets Read Online Free PDF

carved dragons, giving the room an almost medieval flare. As richly appointed as the great hall and entryway, with dark green silk and wood paneling on the walls and a black marble mantel, it had to be the most elegant room I had ever seen.  
    “Bridget?” Mrs. Frye called out.
    “’ere, Mrs. Frye.” The muffled reply was followed a moment later by a pretty, young woman with wisps of fiery red hair escaping her mob cap. She peeped over the table, her blue eyes as bright as stars. “I’m ’alf-way finished with the chairs.”
    “I’ve brought help, so I expect you to be done in half the time. This is Cassie. You are to teach her the proper way to clean the downstairs. She’ll be sharing your room as well. Now, no more dawdling, understood?”
    “Yes, ma’am.” I moved toward Bridget as Mrs. Frye exited the room.
    “Lord must’ve ’eard me prayers!” Bridget smile and stuffed a lemon-scented rag into my hand.
    “Thank you.” I stared at the huge table and the numerous chairs.
    “Don’t ya worry none, Cassie. This isn’t as ’ard as it looks. The two of us will ’ave thin’s done quick.” Her manner was as warm as her hair was red.
    Climbing under the table with her, I began polishing. After my fifth chair, I sat back and drew a breath and patted the perspiration on my brow with the sleeve of my dress. My arms ached and the unfamiliar feel of the rough wool dress irritated my skin. It amazed me that Bridget had already done twenty-five of the chairs before I had arrived. When I glanced up, I saw she, too, had stopped work to study me.
    “I was just wondering who had fifty people to dinner at once.”
    She laughed. “Ach, no one eats in ’ere at all, leastways not while I’ve been ’ere and my sister Flora before me as well. That’d be at least five years. Yet we polish and scrub every week as if the Queen herself were coming.” She leaned closer to me, her brow furrowing. “Ya aren’t from around ’ere, are ya, miss?”
    I cleared my throat, for I had forgotten to speak as a maid would. “No. I’m from further North. Hard times have me working.”
    “No shame in that, at all. Hard times ’ave us all working. My sister Flora’s goin’ to change that for us McGowans one day real soon. But for now we best get busy. Mrs. Frye doesn’t put up with much chatter. She’ll most likely be back in an hour and ’ave our necks if we aren’t done with the table and workin’ on the silver by then.”
    We set to work, finished polishing the table, and had just started on the silver when Mrs. Frye appeared. She grunted at our progress and pointed out a spot that needed more polishing, then left.
    “So, why does the family never use the dining room?”
    Bridget’s eyes grew huge. “Ya mean ya don’t know?”
    “Is there something I should know?”
    “They’re cursed, the Dragon’s Curse, ya know. Cursed since their birth to murder each other. Most folks are too afraid to even socialize with ’em. A right shame if you ask me, too. Men as handsome as the Killdaren and the viscount shouldn’t be cursed.”
    “Handsome are they?” Who had cursed them and why?
    “Like princes.” She looked cautiously about. “Come with me quick, and I’ll let ya peek at the Killdaren’s picture. It’s all I ’ave ever seen of him.”
    Her words shocked me. “How many years have you worked here?”
    “Three.” Rising quietly, she motioned me to follow her. As I did, my thoughts raced. Mary had only been here a year. Had she even met her employer? In coming here I had assumed Sean Killdaren had known Mary. What if he hadn’t ever met her? Exiting the double doors, Bridget tiptoed silently across the intimidating center hall into another room. “We’ll not be cleaning in ’ere till tomorrow, but I didn’t want ya to ’ave to wait that long to see ’im. The picture’s on the far wall. I’ll watch for Mrs. Frye while ya go take a peek. Make it quick.”
    Feeling like a thief, I slipped inside