Old Sins Long Shadows Read Online Free PDF Page B

she observed him through the banister exchanging some pleasantries on nothing of importance and then he followed his father into the drawing room where Janey imagined a happy embrace from mother to son. She sat for a moment alone on the step, the hall below seemed empty without him. Already Janey wanted to see him again, to be able to watch him move and hear him talk. Was this love at first sight, she wondered naïvely, her heart was pounding and her mouth had turned dry. A mixture of desperation of wanting to see him again, yet terrified she would make a fool of herself in his presence, caused her stomach to ache inside her. These feelings would never come to anything, he was the son of a Lord, she a lady’s maid, yet she felt in her heart that any man she would meet in the future would be compared to James Brockenshaw and found wanting.
     
    ‘Lady Brockenshaw wants her blue shawl. She said you would know which one,’ said Charlotte entering the servant’s hall where Janey had retired to starch some collars. Janey hesitated, then went up stairs to fetch it and made her way to the drawing room. She had wanted this to happen all afternoon yet dreaded it too. She entered the ornately furnished room, made cosy by dark red fabrics and numerous leafy green plants, and took the shawl to her mistress. She shyly looked about the room to find Lord Brockenshaw and his son reading the papers and drinking whisky by the fire. James’ long legs were stretched out before him, crossed at the ankles. The men did not acknowledge her entrance. While she was attending to her mistress, her lapdog, Charlie, jumped over his legs to greet her and she was aware James sat forward to follow the dog’s movements. He saw her out stretched hand gently fondle the dog’s ear in greeting. His gaze ran up her arm to meet Janey’s, rested there for a second longer than was necessary then, sitting back into the leather chair once more, returned to his paper. Janey left the room upon her dismissal by the mistress, heart thudding yet again, she let out the breath she had been holding. This was quite ridiculous, she told herself, this affect he has upon me and I hardly know him. She returned to her work but his eyes stayed in her mind. The memory banished all thoughts of another pair of eyes that belonged to Daniel Kellow, as now James Brockenshaw had entered her world and he was everything she had imagined him to be.
     
    Janey stepped back to admire her work.
    ‘ Finished, ma’am,’ she smiled. Lady Brockenshaw carefully felt her hair, the decorative comb and the tendrils by her ears and at the nape of the neck. Her hair was pleated and lifted high at the back of her head to mirror the shape of her new dress which incorporated a fashionable bustle. She stood and felt the line of her dress and the beading on her bodice. Instinctively knowing what her mistress needed, Janey described the dress to her.
    ‘ Your dress is silk taffeta. The colour is a deep blue, like the sea on a sunny day. The folds and fabric reflects the light as it falls and drapes to the ground. The glass beads look like drops of drew held by an invisible cobweb. The comb in your hair is blue to match your dress. You look lovely, ma’am.’
    Lady Brockenshaw was smiling.
    ‘I feel lovely, thank you, Janey. You are a dear.’  A knock sounded on the door and Lord Brockenshaw entered to take his wife downstairs. Janey was left to tidy the room but upon hearing carriages drawing up at the entrance she stopped to watch the guests arrive. The evening celebrations were about to begin for the upper classes while the domestic staff worked frantically in the depths of the house to ensure all ran smoothly and the evening was a success. Janey stood watching all alone, not for the first time she felt she belonged to neither one group nor the other.
     
    The guests were shown into the drawing room where introductions were made and polite conversation struck up. Each lady was escorted into the