Page 31 of A Second Chance for Love

She sighed. “She did look a bit like a rodent. Normally I wouldn’t give voice to such an unkind thought but she had an unpleasant personality.”

“Why do you think it was her?”

“It was she who came to me that day and told me to look in the linen cupboard. I had no idea what she meant but I assumed it was one of the children up to something again.” She shrugged. “So I opened the door and—” Her mouth opened and closed several times. “How did you see me? You were—” her cheeks flared red and she couldn’t finish the thought.

“Why would she have told you to do that?”

The look she gave him was one of mute misery and it was Juss’s turn to gape.

“I can see you understand,” she snapped, even though he had no intention of pursuing the subject.

“Er—”

She held up a hand. “Don’t bother. Every woman in that house—from fifteen to fifty—was mad for you. Why should I have been any different?”

Juss didn’t think she really wanted an answer to that question and wisely kept his mouth shut.

“How did you know it was me?” she asked.

“Clara saw you.”

“Which meant she must have seen Lucy, too,” Oona pointed out quite logically. “So why did she only tell you about me?” Her expression was bitter and confused. “Why would she have done that? Mention me but not Lucy?”

Juss met her furious gaze; well, she’d told him a mortifying truth . . .

“Because she knew I fancied you.”

Juss had to smile at her stunned expression; did the woman not possess a looking glass? Why was she so bloody surprised that he’d liked her?

“Oh.”

“Clara must have thought she’d put paid to any positive thoughts I might have harbored for you—not that it made any sense since I’d never see you again,” he muttered, so angry at himself he could hardly speak. Christ! What a bloody fool he was. Ten years angry at a woman who had nothing to do with it. And even if she had—what kind of idiot harbored such a grudge?

“If you were angry with me, then why am I here? Why did you give me this job? Why are you paying me so much?”

Juss wasn’t accustomed to being so wrong, or looking so much like a fool. But he owed her the truth.

“Because the house party is at Compton Abbey.”

He’d read about all the color draining out of somebody’s face, but never actually seen it. He rushed forward when she staggered backward, but she pushed him away.

“Don’t touch me.” Her expression of revulsion was far more painful than the slap had been. “What were you going to do when you got me there?”

“I remember the way Venable ate you up with his eyes,” Juss said. “I wanted to show him that not only did I survive, but I had somebody he’d wanted.”

“As your whore.”

“Yes,” he admitted, his head so hot he was sweating. “As my whore.”

Her magnificent green eyes sparked. “Did you arrange to have me discharged from my job?”

“What?” he demanded. “No! Of course I didn’t. How could you think such a thing?”

She gave an ugly laugh and Juss flushed even hotter. “Fine, point taken,” he admitted. “I haven’t exactly behaved in a forthright, gentlemanly manner. But I would never stoop to having you fired.”

She waved her hand dismissively. “And what is your punishment for him?”

“He is below the hatches and I hold the notes to Compton Abbey”