The Housemaid's Scandalous Secret by Helen Dickson

comprehension how it feels not to belong anywhere,’ she went on with an odd little catch in her voice. ‘To have no roots that tie you to a place and give you purpose. I envy you that.’
    ‘You no longer have a home of your own so it is understandable that you feel rootless. But you shall find your place one day. Everyone does, eventually.’
    She smiled. ‘I do hope so, Colonel. Now, you were telling me about your cousins at Castonbury Park. Who else is there?’
    ‘Giles, Harry and Phaedra. She is horse mad. She would have come to London with Araminta for the Season, but she was still in mourning for her brother Edward. He was killed in the battle at Waterloo.’
    ‘I’m so sorry. And you? Do you have many siblings?’
    ‘There is just Araminta and me.’
    ‘Where did you live before you went to Castonbury Park?’
    ‘Here in London. My father, of course, grew up at Castonbury Park—the ducal seat. When he married my mother, who hated the country, they decided to make their home in London.’
    ‘Did you like living in London all of the time?’
    Looking through the window at the busy square, Ross shook his head. ‘Not really. I like the country better. Fortunately my father had settled a sizable sum on both Araminta and me. My inheritance was quite substantial.’
    ‘You didn’t think to buy a house of your own?’
    ‘Not then. I had my mind set on a military career and I always knew Araminta would be taken care of and marry eventually. Perhaps one day, when I am no longer a soldier, I will give the matter some thought.’
    ‘When you take a wife, you mean—as most men do when they realise they need an heir.’
    Ross’s disinterested shrug and brief smile dismissed all the usual reasons for marriage as trivial. ‘I have no intention of adhering to custom, now or in the future, by shackling myself to a wife for the sole purpose of begetting an heir. For a man such as I,’ he said with mild amusement that failed to disguise his genuine disregard for wedded bliss, ‘there does not seem to be a single compelling reason to commit to matrimony.’
    Lisette studied him intently, her eyes alight with curiosity and caution, and the dawning of understanding. ‘In other words you are married to the army.’
    He grinned. ‘You might say that. Since going to India I’ve been expanding my own assets there.’
    Observing the glint in his eyes, she dared to enquire, ‘And what is your enterprise of choice?’
    ‘I invest in anything from tea to marble.’
    Lisette stared at him. ‘But you are a soldier.’
    One dark brow rose. ‘Among other things.’ Finding conversing with her extremely pleasant, he shifted in his chair, making himself more comfortable. ‘What would you like to do with the rest of your life, Miss Napier?’
    ‘What can a woman do with her life? Men can do whatever they want, but if women are not wives, if they are without means, then what are their hopes? Domestic service is the only thing open to them.’
    ‘You’re quite wrong there, Miss Napier. A clever woman can do almost anything she likes if she would go about it as a woman should. Women as well as men can be as free as they choose to be.’
    ‘In your world, perhaps, Colonel. Not in mine—as I have already pointed out.’
    ‘In an ideal world they could be.’
    ‘That is possible, but this is not an ideal world.’
    ‘Just now you likened yourself to a pawn on a chessboard. If you are familiar with the game you will know that eight paces brings the pawn to the other side and she becomes a queen.’
    ‘So if I just keep on going, I can be a queen,’ she said. ‘Even if there’s already a queen—or more, on the board.’
    He nodded. ‘There can be as many queens as there are pawns—as long as the pawns are ambitious enough or lucky enough to go the full distance.’
    She slanted him a curious look, understanding perfectly what he was saying—that if she was ambitious enough she could become anything she wanted to be in