My Employer Asked Me To Be His Fake Fiancée — Then His Ex Tried To Ruin Me
Part 1
I was dusting the library at midnight when my employer asked me to pretend to be his fiancée.
I had not been born to service.
My father was a clergyman who died leaving nothing but massive debts, forcing me to take a position as a housemaid under my real name, Brenda Felbridge.
No one at Westridge ever asked about my past.
That was the only mercy of the place.
A maid is just hands, a gray shape that carries coals and turns to the wall when her betters pass.
The estate was magnificent, built over centuries, but the master was like stone.
Gregory, the Duke of Dunwood, moved through his own home as though he were merely a caretaker.
His eyes were a startling, guarded green.
He never truly looked at anyone, moving through life entirely untouched.
I kept to my duties, finding my only solace in the vast, forgotten library.
I read Greek poetry while I dusted, stealing an hour each night to remember the girl I used to be.
Then the autumn house party arrived.
The estate filled with eligible young ladies and their ambitious mothers.
And with them came Victoria.
She was the Countess of Ashmore, a stunningly beautiful woman who had broken Gregory’s heart a decade ago for a richer man.
Now a widow with mounting debts, she had returned to claim the fortune she once thought beneath her.
I watched her from the edges of the room as I carried tea.
She operated with terrifying patience.
She laid a hand on his sleeve, calling him by his given name in a crowded room.
She was cornering him, claiming him as if their engagement had never been broken.
He could not refuse her without reopening old public wounds and becoming a laughingstock once again.
His silence became her weapon.
On the fourth night, he walked into the library.
His usual cold mask had entirely collapsed.
He crossed the room and took my chapped, reddened hand in both of his.
He asked me to pretend to be his fiancée for just one night, to stop Victoria from announcing their engagement at the upcoming ball.
I told him I would not be torn down for his convenience.
I refused to be turned out without a character when the deception inevitably failed.
He laughed then, a startled, genuine sound that broke the ice of his demeanor.
That laugh changed everything.
I agreed to help him for one evening, purely because I could not bear to watch Victoria win.
The Dowager Duchess, Gregory’s sharp-eyed grandmother, discovered our plan immediately.
Instead of dismissing me, she provided a green silk gown and her own blessing.
She despised Victoria more than anyone and was fiercely loyal to her grandson.
The ball was a blur of light and staring faces.
Gregory met me at the stairs, the cold mask slipping for just a fraction of a second when he saw me in the tailored silk.
We walked into the room together, his hand resting over mine.
The whisper spread instantly.
Victoria approached us with a smile like a blade.
She questioned my pedigree, attempting to expose me as a nobody in front of the listening crowd.
I held her gaze, refusing to flinch.
I told her my father was a good man who died poor, and that goodness and grandeur were rarely the same thing.
Someone in the crowd laughed, and I saw real fear flicker beneath her beautiful face.
She drifted away, defeated for the moment.
Gregory drew me out onto the terrace later.
He admitted how much her past humiliation had cost him.
I told him he was simply a man whose grief had gone on too long.
For the first time in years, he seemed to actually hear someone.
The connection between us felt dangerous, a spark in a dry forest.
But the deception did not end after one night.
Victoria stayed, lingering long past the ball.
She watched us like a hawk, her eyes tracking every glance and gesture.
Two days later, she found me alone in the morning room.
She closed the door behind her.
Her smile was completely gone.
She informed me that she knew exactly who I was.
She had bribed a servant and discovered I was nothing but a housemaid.
She threatened to expose me to the entire county, reducing Gregory to a laughingstock once again.
I set my pen down.
I waited for the killing blow.
Without a word, she pulled a heavy envelope from her reticule and dropped fifty pounds onto the desk.
