Maid For You 3

Chapter 11

"I'm scared," I admitted to Luke as we were approaching Missus Lucille's office.

Luke laughed. "Relax, Cass. She just needs us to tell her that we're in a relationship so that she's aware of the situation, and that's that."

"No offense, but your aunt genuinely frightens me."

"What is this I hear? The great Cassie Carmichael—scared of Lucille? Why, you somehow managed to get the ice Prince Nikolas on your side and you've battled with Prince Coleman, and she intimidates you?"

I shrugged. "It's the truth."

We entered Missus Lucille's office, and I found that there were more things on her desk than there had been the previous visit. While still neat, she had various stacks of paper and an open laptop on her desk.

"Hello you two," she said when she entered.

"Lucille," Luke nodded. "Sorry I didn't get around to telling you earlier, but I was busy today. Cassie and I are dating." He grabbed my hand and smiled at me, and I gathered heart and squeezed his hand. However, our blissful moment was somewhat shattered when I turned back to see Missus Lucille looking as stern as ever.

"I see," she said coolly. "Thank you for letting me know." She then looked at me directly. "Miss Carmichael, you are dismissed. I need to speak to Mister Lucas alone."

I rose an eyebrow. "Um, yes ma'am," I said, curtseying as I took my exit. I left the room and went to shut the door behind me, but curiosity took over and I left it open a crack and stood to the side of the door so I could eavesdrop.

"Did you want to discuss the new staff?" I heard Luke say. Missus Lucille didn't answer for a few seconds.

"No, not that. I wanted to talk to you about this new relationship of yours."

"Oh," Luke said coolly.

"Luke," Missus Lucille started. "While we are here, I usually try to treat you professionally and as a fellow coworker, not as my nephew. However, I speak to you now as your aunt."

This was intriguing.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to get into a relationship with Miss Carmichael of all people, especially after Marstella Allegro?"

"Gosh!" Luke scowled. "You know, Auntie, I am so sick and tired of hearing about Marstella. She doesn't define me." His voice held venom—it was a dangerous tone that I'd never heard from him before. "And she's already caused me enough trouble with Cassie, what with my crap friends running their mouths off to her about how broken up I supposedly am over Marstella!"

"And are you over her?" Lucille demanded. "You were head-over-heels for her. I saw it every day, you know. I saw the way you looked at her."

"Lucille," his voice was cold. "Marstella cheated on me. It's over. End of story."

Missus Lucille was quiet for a brief moment. "So then, you go from Marstella—the Prince's personal maid—to another personal maid, Cassie."

"Marstella was only his maid because I promoted her to that position," Luke said. "So don't try telling me I just have a thing for his maids. You didn't see me chasing Isabella, did you?"

"That's fair," his aunt conceded.  "But you do know that he likes her, don't you?" Missus Lucille said. I stood very still—I felt like if I breathed my position would be given away.

Luke didn't say anything for a couple of seconds. "We can't know that for certain."

"You're not that dumb," Lucille scolded. "It's obvious he likes her—no one else could act as impertinent as your little girlfriend does and get away with it. He personally led an entire search party for her, for goodness sake's."

Again, Luke didn't say anything for a few seconds. "It doesn't matter," he finally countered. "He likes a lot of people. Lady Charlotte, Lady Madeline, Lady Alexandria, Marstella. I could go on."

"In a castle full of attractive young women, of all the people you chose to fancy, you choose the girl most likely to hook up with Prince Coleman?!" Lucille cried. "Do you like punishing yourself? Or are you still subconsciously searching for Marstella?"

"Cassie's not going to get with Prince Coleman," Luke snapped. "She can hardly stand him."

"Is that what you really believe?" Lucille said. "I guess you didn't see them dance at the Autumn Festival. The whole entire ballroom, all the guests and all the servants, everyone could see that they liked each other by the way they looked at each other! I mean, that's why everyone's been giving her a hard time, you know. They all saw the connection between the two of them."

I sucked in a breath. That moment when we danced, that moment that felt so personal and glorious—it was witnessed by the whole world. Everyone saw it.

I could hear Luke tapping his foot anxiously.

"Well, whatever connection between those two you think you saw, obviously it isn't there anymore. I don't know what happened but they barely exchange two words to each other now. Whatever 'connection' they had is dead. Besides, Cassie's the one who said we should go out. She's the one that really initiated our relationship."

"Then she's rebounding," Missus Lucille stated. "Using you to make the Prince pay her more attention."

"That's not true," he said.

"You don't know that," Lucille said. "But speaking of it, how do you think Prince Coleman will react to your little romance?"

"He's not going to react," Luke said with a snarky tone. "He isn't going to find out that we're dating, because Cassie and I aren't going to tell him, which negates your theory about her using me to make him jealous."

"Or she just doesn't want the Prince to know so she can pull the same dirty moves as Marstella!"

"That's completely different!" Luke cried. "Marstella used me. Marstella needed me to get close to Coleman. Cassie doesn't. Cassie doesn't have to date me to get close to the Prince, but Marstella needed to. And I highly doubt that Cassie is the bastard child of some Lord who needs the Prince's help to get her father to recognize her as his daughter!"

"Say you're right," Lucille said. "Say Cassie isn't rotten like Marstella. Say she really does just want to date you and isn't going to leave you high and dry for Prince Coleman. What about him, hm? What about when he finds out?"

"He isn't going to find out!" Luke guffawed. "The man is oblivious. To this day he still has no idea that Marstella and I were anything but coworkers. All he focuses on is himself, and the only two servants he has a real connection to are me and Cassie, and neither of us are going to tell him."

"He doesn't need you two to tell him," Lucille said. "Queen Klara will find out—you know she will."