Chapter 48

EMILY was scrubbing the floor of the master bedchamber before she was wiping the sweat on her eyebrows. It was too hot for her to be working and it was too exhausting when she did not sleep well last night.
That man was invading my dream now, she mused before she moved to scrub the floor again. She was done with stoking the fire, but the master of the estate was not there to greet her and for that, she was grateful.
She did not want to be in the presence of the Marquis again.
“Emily?” The maid that was showing her around on the first day was calling for Emily. She turned to look at her as she smiled.
“Yes, what is it?” She said as she was standing on the floor. She noticed that the maid was looking worried right now. She went to her only acquaintance on this estate.
“What is it? Is something wrong?” Emily asked the maid before she nodded. Emily gulped before she looked at the letter that was inside her hand.
“What’s that?” Emily asked the maid before she gave it to her. Emily took it and it was her name on the front of the letter.
“I don’t know what you did but the master of the estate wishes to see you before you are dismissed,” the maid stated as Emily was snapping her eyes to the maid’s face. She never knew that her first two weeks would end like this.
I thought I would be in the country much longer, she mused as she was nodding at the maid. She went to get the pail and the broom before the maid stopped her.
“No, I will continue your chores. Go to the library, he will be waiting for you,” the maid said as Emily thanked her before she made her way to the library. It was located at the end of a long and dark hallway as she was gripping the letter in her hand.
Dear God, was it because I kicked his shin? Is that why he was dismissing me from the position? Emily was thinking about her behavior and that might be the reason for her dismissal. But she was surprised to see that the main reason for her dismissal was not that attack at all.
It was something else entirely, one that she knew intimately.
She knocked on the door before the oak doors were opened in front of her. She gulped before she walked inside the darkened library that was only lit by the gaslights that were casting dim lights all over the place.
Emily noticed there was someone behind the chair that was facing the mantle before she curtsied to the chair, knowing that the master of the estate was there. “You wish to see me, my lord?” She said as she was looking at the chair. The only thing that stated there was someone on the chair was the movement of the glass that was being held by him.
“I see that you have been keeping secrets from me, Emily,” he started, as Emily was breathing hard. She did not know that the master of the estate would know everything about her.
Did she ever mention that she was running from her old life and trying to make a living as a maid in the country? Or was it the kiss that they shared last night—
“Pardon me, you are, but I don’t know what you are talking about,” she said, as she was amused with herself, she was keeping her voice calm in this pressure situation right now.
The marquis was chuckling lowly before something dropped to the floor in front of her. Emily gasped before she looked at the brown mask that she had worn last night for the masquerade ball.
The very mask that she left with Ian, the stranger that she pretended to be someone else, danced and kissed last night.
“I see that you have forgotten all about that little rendezvous that we had last night. I am insulted that you decided to forget about me, Emily,” he said, as Emily turned to look at the man that was standing in front of her right now.
She stepped back as Ian, the stranger that she met last night, was the Marquis of Kain, the very master of this estate that she was working for. He leaned forward before they were staring into her eyes as he smirked.
“Or should I call you Emmy for all matters and purposes now?”
The man that had been invading her dreams last night was her employer and she knew she was doomed after that. Emily stepped back as Ian was advancing toward her.
He took the mask from her back and hitting the cold wall of the library. Ian trapped her inside his arms as he was looking intensely at her. He smirked.
“Now you have nowhere to run, my dear Emmy,” Ian said as Emily looked into his familiar amber eyes, the eyes that were concealed last night.

LOOKING at his mysterious lady in her maid’s clothes was distracting Ian very much. It did not suit her as she was gripping her hands into fists as Ian was looking at her figure. She was not thin enough to be in poverty, which meant that she was not a maid by birth.
Lady Emily Moore, posted as a maid at his estate, was a question that he wanted to know the reason why.
Ian was looking for a spot that would hit the nerve and might have Emily succumb to his will. But first, he would have to tease her.
“I see that you were lying about who you are when you were taking this position, my dear,” Ian said as he was tracing the back of his hand on Emily’s cheek.
She shivered before she was trying to move away from his touch. He chuckled as if no one had ever hated his touch before. Emily was different from any of them.
“Please, Milord, I won’t do anything wrong about the dismissal that you have for me,” Emily begged as she showed him the letter that he wrote for her dismissal. Ian chuckled inwardly as he knew that this evil plan of his was working.
“I cannot have an employee that I cannot trust to be working in my household. Who knows what you might be doing in your leisure time? Perhaps sneaking to a ball?” Ian said as he was looking at Emily’s reaction. She was panicking.
Good.
“Please, Milord. I don’t have anywhere to go and I don’t have any money to travel home. Please, I beg you. I will do anything to make this right,” Emily said as she was kneeling in front of Ian now. He hated to see her like that.
However, he had to keep up his act or he would not have his Emmy when he wanted her. Thus, Ian arched his eyebrows before he leveled his face at hers.
“Anything, Emily?” He asked her before she nodded.
“I will do anything, milord,” she replied as Ian was smirking even wider.
“Fine, then your punishment will be marrying me,” he said, as Emily was blinking her eyes.
“What?” She said as Ian was smirking.
Oh, this is going to be so much fun, he mused as Emily’s brown eyes widened.