Page 30 of The Wallflower's Christmas Surprise

“Shall I undress you now, milady?” the harried girl asked.

“At bedtime,” Lauren responded, knowing full well that the girl would be busy with Lauren’s cousins until nigh on midnight and was likely to forget to come to her.

Drumming her fingers on her coverlet, Lauren waited until the Dresden clock on her mantelpiece ticked forward ten minutes. When it chimed the half hour, she sprang from the bed, tugged on her bonnet and warmest woolen redingote, collected her hidden luggage, and opened her door.

There was no one in the hall. At the top of the servants’ staircase, she checked her way was clear and hurried down. The foyer was empty. Perhaps the butler and footman were eating an early luncheon.

Lauren tiptoed across the expanse of marble and placed her letter in the tray for outgoing mail before stepping up to the front door. With a yip of greeting, Charlie hurried toward her from the stairway leading down to the kitchen, wagging his feathery tail.

No! Heart pounding, Lauren scanned the foyer to see whether anyone had appeared to investigate his bark. No one yet, but for how long? She patted him goodbye.

Charlie’s tail wagging and the hopeful sparkle in his eyes died when Lauren didn’t suggest a walk as usual, and he trotted back the way he had come, to the best source of treats in the house.

Lauren sighed with relief and eased the front door open and slipped outside into the brisk winter day. The door shut behind her with a soft thunk of finality.

She was free!

Head down, she hurried out of the square in search of a hackney cab to take her to Smithfield Market in Clerkenwell for the northbound mail coach to Maisie’s new home in Grantham.

Now she just had to hope that Maisie would agree to take her in and that she could stay hidden from her relatives until at least Christmas Day.

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