Celeste Colbert’s skirts swished as she rushed through the grand salon of le Chateau des Libellules, or, as their British guests often called it, the Dragonfly Chateau. Pompous, wig wearing, painted gentlemen stared down their long noses at her from ornate frames hung on the wallpapered walls. Ordinarily, she would have delighted at raising her own nose at them as she passed by, but not today. Today, her boss, Comte Claude Jean Frederic d’Arcy, was hosting dignitaries all the way from London, and she had been sent by Madame Bernadette, the head housekeeper, to fetch extra candles from the storage rooms.

She was breathless by the time she entered the hallway that led downstairs. The shadows were deeper here, where there were no windows to let in the sunlight, and no wall sconces either. The Comtesse, Danielle d’Arcy, was a ruthless miser who kept careful count of every single item that was used in the palatial residence, and found it unnecessary to illuminate rooms that were only seen by the servants.

Celeste halted in front of the heavy door. A lifelong fear of the dark waged a war with the stern face of Madame Bernadette, should she not return with the candles she’d requested. It was a no brainer, really. She opened the door. She could see the first six stairs, but the rest were hidden in the gloom. She turned around, right into a chest. She screeched and started to tumble backwards, but strong arms reached for her and pulled her upright.

“Forgive me, ma cherie. Did I scare you?”

“What do you think?” Celeste scowled at Luc. Luc Devereux was a groundskeeper, and quite handsome. She had suspected for quite some time that he was taken with her, but that knowledge was actually disturbing; she desperately needed to keep her job, and she’d been warned by other domestiques that the Comtesse had been known to let anyone go that had taken up with another servant.

Luc looked past her and let out a low whistle, “It’s mighty dark down there.”

“You don’t say,” Celeste, feeling braver with his presence, started down the stairs, “Nevertheless, I must go down there.”

“At least let me accompany you, Mademoiselle …”

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