Chapter 32
Iris stoodacross from Ewan in his bed chambers wondering what on Earth she was doing in this man’s bedroom. He was not her husband, she had already told him that she would never become his wife... but she was standing next to his bedregardless.
Iris tried her best not to look at anything in too much depth, she didn’t really want to acknowledge anything, but she couldn’t help noticing the warmth of the browns and beige colours that he had decorating theplace.
“I am sorry to bring you here,” Ewan told her a little stiffly. “I just feel that we need to have a candid conversation where there is absolutely no risk of us being overheard. Do youagree?”
“Yes,” Iriswhispered.
There was no escaping it now. Ewan had absolutely no intention of letting her go unless he found out the truth. Iris desperately hoped and prayed that he cared enough about her to keep the truth to himself. If he learned how many other people would be impacted by the secret getting out, maybe that would stophim.
“Alright, now, Daisy. I would love to know what is really going on here.” He paced the room with his arms tucked neatly behind his back. “It is obvious that there is something I do not know, and I only believe it is fair that everything is shared with me before we put an end to thisforever.”
His lips pursed tightly together and stress etched his expression. Clearly, he was doing his best to keep his cool while Iris finally confessed thetruth.
She sucked in a deep, shaky breath.Here goesnothing.
“Well, first off my name is not Daisy.” She expected Ewan to blow up at that, she even winced a little, but Ewan simply nodded as if he’d guessed that much himself. “Erm.” Iris assumed the next part would not go down quite so easily. “I am also not low-born."
“What do you mean?” Ewan demanded quickly. “Did your family fall on hardtimes?”
Iris knew this happened far more often than was spoken about in polite society, which would have made it a much better explanation than thetruth.
“Not exactly. Maybe you should take a seat." Ewan remained defiantly standing, if she wasn't going to sit, then neither would he. "Please, just listen to me, hear me out before you react. I do not want you to panic before you heareverything.”
She murdered her husband,Ewan’s mind instantly went into overdrive.She is on the run from the law, I have been harbouring a criminal for all this time... falling in love with her like anidiot.
“I am IrisWarwick.”
“What?” Ewan actually laughed as she blurted that out. “But you cannot be. I met Iris Warwick, at the ball. She recently wed the Duke who she metthere.”
“No.” Iris tried to keep some control over her voice, but it shook regardless. “That was Daisy. I amIris.”
Ewan finally collapsed into a sitting position on his bed while he tried to wrap his head around this. It sounded like a very obvious lie, but it was a dangerous one to spin. The woman he loved was intelligent, she knew how much trouble she could get herselfinto...
Intelligent.He looked up at Daisy in shock. Maybe she was too intelligent to be uneducated. Some of the things that she knew could’ve only come from formal learning.But thatmeans...
“Please explain this to me,” he begged. “I do not understand any ofit.”
“No, I am not surprised you do not understand, it is a very complex situation.” Iris nodded slowly as she tried to figure out the best place to start. “When my mother passed away, I did not know what to do with myself, I felt like I could not cope without her in my life. She truly was my everything, and I became consumed withsadness.”
Yes, Ewan knew this. He had not heard much about Iris Warwick, only that depression kept her in her room. He had been shocked to learn that any man would be willing to marry such a difficultwoman...
But the woman standing before him did not seem challenging at all. She was like a rich breath of fresh air. It made nosense.
“My maid, Daisy, quickly became my best friend. She knew everything about me as we spent most of our time together. She... understood more than anyone else why I got so upset about my father’s dying wish for me to marry the Duke.” Iris smiled a little to herself at the memory. “She saw that I hadn’t experienced enough life to wed some man I did not like. I do not know if you have heard, but the Duke also has a reputation for a bit of a brutishman.”
“I... I do not know.” Ewan was never one to pay much attention to rumours, they did not interesthim.
“I knew that I would be desperately unhappy, that I would never love someone chosen for me, so the idea for the switch camearound.”
“The switch?” Ewan said scathingly. “You and your maid switchedplaces?”
“It was never supposed to be a permanent thing,” Iris tried to reassure him. "We did not want to fool anyone or hurt any feelings. I just felt happier and freer as a maid, and Daisy found a love for being a lady. It just... it happened. I suppose it spiralled out ofcontrol.”
Ewan thumped his fists down on the bed beneath him, he could not believe what he was hearing. “So you thought you would bring your little charade intomyhouse? You thought you would fool me of all people? Is that why you danced with me at the ball? Were you looking for someone to workfor?”
“I did not even know that the switch would remain permanent then.” Iris understood his rage, she would be angry too, but she did not like the way he kept trying to taint that beautiful moment as something it wasn’t. “I did not know it would be your home when Iarrived.”
