Sarah smoothed the creases of her pink chiffon dress, her gaze glancing down and then following up into the face of the passenger opposite her. Heavyset eyebrows and long, pointed nose stared grimly back in the familiar face of her companion Mr Saltersford. Whilst their outward appearances might suggest otherwise, Sarah Chancy and Luke Saltersford had been close acquaintances for many years now.
"We can do this, no need to look so much like you're going to throw up," Saltersford snorted, "Green doesn't match that dress."
Sarah frowned, Luke always had a way of saying just the wrong thing at the wrong moment, it was a skill. "Shouldn't you be addressing me more formally? You know, seeing as you're so confident we're going to get away with it?"
Sarah was dressed in a low-necked, empire line monstrosity, very popular with the upper classes of the ton. Luke, on the other hand, was in a formal, working men's suit, complete with white gloves appropriate to his given station today -- footman.
The pair had a straightforward task, meticulously planned by their higher-ups, as always. Pose as an heiress and her butler, infiltrate the family home of the Thompsons, steal everything they could, and get out. They'd done it time and again with smaller marks, this just happened to be the wealthiest family they'd targeted so far.
The carriage turned the corner and began to make its way up the driveway, wheels crunching as it moved. "We've got this Sarah," Saltersford muttered, "They wouldn't have sent us all this way on our own if they didn't trust us, we can do it."
The carriage ground to a halt and Luke jumped out, holding his hand out to Sarah behind him so that she could carefully descend the rickety steps. Placing her gloved hand in his, she couldn't tell if it was the adrenaline of the con, but she could have sworn she felt a spark of electricity zap from his body to hers as the muscles in his lower arm flexed. Unwittingly, the image of his forearm tensing as he gripped her throat flashed across her mind. Not now, Sarah, there are more important matters to fixate on, that is one for when you are alone later she admonished herself.
Greeted by the matriarch of the household Mrs Thompson, time began to accelerate and Sarah couldn't have described what happened over the next hours. Other than that she was well received as Lady Hawthorn of Buckinghamshire, as she met with her unwitting hosts for the next month.
Finally given space to rest at the end of the day, she was shown to her room and left alone by a maid. Closing the door, Sarah heaved a deep sigh and collapsed onto the luxurious four-poster bed in the centre, what a day. She couldn't believe they'd managed to make it this far.
A tentative knock startled her eyes open and making the slightest of sounds, Luke slipped into the room after her. "What are you doing?" She hissed, "You'll blow our cover if they find you here."
"I'll tell them we're having an illicit affair," he smirked and silently closed the weighted wooden door behind him.
"I needed to check in with you before the end of the night, downstairs have all been very solicitious," he smirked knowingly at that. "How was upstairs?"
"Fine, " Sarah groaned, "All very welcoming, all dressed as ridiculously as me."