on the right.
“It is pretty,” she said in surprise. “Did you come here as a child?”
“Occasionally. But my grandfather lived mostly in London. I came more after he died, knowing it was mine or would be one day. And yet, I had no say in the running of the estate or the use of the house. And as you see, it is not exactly welcoming.”
She glanced back through the dingy French widows. Sunlight beamed in on cobwebs and dust. Setting down her cup, she rose and touched the outside glass of the door. “No wonder the place is dark. The windows are filthy. Christopher, we will need an army of servants.”
“I know. Talk to Hunter and Mrs. Dawson.”
She nodded, gazing curiously into the room. The furniture was masked in Halland covers, and the floor was dirty, but beyond the cobwebs, the ceiling moldings and the cornices were pretty. “This could be a beautiful room, a kind of summer drawing room.”
“That sounds like an excellent idea. Will that be your first project?”
“If you like the idea.” She sat down again and thoughtfully drank her tea. “If your aim is entertainment, I think we need to brighten up the formal rooms, too. And the entrance hall, while magnificent, is not welcoming either. It will,” she reflected, “be a massive upheaval.”
“Will you mind?”
“No, I like to be busy. But it will not immediately be a restful home for you.”
He blinked as though he barely understood the words. Then his face softened. “You are very sweet, you know.”
She flushed. “I’ve no idea why you would think so.”
“You are truly concerned for my comfort when I have just married you and plunged you immediately into a large project of work.”
“Is that not the normal concern of a wife?”
“You are not exactly a normal wife.”
“I shall endeavor to be convenient.”
“As shall I, but you may need to kick me from time to time. I am obsessive by nature and too used to pleasing only myself.”
“And yet you will spend thousands creating and maintaining a school for the poor.”
“I’m a politician,” he said cynically. “Nothing is done without an element of personal ambition.”
After tea, they wandered through the garden and, without actually meaning to, ended by walking to the lake.
“There used to be swans here when my grandfather was young,” Christopher said. “Long gone by the time I remember it. I do remember swimming, though, and fishing with Rupert and Dudley.”
“Your brothers?”
“Cousins. We all came with my grandfather one summer. I think it must have been shortly after their father died. Their father and mine were brothers, and Dudley had just become Hawfield’s heir, with the title of Lord Bilston.”
“And Rupert?”
“Ah, well, Rupert is the skeleton in our cupboard. He killed a man in a duel and had to flee the country. Which is a pity—except, of course, that it keeps me from being held up as the black sheep of the family.”
“You have a…colorful family,” she observed.
He shrugged. “Rupert was the best of them, in my opinion. Which probably tells you all you need to know. I think I prefer your family.”
“You won’t once they have run wild here a few times.”
He laughed. “I like that they’re lively.” He shrugged. “I was alone a good deal after my sister died.”
She glanced at him in quick surprise, the oddest idea striking her, that he might ever have been lonely. “What happened to her?”
“The doctors were not sure. One of those sudden, childhood ailments that could not be cured. They would not let me see her in case I caught it, too.”
“You must have missed her.”
“Yes.” But he didn’t linger to discuss it, merely offered her his arm for the walk back to the house.
It felt very strange, this casual intimacy, but then everything about her life was strange now—even summoning a chambermaid to help her change for dinner. The girl’s name was Anne, she was only eighteen years old and came from the village, but she seemed delighted to help her new mistress dress, even offered to brush and pin her hair, which she did surprisingly well.
She smiled quite gleefully at Deborah’s reflection in the glass and then scowled. “The glass is steaky. Sorry, ma’am. I’ll clean it again while you’re at dinner.”
“Don’t worry. I realize you have all been very busy with not enough staff to do everything.”
“Thank you, ma’am!” She curtseyed and stood back to let Deborah rise.
Although it was still light, the sun had moved across the sky, and the drawing room was even