The Postilion (The Masqueraders #2) - S.M. LaViolette Page 0,57
paper, leaned against the front of his desk, and crossed his arms, his face an unreadable mask as he looked down at her. “What do you think of your new assistant?”
“Is he my replacement, sir?”
“I engaged him to help you with the heavier work.”
Benna chewed her lip to keep from speaking her mind.
“What? Out with it.” He dropped his hands to the desk’s beveled edge and leaned back.
“He’s already suspicious of me.”
“Why? What have you done?”
“I haven’t done anything. It’s just—”
“Yes?”
“He’s older than me and believes he has more experience.”
“Do you think he has more experience?”
“He does,” she said, her tone grudging to her own ears.
“And he is physically stronger than you?”
Benna chewed the inside of her cheek. Why was he doing this to her? Why did he not simply discharge her?
The earl didn’t wait for her answer. “He does have more experience and he is stronger.”
“Very well, my lord.” Benna stood.
“I am not finished yet, Ben.”
Benna glared at him and he stared coolly back.
She dropped into her chair.
“What I was going to say, is that I believe Pike would do an adequate job of running my stables. However, I do have a position available that is not so easy to fill.” He eyed her with something that looked suspiciously like amusement.
For one mad, intoxicating moment she thought he was going to ask her to be his valet.
But then she recalled that a valet was among the new servants who’d arrived with Pike.
“What position would that be, sir?”
“It would be a combination of secretary and steward.”
The word secretary was almost as surprising as valet would have been. “You want me to be your secretary?”
“Why not?”
She could only stare; the man must have rats in his garret.
“Why not?” he repeated.
“Because hiring your groom to become your secretary will raise even more eyebrows than hiring a postilion to be your stable master.”
His lips curled into an expression of haughty disdain. “One of the few benefits of being an earl rather than a humble country doctor is that I don’t need to give a rap about other people’s eyebrows.”
He was right. Who in this area would call an earl to account for his behavior? Aristocrats were known to pursue any and all whims, no matter who such whims might horrify.
And as far as aristocratic fancies went, hiring one’s groom to be one’s secretary was hardly on the level of debauching one’s tenant’s daughters.
Still ….
“You appear skeptical, Ben.”
“It won’t be you who attracts unwanted attention, my lord, but me.”
“There will probably be some speculation below stairs about your change in status,” he admitted. “Would that bother you enough that you would not want the position?”
Would it?
Benna had been so ready to be offended at being pushed out of her stable job that she had given no thought to his offer.
The truth was, her body hurt most days from work that was too strenuous for her frame, the skin on her hands was cracked and bleeding, she’d burnt herself repeatedly mending items on the forge, and—
If you worked as his secretary you could see him every day. All day. Just think what a fool you could make of yourself in such circumstances.
Yes, there was that.
Benna caught her lower lip and bit hard to keep from grinning like a loon.
Oh, Benna—you should run. As fast and as far as you can. That wasn’t Geoff’s voice, but Benna’s own.
And she knew it was correct.
Once she’d composed herself, she looked up and asked, “Could you tell me what you would expect of me, sir?”
“I’m still going through several years’ worth of paperwork that is, quite frankly, in a disastrous state of disorganization. I would require your help putting that in order. I also need assistance with things that would be more in keeping with a steward’s duties. I’m leasing two tenant properties as they are, but I’ve committed to completing maintenance on twelve others which are currently leased but in dire need of work. I cannot direct all the repairs myself, there just aren’t enough hours in the day. And then there is the dairy, the home farm, and the house.” He waved at the room around them, a small chamber more suited to a servant’s room than the master of the house. “All the rooms are in need of—Well, something. Again, it is too much for me to manage and I’m afraid the countess is simply not well enough to handle the day-to-day running of the house. Those are a few of the tasks.”