Daisy narrowed her eyes.
“Lack of skills? I’ll give her lack of skills! The witch! Let me tell you...” She stopped suddenly and pressed her lips together as she narrowed her eyes. The subject of their conversation could be heard coming down the stairs beyond the hall.
‘Well, of all the cheek of the man! Refusing to hurry up and clear those awful creatures while telling me that I, the Dowager Duchess of Portland, cannot stay in the ducal suite. It is just as well that valet is leaving on the morrow or I would be throwing him out on his ear.’ General grumbling and the odd shocked words followed. ‘The very nerve! How dare he. He’ll have no references from me!’
Daisy groaned.
“Poor Musgrave. It is just as well that I am responsible for the staff’s references. I know that he is not the easiest man to get along with, but Robert had no complaints, and he has been helpful beyond all since my husband’s demise,” she whispered to her mother before a thundercloud of black silk blew into the room.
“Of all the insolence! Does that man really think I have no right to stay in that room once it is cleared of all those ghastly creatures? Does he not realize that my son was conceived in that very bed.” The Dowager Duchess pointed a dramatic finger towards the stairs.
Elizabeth blushed to the roots of her hair.
“Really Jane! We have no wish to hear of your marital arrangements.”
Jane arranged her enormous skirts and fell back into a fireside chair. Daisy winced and prayed that the piece of furniture could stand the shock. The chair creaked and bent visibly but managed to withstand the strain. The Dowager Duchess paid neither the article of furniture, nor her friend, any heed.
“Every Duke of Portland has been conceived in that bed for the last four hundred years.” She glared at Daisy’s stomach as if daring that her daughter in law to challenge the statement.
Daisy didn’t. Instead she changed the subject slightly.
“I don’t like that side of the house. The sunlight doesn’t reach the rooms early in the morning or late in the evening leaving them dark and dismal for most of the time one is in them. The view from the back is far more interesting too. Instead of an avenue of trees and a gravelled drive, I can see for miles over the lake and parkland from my room.”
The Dowager Duchess gave a small snort.
“And over the stable block, and the servants and tradesmen entrance. Their comings and goings must be riveting. A most peculiar description of a desirable view if you ask me, but at least I will have a suite of rooms at my disposal for the duration when Robert’s room is cleared of those, those...” She waved an impatient hand as she gave up trying to describe the cases of insects. “But I know that you like the light to blind you when you wake, Elizabeth. I daresay you would like to face out over the stables too.” She raised an eyebrow at Elizabeth.
“Indeed, if the morning sun is in that direction. And if it is convenient with my daughter. Our trip was unannounced. Daisy might have arrangements of which we are unaware. I don’t feel that we can demand any rooms in particular, Jane.”
Jane harrumphed loudly.
“Ridiculous! Portland Hall has over fifty bedrooms, Elizabeth. You could take any number and not be an inconvenience, am I not right Daisy?”
Daisy lifted her brow. How little the woman knew.
“On the second floor yes, but on the first it will be more difficult. Apart from my own, the others are all taken with Robert’s collections, but it scarcely matters now. I won’t be entertaining anyone of great importance for many months to come.”
Jane either didn’t catch on, or decided to ignore the veiled insult and leaned forwards.
“What? All of the rooms on the first floor? You cannot be in earnest.”
Daisy felt her cheeks heat. She knew that she should have been stronger and made him keep his interests under control, but after numerous pleas and arguments, all of which Robert had ignored, it had seemed easier not to bother.
“I am afraid what I say is true. Robert was enthusiastic in his collecting. There’s barely a room that he hasn’t taken over. Musgrave has been making some sense of order out of it all in the ducal suite, but there is still much to do.”
Jane nodded firmly.
“I knew it. You are clearly unable to cope. His father had a predilection for clutter. I had to take a firm hand. Which is precisely the reason for my visit. You cannot show an ounce of weakness to anyone. Certainly not the solicitors. I hope you realize the tenuous position Robert’s death has put us in? But we are fortunate he revealed your condition to me several weeks ago and the news has already circulated. In view of your current situation, my solicitors have given us a year’s grace, but after that, if you don’t come up with an heir, we will all be put out on the street by who knows whom.”
Daisy put her hand over her mouth to hold back the laugh.
“That seems a little ridiculous. I never heard of a twelve month pregnancy before. You must have excellent persuasive skills.”
Jane pointed her nose in the air.
“It is simply how it is done. Thank goodness Robert had imparted the news before he died. Suspicions of paternity might have been raised otherwise.” She ignored both her daughter in law’s and her friend’s shocked gasps and continued her tirade. “We, I mean you, wouldn’t have a leg to stand on, and some lowly potato farmer from the back end of Ireland might have ended up with the whole inheritance. Just make sure you keep eating your boiled pork and greens. It’s a boy we want remember. A girl will be useless to us all. I dread to think what would happen to us, er you, if that misfortune occurs.” she corrected herself quickly.
Elizabeth sniffed and straightened in her chair.
“I would like to point out that there has not been a whiff of any impropriety on my daughter’s behalf. That being so, it would not matter to her father and I if she has a boy or a girl. If the child is the latter, Daisy will be very welcome to return home to us. And she can bring the baby with her. However I am sure that a sensible and responsible man like Robert must have made some arrangements for both you and her, regardless of the sex of his progeny.”
Jane let out a mocking laugh.
“Huh! Arrangements? If that’s what you can call the paltry allowance and inferior establishments allotted to his nearest and dearest. Heavens knows how he expected me to live on three thousand a year. And Rainsmere is hardly Portland Hall.” She referred to the ten bedroomed house near Hampstead Hill. “Daisy here is my only hope. But only if she produces a boy. If she doesn’t, at least she will be left in some comfort. There is the house in Cavendish Square, not large but conveniently placed, and she is entitled to remain in the Dower House here, plus there is another five thousand a year, though I can hardly see how one so young could spend so much. Age brings far more expenditure. Why, I may have to give up my carriage and horses. You can imagine how neglected I feel.” She lamented as she sniffed and dabbed a handkerchief to her eye.
Daisy kept her hands in her lap, fingers interlaced.
“It is hardly Robert’s fault. I don’t think he was expecting to die, not that he could do much about it anyway. Everything else is part of the entailment.”
The Dowager Duchess raised her eyebrows.
“Well let’s see that it is entailed in the right direction. I am relying on you Daisy. Do not let me down.” She glared at Daisy’s stomach again.
Daisy squirmed in her seat but decided that enough was enough.
“I don’t see how I can make any difference. It is not as if I have any choice in the matter. What will be, will be.”
The Dowager Duchess sniffed in derision.
“Don’t be ridiculous. That kind of attitude never did anyone any good. There is a lot to be gained by the correct diet. As I said, you need plenty of boiled pork and greens. I have already spoken to your cook.”
Daisy stood up quickly.
“You have done what?” She hissed venomously. How dare the woman try to alter her plans?
Jane rolled her eyes and spoke slowly.
“I... have... spoken... to... your... cook, dear.” She enunciated every word as if speaking to someone slow witted. “I could hardly believe my ears when she told me of this week’s menu. Such ridiculous choices. Trout and vegetable tart indeed! Are you deliberately trying to sabotage me? Er, yourself, I mean. We will have jellied pork and boiled cabbage at least three nights per week.” The woman pressed her lips together and nodded her head as if putting an end to the conversation, but Daisy, with her new found confidence brimming, was having none of it.
“How dare you change the arrangements in my own household! I’ll see about this immediately.” She strode to the bell and pulled the cord impatiently, but could clearly not wait for a response. Indignation and anger took over. She gave up on the bell and marched to the door, tugging it open sharply, only to have to step back rapidly as Everard all but fell inside the room.
For the second time that day, Pierce didn’t know how he held onto the tray. With a full pot of tea, another of hot water, three cups and saucers, and a plate of rather delicious looking, but extremely heavy fruit cake, the damn thing weighed a ton and was almost too wide for the door.
He had been juggling it for several minutes already while trying to push open the door with the toe of his boot, but it seemed that someone had closed the heavy oak panel after his previous exit. His only option was to put the tray down, turn the knob to open the door, pick the tray up again, and then enter the room. But there was nowhere to put the tray but the floor.
Deciding that the floor, though polished to a high shine, was an unacceptable option, he thought to balance the tray on the spread palm of one hand while opening the door with the other.
His plan might have worked if the underside of the silver tray hadn’t been uncomfortably hot from the teapot and the hot water jug. As the heat spread through his gloved palm, opening the door now became a matter of great urgency. He took hold of the knob tightly, only to have himself dragged into the drawing room from the other side, leaving him off balance and the tray in a truly precarious position. Fortunately the person holding the opposite door knob moved quickly. She leapt forwards and caught the edge of the tipping tray while he righted himself and took the salver and crockery firmly back into both hands.
“Thank you, your Grace.” Unable to wipe his perspiring brow, he stuck out his bottom lip and blew a cooling breath upwards. A lock of unruly hair dropped down across his forehead. He blew again but gave up when he realised that his hair seemed to be stuck to his brow. “That’s the second time today that I have nearly taken a nasty tumble.” He glared at Daisy, who pressed her lips together to stifle a laugh.
“Indeed. My mother mentioned your splendid footwork earlier,” she said at last. “But this occasion was my fault entirely. I was impatient to see my cook.”
Pierce nodded and pulled the tray from her still outstretched hand.
“I fear that she is impatient to see you too. Something about having difficulty obtaining a pig’s head, boiling it, and boning it at such short notice.” His ears still rang from the irate cook’s furious clanking of pots and pans as she berated the Dowager Duchess for changing dinner plans.
Daisy stepped back.
“I can imagine her consternation.”
Pierce carried the tray to the table and placed it down with a sigh of relief. He brushed the errant lock of hair from his forehead with the back of his gloved hand.
“Phew! You have no idea how heavy that thing is Dai, er I mean on a daily basis, your Grace.” He covered his slip quickly. “No wonder maids beat carpets so well. They must have the muscles of Hercules to carry something as heavy as this lot about.”
The Dowager Duchess’ mouth fell open, but almost immediately lifted her chin again.
“I beg your pardon! Did you actually...”
Daisy stepped swiftly between Pierce and her mother in law.
“Thank you Everard. I will pour. If you could just mention to cook that I will see her within the hour, but that she is not to change any plans that we had for dinner tonight, or any night. That will be all.”
Pierce gave a short bow and almost ran from the room, shutting the door behind him as he left. Daisy turned to the tea table while her mother in law still gaped from the chair by the fire.
“He seems a little clumsy. And very outspoken, if you ask my opinion. Where did he come from and who recommended him?”
Daisy placed some slices of cake on small plates and handed them to the other women. Perhaps something sugary would sweeten the woman’s tone.
“He’ll improve. I believe he has been on the continent for several years and only returned recently. India or some such. The difference in temperature and the long boat trip home have upset his equilibrium. Besides, I believe that standards abroad are not as our own, but he is keen and willing to learn, and I said that I would give him a chance.” She began pouring the tea.
Jane appeared to have forgotten about her instructions to the cook being overridden and took a bite of her cake, ignoring the crumbs that fell into her ample décolletage.
“Well, he looks as though he had better train up soon or he is going to cost you a goodly amount of that five thousand a year in tea and fine bone china.”
Elizabeth took a sip of her tea and hid a smile behind the rim of her cup.
“You do him an injustice, Jane. The poor man merely had the health of the maids in mind. Tea trays are generally far too heavy. I have one on wheels in my house. I had it designed especially. There is a shelf beneath for cakes or sandwiches,” she added proudly.
Jane finished her cake and began drinking her tea, speaking between blows and sips.
“You are far too soft. And too modern! A tray on wheels indeed. If a maid cannot carry so much as a few cups and a teapot, then she has no business being a maid. Speaking of which, why is your footman serving the tea? Where are your maids? I don’t think I’ve seen more than one of them in the last hour.”
Daisy rolled her eyes as she poured her own cup of the steaming beverage.
“I am hoping that they are cleaning and preparing rooms for my unexpected guests, or they may well not have a bed to sleep in tonight,” she said rather pointedly.
The Dowager Duchess raised a thick eyebrow.
“You mean that you don’t keep several rooms in readiness for such an occasion? Now this is of exactly what I spoke. I can see that it is as well that I decided to come. Though you were married to Robert for three years, you have clearly not learned to run a household efficiently.” She turned to her travelling companion. “Whatever were you doing with her for all the years she was at home, Elizabeth? Clearly not educating her well enough. It is no wonder she was all but on the shelf before Robert rescued her.”
Elizabeth Caruthers put her cup back on its saucer and narrowed her eyes but she didn’t have chance to speak. Daisy faced her mother in law with a lifted chin.
“If you really want to know, I rode my horses wearing breeches and climbed trees with my brother and his friends. And I bloody well enjoyed it!”
The Dowager Duchess all but dropped her tea cup.
“Well I never heard of such dreadful deeds or heard such appalling language from a lady’s lips! And Robert knew of this disgusting behaviour before he married you?”
Daisy drew breath.
“Yes, he did. And he said it was a pity he didn’t know me when I was younger, because he would have bloody well joined in!” She waited for the woman to respond but her final words had apparently rendered the woman speechless. “I’ll leave you to enjoy your tea. I must go and make sure the rooms are prepared for your night’s stay, your Grace, mother.” She gave her mother a quick kiss on the cheek and strode from the room without turning back.
And almost bumped straight into Pierce who stood grinning right outside the door.
Chapter Seven
Hidden in Darkness
“You can wipe that smirk from your face as soon as you like.”
Daisy hissed as she swept past him and made for the stairs.
Pierce followed her, glancing about to check that no one could see or hear them.
“I am only pleased that you stood up to the miserable harridan. Well done you! No wonder the old Duke popped his clogs so long ago. I heard that he just faded away shortly after she produced his heir. I bet he was glad to go. And I almost feel sorry for your late husband. He must have thought he’d died and gone to heaven when he married you.” He realized the insensitivity of his words just a moment too late. He expected tears or even a slap around the face, but Daisy simply stopped at the head of the stairs and glared at him with dangerous blue eyes.
“For your information, she wasn’t always so taciturn. While always opinionated, it is only in the last few weeks that she has become unbearable. But regardless of her current moods, would you stop following me and go and do something useful... Something that footmen do.” She placed her hand over her forehead as if she had a headache.
Pierce raised his brows.
“Something like what? I can’t stand about all day waiting for someone to knock on the front door. Besides that is most unlikely to happen now that old cow is in residence. Everyone in the neighbourhood must have seen that carriage and horses come through. They must know what she’s like and will probably avoid the place as if it harboured a dose of the plague. Besides, we need to talk.” His expression became more serious.
Daisy glared at him before heaving a sigh of defeat. Their conversation of that morning had hardly covered the usual pleasantries, let alone discovered the reasons for Pierce’s appearance in her stables. She glanced along the corridor and back again.
“You are right, of course.” There were distant sounds from below and from further along the hall, but there was no one in sight. “You had best come to my room. We are unlikely to be disturbed in there. And it is the only space available that isn’t full of dead creatures.” She beckoned Pierce to follow her and a few seconds later they slipped into her room.
A Fragile Chain of Daisies: Flowers of the Aristocracy (Untamed Regency Book 4) Page 8
