by Brianna York
“I keep a very small staff here,” Rob said a bit uncomfortably. He adjusted his jacket sleeves to cover his discomfort. “It is a small house and usually I am the only person they must attend to when I come to the country. If you wish to hire extra help we can certainly discuss the possibility.”
Rosy waved a hand at this dismissively. “That is a discussion for later. As long as this group knows their way around the house, I should think they would be able to take care of it admirably.”
Rob exited the carriage when his footman opened the door and then turned back to offer his hand to Rosy. She took it, pleased to feel a shock of awareness thrum into life in her fingertips as their hands met. She hoped that in ten years she should still feel the same spark when he touched her. She shook out her skirts once she had reached the drive before turning toward the line of people awaiting them.
“It is lovely to meet you all,” she said with a smile as she approached. “I cannot wait to get to know you better.” She saw the two older women in the line exchange a small, pleased smile and knew that she had already won a point with them. “Might you be so kind as to introduce yourselves to me?”
“My Lady,” the tall and stately old man on her left said as he came forward to bow to her. “I am Charles. I have been the butler here at Coulthurst since His Lordship’s father was a boy.”
Rosy curtsied back to him energetically. “I am most pleased to make your acquaintance.” She turned a bit to regard the two older women in the line. One appeared to be middle aged and the other was clearly much older. Rosy regarded the two faces and decided that they must be family. Perhaps a mother and a daughter.
“I see a family resemblance,” Rosy said amiably to the two women as they bobbed curtsies to her. “Are you perhaps related?”
The women exchanged another pleased smile before the older woman chose to answer her. “Indeed, mum,” she said in a charmingly piping voice. “My name is Mabel and I am the keeper of the house. This is my daughter, Sarah. Sarah is our cook.”
“It is lovely to meet you both,” she said, returning their curtsies. The remaining servant in the line was a much younger woman with bright red hair and a firmly set chin. She appeared unhappy with the proceedings, although Rosy could not think of any reason why that might be.
“And who might you be?” Rosy asked the young woman. She kept her voice level and her approach cautious. She laughed inwardly at the thought that she was treating this other woman as if she were a horse who might spook.
The red-head bobbed a curtsy to her. “My name is Rachel, My Lady,” she said in a firm voice that seemed almost too large for her small frame.
“And what is it that you do here at Coulthurst?” Rosy inquired in the same cautious voice.
“I fill in where I am needed,” Rachel answered her. “I suppose I am something of a maid but sometimes I help in the kitchen as well.”
“A jack of many trades then,” Rosy said warmly. She noted that the girl’s accent was not that of a country girl but rather seemed to indicate that she was from the city or had been raised and educated by someone who was.
“If it is not too bold of me, might I ask if you are from London?” Rosy asked the other woman.
The girl’s brown eyes glanced at her sharply, suspicion etching itself in the frown that touched her lips. “No, Mum. I am from Scotland but my father was an Englishman.”
Rosy realized now that the girl was likely the result of a moneyed Londoner having his way with a country girl or a house servant. “Were you educated in Scotland then?” Rosy pressed. “Scotland has some of the best schools on the island.”
The frown disappeared and the girl’s mouth softened towards a smile. Rosy thought that she was very pretty when she was smiling. “I was educated by my father originally,” she said in reply. “After that I was sent to a girl’s school in London to finish my education.” Pride was evident in the tone of her voice.
“You are awfully overqualified to be a maid,” Rosy stated, her head tilted to one side.
Rachel’s slightly bitter look was back. “I had been engaged as a governess in London but the family decided that they did not wish to retain me. His Lordship was kind enough to take me on so that no harm would befall me.”
“I have brought my own maid with me,” Rosy said to the young woman. “So, I shall not need your help in that regard.” She saw Rachel’s slightly crestfallen look at this information. “His Lordship and I intend upon starting a family as soon as possible however, and I shall need someone to help care for the children and also help to educate them. Perhaps you might care to take on those responsibilities once I have provided his Lordship with a child?”
“Oh indeed, My Lady,” Rachel beamed at her. “I should very much like to do that.”
“It is settled then,” Rosy said with a nod. “Well, now that we have all met, shall we go into the house? I cannot wait to see the rest of the property!” She began to make her way toward the front door of the house but stopped so suddenly that Rob almost ran into her.
“What is the matter?” he asked, his hands on her shoulders where they had landed as he tried to stop himself from running into her.
“I thought I heard something,” she said quietly. “I think it was coming from over there.” She hunched forward a bit and made her way toward the hedges that lined the drive.
“I am not sure what you might have heard,” Rob said as he followed her at a distance. “Perhaps there are some birds in the shrubbery?”
“It is not a bird,” Rosy called out before turning around. A huge smile was spread across her face and she was clutching a small furry bundle in her arms. “It is a kitten!”
Rob smiled back at her, pleased to see the joy on her face as she walked back to him. She stroked the tiny, fuzzy head fondly. He heard the little cat mewling softly.
“I think that it is hungry. Do you keep cats in the stables? Perhaps its mother is there?” Rosy asked, her voice soft and her hands still busily stroking the tiny bundle.
“No, Mum,” Charles replied as he approached. “We have not had any cats in the stables in many years.”
“The poor thing must be an orphan!” Rosy said sadly as the tiny mouth suckled vainly at her fingertips.
“That is quite sad,” Rob replied, bemused and uncertain about what one did with a motherless kitten.
“Well then, we shall have to keep it,” Rosy said firmly. She smiled brightly at Rob and passed him on her way to the house.
“Keep it?” Rob echoed as he hurried after her. “In the house?”
Rosy glanced back at him. “For now, of course. It is too small to be out in the barn. A horse could kill it with one misplaced hoof. It shall need lots of care until it is strong enough to fend for itself. I think it is quite young.”
“How shall you feed it?” Rob asked, trying to force some logic into this situation. He did not really think that he desired to have a house pet of any kind shedding hair everywhere and potentially making other messes.
“Oh, Your Lordship,” Mabel said happily. “The wee mite can stay in the kitchen where it’s warm. We can feed it milk and then little scraps once it is the right age.” She stroked the striped bundle of fur gently, her face wreathed in a smile as big as Rosy’s.
Rob sighed and surrendered to the inevitable. “Indeed. Well it is quite wonderful for the little creature that you should have heard it. I supposed that if it is going to be a member of the household it should have a name.”
“Oh yes,” Mabel agreed. “He should have a name.”
“Is it a boy then?” Rosy asked Mabel, bowing to the other woman’s apparent knowledge on the matter.
“Indeed, Mum,” Mabel answered her.
Rosy tilted her head to the side thoughtfully for a moment. “I shall name him something properly lordly and important so that he will be motivated to grow into the name. I think that we shall call him Horus.”
Rob smiled in spite of himself. “Horus? I do believe that is not a lordly
name but rather a kingly name.”
Rosy smiled at him. “He shall soon be ruling over the household, I should think. Why not give him a name to fit?”
“Well pass the little king off to Mabel for the moment, my dear. We have more for you to see and I am sure that she will be able to feed him something right away.” Rob placed a hand in the small of Rosy’s back and guided her toward the front door. Rosy surrendered the kitten to Mabel as they passed by.
As Rob guided Rosy toward the door, he hoped that she would not be too appalled by the slightly neglected portions of the house. He was so rarely in the country and when he did choose to leave the city, he typically stayed at a friend’s house for a house party rather than coming to his own home. He had simply not bothered to consider that the house might need more attention until very recently. He realized with a twinge of pain that he had been avoiding this house due to all the memories that it held for him, both good and bad.
“Oh, isn’t this lovely!” Rosy exclaimed as she stepped through the front doors and entered the front hall. She turned slowly to take in the whole of the space, her head tilted to one side.
“It needs some paint, I know,” Rob said a bit tensely.
Rosy finished the little pirouette that she had been executing in the middle of the floor before turning back to him with a smile. “Only a little here and there. It is a lovely space. Just look at this floor,” she gestured to the marble floor and beamed at him with genuine pleasure.
Rob found himself smiling back at her in some relief. In the face of her obvious pleasure at what she was seeing it did not seem so daunting to complete repairs on the house.
“Show me the rest of the house!” she requested, tugging at his hand eagerly. Rob laughed and did as he was asked, leading her farther into the house to see a small but cheerful morning room with a lovely fireplace, a formal dining room and the library. They visited the kitchen and the parlor and then went upstairs to look at the bedrooms.
“There is a bit more to be done in this part of the house I see,” Rosy observed as she poked her head into one of the guest bedrooms and looked around.
Rob grimaced a bit. “Yes. I am afraid that I do not often have guests so the bedrooms were lowest on my list of things to spend money on.”
Rosy nodded. “That does make sense. Thankfully now we shall have a reason to bring friends to visit,” she said with a grin. “The house shall come to life again. You will see.”
“Come with me,” Rob said then, offering her his hand. “I did not spare expense on the main bedroom.”
Rosy felt a frisson of excitement leap from his fingers to hers when their hands connected. She pondered the nature of such easily excited passion as he led her toward the very end of the hallway. She supposed that it was a wonderful gift they shared and not at all typical. Having nothing else to compare the experience to she was not totally certain but she knew that their physical connection was much more wonderful than anything she could have imagined she might one day experience.
“Hold a moment,” he said to her as they approached the double doors at the end of the hall. She looked at him in bemusement but he simply smiled at her and said, “Close your eyes.”
Rosy hesitated a moment, then did as she was told. Rob took a moment to enjoy the way she looked as she waited with her lush lips parted slightly and her long lashes laying dark against her beautiful skin. She squeaked with surprise when he stepped closer and swept her into his arms. She reached up to wrap her arm around his neck to balance herself and her brown eyes looked into his with melting sweetness.
Pleased to have caused the look of desire he saw in the depths of her gaze, he gave in to temptation and dropped a kiss on her lips before pushing the bedroom doors open and carrying her inside. “Here is where you shall lay your head, My Lady,” he said with intentional bravado. He allowed her to slide out of his arms slowly and gain her feet.
Rosy walked farther into the room, looking about her. A fire had been laid in the grate to ward off the evening chill. Rosy wandered across the room and placed her back to the fire. She took in the four-posted bed made of a dark cherry wood and the plush Aubusson rug on the floor. She noted the fresh paint in the room and what appeared to be a new dressing table placed near the bedroom window.
“Your abigail said that you prefer to drink your chocolate near a window each morning,” Rob said to her when he saw her looking at the dressing table. “I ordered a new table from the City and had it placed so that you could continue with your morning routine here as well.”
“You are so thoughtful,” Rosy said quietly and he thought he heard a note of emotion in her voice. He crossed the thick rug to her, concern in his expression. She held up a hand when he drew closer and shook her head. “I am not sad at all,” she assured him. “I am just so pleased that you have thought of such a lovely thing to make me feel at home. I had been afraid that I should be homesick but I believe that it would be hard to feel that way in the face of such care for my happiness.”
Rob smiled in some relief. “I did not wish for you to feel anything other than at home.” He hesitated a moment then said, “I hope that it shall not be too much trouble that there are no separate chambers for you. This is the one large bedroom in the house and I am afraid and there are no other rooms connected to it.”
Rosy shook her head vehemently. “I should not have wanted to use a second bedroom, Husband,” she said fondly as she caressed his cheek. “We are sharing one life and purpose now. It would not at all suit me to have my own rooms and my own life without you in it.”
With a sigh of relief and pleasure, Rob gathered Rosy into his arms and swung her around toward the bed. They landed in the middle of the tidily made sheets in a tangle of limbs, hands greedily seeking access to each other’s skin. As Rob lost himself in the oblivion of her caresses, he felt a sense of hope about the future wash over him. It felt good not to be alone with the burden of the estate and its management. It also felt very good to allow himself to feel intensely for the first time in years. He felt reborn.
Chapter Seventeen
“This is a very practical garment,” Rob said with an arched eyebrow. He twitched the worn brown skirt of her riding habit in a teasing fashion and returned to the work of pulling on his boots.
Rosy glanced over her shoulder at him, her mouth pressed into a small pout. “Do not insult my practical clothing,” she ordered him. “It is not at all wise to be visiting the estate and the tenants in fussy clothes. I shall be tramping through mud and who knows what else. There is no need at all for fancy fabric and lace.”
Rob chuckled at this logic. “I was only teasing. I admit that I am impressed at this practical streak that you are revealing to me, though.”
Rosy sighed a bit at this. “You thought that I was a silly socialite simply hanging out her sign waiting to be married?”
Rob shook his head and came to rest his hands on her shoulders. “Not at all,” he reassured her. He paused a moment as he looked at their reflection in the cheval glass. “I confess that I did not know many important things about you and your life despite knowing you since you were a little girl.”
Rosy smiled gently. “My father and I made an effort not to make it known that I knew all about the running of the estate. My mother had told us that it would make me unmarriageable if any possible husband learned of my mannish interests.” She shrugged slightly. “I suppose now that it sounds foolish but I do know that the wrong type of man would not appreciate a woman poking about in what he regards as man’s business.”
Rob felt a twinge of conscience. He too had believed that he would simply marry and wait for his wife to produce heirs. He had never considered that the woman he was sharing his life with might want to share in the running of the estate as well. He was not sure how the realization that Rosy intended to do just that made him feel. He knew that there were things which needed to be addressed with regards to the property and its holdings. Things which he had neglected for some time.
He realized now that his lack of interest in the estate might appear to be born of laziness or ineptitude. The thought did not please him.
“Let’s be off then, shall we?” Rosy inquired, turning from the mirror and pulling on her gloves. “I understand that we have a fair amount of riding to do today.”
Rob smiled at her and nodded. “We do not have to check on everything today, you know.” He followed her to the bedroom door, eyeing her narrow waist and neat curves with pleasure as she passed through it ahead of him.
“I suppose not,” she agreed as she walked down the hall. “But I really have been daydreaming about what I will see here ever since we were at my parent’s house. I would at least like to see most of the tenant’s houses and look over any industry that you have on the property.”
Rob shook his head slightly at this and followed her down the stairs. “I am afraid that there is not much to see in the way of industry any longer,” he confessed as they entered the foyer. He gestured to Charles who opened the front door to allow them to exit the house.
“Not much industry?” Rosy answered him with consternation. She walked up to her mare and allowed Nyx to breathe into her gloved hands for a moment, then patted the mare affectionately on her neck. “How do your tenants care for themselves if there is no way for them to make money? Surely they must be trading something they are producing here on the estate in town so that they might pay their rent to you.”
Rob felt a flush rise into his cheeks. “Truth be told I have not been asking them to pay any rent for the past four years.” Rosy leveled a slightly shocked look at him. He attempted to ignore it as he swung somewhat sloppily onto his horse.
“They don’t pay rent?” she stated in some disbelief.
Rob resisted the urge to be irritated with her. “Indeed,” he said. “They are maintaining their own needs with their gardens and their animals but they have not been making anything that the estate could really profit from for some time.”
