Chapter 10 #2
Ellie’s good humor vanished as she got closer to the rooms where she might find her quarry.
It was the prospect of dealing with insufferable and cantankerous men with superior attitudes that brought her down, and until some sort of understanding was reached, she did not see that changing all that much.
“Ah, Elena, I was hoping to see you,” West called out, drawing her from her thoughts. He was striding out of the study with far too much energy for one who had been so overwrought with disappointment and the strain of a floundering estate on his hands.
“Were you?” Ellie replied without inflection.
He grinned at her, and the sight was so arresting, she stuttered to a halt in her progression.
The man was gloriously handsome when he smiled like that.
She had eyes, so she knew full well that he was a pleasant-looking sort from the first moment they had met, and his rougher appearance only added to the feast for female eyes, but this?
This was an elevation she was entirely unprepared for.
Polite smiles were one thing, but this was something of real delight or amusement, and his blue eyes danced with whatever emotion was behind his smile.
Good heavens, she could barely breathe, and her ire needed air to flourish.
“It is good to see you in a dress, Elena,” he murmured as his eyes darted up and down along her figure. “Far more acceptable than your ensemble yesterday.”
“Are we repeating that argument?” Ellie managed to ask without choking.
West chuckled, a warm and inviting sound she did not need to hear, and shook his head. “No, we are not. You made your point quite clearly.”
Ellie paused, letting that settle before speaking again. “Why did you open up the rooms? We cannot clean them all in a timely manner, and the damage—”
“I have arranged for you to spend some time assembling flowers,” West told her, interrupting her without hesitation.
Startled, Ellie jerked where she stood and gave him a bewildered look. “Why would I do that?”
“Because the house has no flower arrangements.”
She stared at him, waiting for further explanation. When none came, she pressed, “And?”
“And it would look better with them.” He was still smiling as though any of this made sense.
“So get some,” Ellie suggested.
He laughed at the idea. “It is a lady’s pastime.”
“So is running the household, yet here you are telling me what I am to do with my time.” She shrugged and folded her arms tightly.
“I think the bigger concern with this house is the lack of upkeep and furniture on which to place flowers, rather than if flowers are in the rooms. What good are flowers with cracking plaster ceilings, peeling paper on the walls, and rotting floorboards beneath our feet? Apparently you have funds, my lord, so it might behoove you to use those funds in reasonable ways. If you need help figuring that out, do let me know. I have been stretching limited finances across this estate for several years, and we have managed quite well without flowers. But if you are determined to have some, feel free to pick some yourself. We have no hothouse, but the gardens we do have sometimes get blooms in the hedges. Have at.”
West’s smile became tight, much to her delight. “I am not going to pick flowers, Elena.”
Ellie returned his smile. “Neither am I.”
He pursed his lips, his thick brows dipping over his eyes. “I want you to consider moving into the dower house soon. It would be much more proper for you, as your betrothal with my brother is over, and staying in the main house with me will do your reputation harm.”
“The dower house,” Ellie repeated carefully, fighting an impulse to laugh.
“Yes,” he confirmed with a nod. “It will allow you to remain close and involved during this transition period while maintaining propriety.”
“The dower house,” she said again, giving him no indication that she’d heard him, “that was abandoned the moment your mother left it and never had a single soul set foot in it after? The dower house whose roof collapsed five years ago to the concern of no one at all? The dower house that was razed to the ground because another field was needed to try and salvage the land after the miners had torn up the more promising fields? The dower house that has not existed for two years? That dower house?”
West simply stared at her, eyes wide, jaw tight. Obviously this was news to him, and it was such a joy to be the bearer of such tidings.
“It is gone?” he growled through clenched teeth.
Ellie nodded easily. “Very much so, my lord. The land is being prepared as grazing for sheep. The flock should be arriving in a month or so, and next year, we anticipate cattle, if all goes well. A grazing field will keep everything nice and tidy, don’t you think?
Much better than yet another building on the estate to try and upkeep without the funds to do the task well.
I thank you for the offer, but it would seem here is where I shall remain, since the gamekeeper’s cottage is now apparently spoken for. More’s the pity.”
With another delicate shrug, Ellie walked past him, letting herself grin widely as she opted to move to the conservatory, which was really just a glassed-in room with passable seating at this point, but she’d enjoy the quiet anyway.
And perhaps echoes of the gentlemen’s fury over displaced plans.
Even better.