Chapter Two #2
“Whatever you’re going to say, please don’t. You know as well as I do the way things work in the world in which we live. I’m here to do a job. That is all I’m here to do.”
Keep talking to me. It didn’t matter what she said, even words he didn’t want to hear, as long as she kept speaking.
“Mr. Nelson! Are you listening to me?”
“Yes, Miss Brown. I’m most definitely listening to you.”
“If you respect me, as you said you do, you’ll stop this at once and see to the hiring of additional staff, so we might make the house ready for Mrs. Nelson and her guests.” She gasped as she seemed to realize something. “They’re your guests.”
“Yes, they are, and despite their lofty social standing, they’re kind, generous, wonderful people. You’ll like them very much.”
“Whether or not I like them is of no consequence. My duty is to prepare for their arrival, to make the house ready to receive them.” She gestured to the bird refuse decorating the room. “And as you can plainly see, we’re a very long way from ready.”
“Yes, we are, but I’ll help you and Mr. Plumber and whatever staff we are able to hire. We’ll work together until the house is standing tall and fully restored to its former glory.”
Her expression went flat with shock. “We will work together?”
“Yes.”
“That’s not done. You own the house.”
“Technically, my father does.”
“Which means you do as well.”
“Despite what you might believe, I’m not a pampered prince who’s incapable of the kind of work that’ll be required to clean up this mess and make the house ready for occupancy. I assure you I’m more than capable of pitching in and doing my share.”
She shook her head. “It wouldn’t be right for you to do that.”
“Who says?”
“Everyone who is anyone. It’s simply not done.”
“Who would know if I help? The two of us, Mr. Plumber and Mrs. Allston. Somehow, I think between the four of us we can manage to contain the scandal.”
“It’s bad enough that you lied to me, but don’t make it worse by mocking me.”
She was magnificent. There was, simply, no other word that would do her justice.
“Why are you smiling like a loon?”
“Am I?”
“You know you are. There’s nothing funny about this. You lied to me, allowed me to disparage your mother, who’s also my employer, in front of you—”
“Nothing you said about my mother is untrue. Her reputation as an exacting, difficult woman is well known here and in New York. That her former staff would stoop to leaving the doors and windows open for the winter says a lot about her treatment of them. Perhaps we should leave her bedroom untouched, so she can see what you walked in on because of her bad behavior.”
Maeve recoiled in shock. “I will not leave her bedroom untouched, and if I have my way, she will never know what I walked in on. I’ll work tirelessly to make sure there’s not a single particle of dust left in this house by the time she arrives.”
Tipping his head to the side, he studied her intently. “Why?”
“Why what?” She squirmed ever so slightly, as if his attention overwhelmed her.
He hoped it did. He wanted nothing more than to overwhelm her in the best possible way, even as he realized that thought was highly inappropriate.
He prided himself on being a gentleman in all his dealings with women and would continue that tradition with her no matter how inappropriate his thoughts might be.
“Why do you care so much about making things right for a woman who obviously mistreated her staff?”
“She hasn’t mistreated me, and I was hired to do a job—a job that I fully intend to do. Now, if you wouldn’t mind letting me by, I’d like to get back to work.”
“I do mind.”
“Pardon me?”
“I’ll step aside when you agree to let me help.
I’m strong and able-bodied and willing to work.
You need me, Maeve.” He took a risk calling her by her given name, but he couldn’t stop himself from seeking something more with her, something deeper.
All the reasons it was wrong for him to feel this way couldn’t drown out the need to know her, to understand her.
Her cheeks flushed with the rosy glow that made her even more appealing to him. “You take liberties you have no right to, Mr. Nelson.”
“My name is Aubrey, and I wish I could say I was sorry, but I’m not. Let me help you get the house ready. You need my help. Why not accept it?”
She eyed him suspiciously. “What’s in it for you if I allow you to assist?”
“Nothing other than the satisfaction of helping someone who needs it.”
“That’s it?”
“What else would there be?” The slow lift of her left brow would go down in Aubrey’s personal history as one of the most erotic things he’d ever seen. “Why, Miss Brown, I’m shocked.”
“I highly doubt that. But since I’m rather desperate for help, I shall accept your kind offer with the caveat that it shall be only help preparing the house. Nothing more.”
Her final two words touched him profoundly, because he sensed pain, betrayal and something infinitely sad in them. He desperately wanted to know more about her, and he vowed to use the time they would spend working together to find out who or what had hurt her so deeply. “Where shall we begin?”
“Since you can’t very well sleep in the butler’s quarters, we shall begin by preparing a bedroom for you to use.”
Aubrey bit his tongue so he wouldn't be tempted to comment on the fact that he’d have her to himself in his bedroom. The thought amused him, especially when he considered her potential reaction to him saying such a thing.
She swept past him, head held high, leading the way. “Which room is yours?”
“Third door on the right.”
With a growing feeling of trepidation, he followed her out of the ballroom, down the hallway to the closed door. What level of disaster awaited them inside the room?
“I haven’t been in this room yet, so I don’t know what to expect.” Maeve rested her hand on the door and glanced at him, her expression indicating that she shared his concern about what they might find.
“Let’s get it over with.”
She opened the door and stepped inside.
Aubrey went in after her to find the room exactly as he’d left it.
“This is one of the only rooms on the back side of the house that wasn’t damaged.” She glanced at him. “That must mean the former staff held you in high regard.”
“I should hope so. I was never anything other than kind to them.”
Maeve went to open the windows, pulling the curtains back to let in the cool spring air.
Other than a light layer of dust, the room was in good condition.
Aubrey rolled up his shirt sleeves and tossed his coat on one of the fussy Louis XIV chairs that had come with the house.
His mother adored those chairs. He and his siblings often joked that she seemed to love her furniture more than her children, which she hadn’t denied. “What can I do?”
Maeve bit her lip as if trying to decide.
“I’m quite capable of anything you need done. It may surprise you to learn that I wasn’t raised as a pampered, privileged son of fabulously wealthy parents. The big money came later.”
“It does surprise me.”
Aubrey realized she was teasing and laughed, delighted to discover that she could be quite witty.
“Touché. My father made his fortune with the advent of the railroad. Prior to that, his company manufactured church bells. There’s far more demand for railroad components than there was for church bells. ”
“I imagine there is.” She pulled on work gloves and handed him a feather duster that she produced from a closet in the adjoining bathroom.
He accepted it from her with a feeling of victory that she had decided to allow him to assist her.
“Isn’t your mother the daughter of a British earl?”
“She is indeed, but my grandfather had squandered most of the estate’s resources by the time she was of marriageable age. Because she had no dowry to speak of, she had to settle for an uncouth American who had more in the way of potential than he did resources.”
“Theirs is not a love match, then?”
“Oh God, no.” Aubrey snorted with laughter.
“Not at all. They can barely stand to be in the same room with each other, but it’s been a very effective partnership.
Luckily, when Father stumbled into a disgusting fortune, Mother knew how to navigate the social aspects of their newfound wealth.
Thus the house in Newport where people of quality and disgusting riches gather for the summer.
Apparently, she has much to learn about how to properly manage a staff. ”
“Wait until you see the carnage in her room.”
Aubrey grimaced. “I can hardly wait.”