Chapter Four
Mr. Plumber was horrified by the condition of the bedding and furniture. “The former staff should be prosecuted for allowing this to happen.”
“Perhaps,” Aubrey said, “but that would require a public airing of the grievances that led to their actions.”
“If you don’t mind my asking, sir, what could’ve led to them doing such a thing?”
“My mother has a volatile personality. She is easily riled, and often doesn’t think before she speaks. I’m ashamed to confess that I hadn’t noticed any difficulties with the staff last summer, but then again, I was only here on the weekends and didn’t pay close attention.”
“Ah, I see.” Plumber paused. “If I may be blunt, sir.”
“By all means. Please speak freely.”
“Under the current circumstances, I fear there’s no chance we’ll be ready to entertain a duke and duchess.”
“They’re my close friends, and I can assure you, they don’t stand on pretense. They’ll be satisfied with a clean bed and three meals a day.”
“They are royalty, Mr. Nelson.”
“I’m aware of their standing, but I’m not concerned about trying to impress them. If need be, I’ll tell them what transpired and explain that we made every effort to ensure the house was ready for their arrival, but if we missed something, I’ll ask them not to look.”
Mr. Plumber seemed more horrified by that notion than he was by the fouled bedding. “They are a duke and duchess.”
“They are regular people. In fact, Derek puts his pants on one leg a time, just as you and I do.”
“Be that as it may, he’s still a duke, and as such he’ll expect certain amenities.”
Aubrey realized there would be no convincing Mr. Plumber that Derek didn’t stand on formality or expect to be fawned over simply because of his title. He’d have to meet Derek and see with his own eyes what kind of man he was. “I think we’re ready to light.”
He’d found some kerosene in the basement that he sprinkled liberally over the more flammable items. As he looked around to make sure Mr. Plumber was far enough back, he noticed Miss Brown had come outside to watch.
She stood on the stone patio, arms wrapped around her body as if protecting herself from impending doom.
Aubrey had no idea why he reached that deduction, but that was the thought he had when he saw her.
“Here we go.” He struck a match and tossed it on the pile, stepping back when it immediately caught.
As the flames billowed high into the air, he watched Miss Brown, captivated by the wistful expression on her face, which was lit by the rosy glow of the fire.
What was she thinking as she watched the fire burn through the items they’d removed from his parents’ rooms?
He could only wonder.
“I believe I’m going to call it a night,” Mr. Plumber said when the fire had burned down somewhat.
“Please do. I’ll stay to make sure the flames are fully extinguished.”
“Good night, Mr. Nelson.”
“Good night.”
Aubrey heard Mr. Plumber say good night to Miss Brown as he went by her. When Aubrey was sure they were alone, he gestured for Miss Brown to join him. To his surprise, she came over to him when he’d expected her to decline.
“It was a good idea you had to burn everything.”
“It was the only option. None of it was salvageable.”
“True.”
“You seem pensive tonight. Are you all right?”
“We used to have bonfires at home. My father would spend months adding to the pile and then invite extended family and friends over to enjoy the fire.”
“You must miss them very much.”
“I do.” All at once she seemed to realize she had shared something with him that she hadn’t intended to reveal. “It’s late. I must get to bed. The sun will rise early on another busy day.”
“Before you go, I just want to say thank you again for your hard work since you’ve been here.”
“I haven’t done nearly enough.”
“You’ve done much more than most would have, and it’s appreciated.”
She offered a small smile and a nod. “Good night then.”
“Good night, Miss Brown. I’ll see you in the morning.
” As he watched her walk away, Aubrey wished—for the first time ever—to have been born to a lower-class family, one that would support and understand his affection for a woman like Miss Brown.
He wished he had the right to ask her to stay a while and talk to him.
But because he didn’t have the right, he let her go and was left to watch the waning embers, feeling lonelier than he’d been in a very long time.
Late the next morning, Aubrey went looking for Miss Brown and was horrified to find her at the top of a very tall ladder, teetering precariously as she attempted to remove spiderwebs from the massive chandelier in the ballroom.
“Miss Brown!”
His shout startled her, and she faltered, grasping the ladder to try and stop her inevitable fall.
Aubrey didn’t think. He acted, running toward her at full speed, arriving in the middle of the vast room in time to neatly catch her and stop what would’ve been a terrible fall.
She landed in his arms with an oomph.
He took two steps backward to try and keep himself from falling but couldn’t stop the momentum that landed them in a heap of tangled limbs on the floor.
She ended up sprawled on top of him, breasts pressed against his chest, his legs tangled in her full skirt.
It took her a second to recover her wits, and then she began to thrash, catching him square in the groin with a well-placed knee.
Aubrey gasped from the pain.
“Oh dear, Mr. Nelson. Are you all right?”
Aubrey couldn’t speak or breathe or do anything other than try not to cast up his accounts all over the parquet floor.
She crawled off him and sat on the floor next to him as he writhed in agony. “Whatever were you thinking startling me that way?”
Through gritted teeth, he said, “I was thinking to save you from a bad fall.”
“Instead you caused one!”
He hoped he would still be able to father children someday.
A surge of bile burned his throat. He swallowed hard, hoping he wouldn’t be sick in front of her.
The last thing either of them needed was another mess to clean up.
“Pardon me for trying to save you from serious injury. What were you thinking climbing that ladder?”
“I was thinking to remove the cobwebs from the chandelier.”
“You shouldn’t have done that alone.”
“You shouldn’t have startled me. I was doing fine until you showed up.”
He had never met anyone quite like her—fiery and passionate and outspoken.
She was nothing like the simpering, demur women he’d grown up with in New York or those he’d met in the ballrooms of London.
Those women sought only to please him, hoping he might be interested in marrying them.
This one vexed him, and he found that he far preferred vexing to simpering.
Aubrey forced himself to sit up, to breathe through the pain and to take control of this out-of-control situation. “I apologize for startling you, but I stand by my belief that you had no business being atop that ladder without someone to catch you if you fell.”
“Mr. Nelson, if I waited around for a man to catch me, I’d never get anything accomplished.”
Magnificent. Especially when her color was up like it was now, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment and pique. “Why’re you staring at me that way?”
“Because I find you quite pleasing to look at, especially when you’re annoyed with me.”
“Then I must be pleasing to look at most of the time.”
Laughing, Aubrey fell back on his elbows, wishing they had nothing better to do but take a picnic down to the shore and enjoy the warm spring sunshine. Alas, there was no time for such frivolity on this day, but he vowed to invite her on a picnic as soon as possible.
She rose to her feet and tugged off the cotton gloves she wore while working. “I thought you’d gone to town yesterday to hire more help.”
“I did. I’ve put out the word to anyone seeking work, asking them to report to the servants’ entrance.”
“Good lord. How are we to know if we should hire the people who come to the door?”
“If they have two working arms and two working legs, they’re hired.”
“That’s hardly the standard we should apply to hiring staff for a home as grand as this.”
“It’s the only standard we have as we’re desperate.”
Maeve chewed on her thumbnail, something she seemed to do when anxious.
“It’ll all be fine. I’m sure of it.”
She gave him a withering look. “You have no way to know that.”
“I can see that the pressure is starting to get to you. Let’s take a break and have a picnic at the shore.” Why put off until later that which could be done today?
She stared at him as if he had two—or maybe three—heads. “I don’t have time for a picnic at the shore nor should I be doing such things with you.”
“I’m your employer, and I’m offering you the free time as well as the pleasure of my company if you would do me the honor of granting me the pleasure of yours.”
She wanted to. He could see that as plainly as the button nose on her face.
“I’m afraid I must insist that you take a well-deserved break so you don’t fall ill from the strain of the monumental task before it’s completed in the short time we have left.”
“That makes no sense. You admit the task is monumental and the time is short, but you think I ought to take time away from work. Are you completely daft?”
He was beginning to think so, for watching her rage made him happy to be alive at that moment in time. It made him happy for the twists of fate that had brought him to Newport early, even if he wasn’t happy about his father’s illness.
“Mr. Nelson? Whatever are you staring at?”
Her face flushed with color that almost hid the light dusting of freckles across the bridge of her nose.
Was it possible to love someone’s nose? If so, he loved hers.
“Yes, a picnic would be just the thing. I’ll get with Mrs. Allston and meet you on the back veranda in thirty minutes. Don’t be late.”