“See? No one will get in your way. I’m bound to be with Vandal and Fenice all day, too,” I said, giving him a little nudge with my elbow. I was momentarily startled at my familiarity, but after a moment in which I was braced for a negative reaction from him in response, I relaxed. He didn’t seem to notice the nudge.
“That’s not the point,” Alden repeated stubbornly.
I smiled to myself, feeling an odd sort of irritated kinship with the man. I knew all about stubbornly clinging to one’s beliefs despite an easier path. “I know, but look at it this way—Lady Sybilla has to know oodles about the house, so she can help you.”
“I will not help anyone who wishes to turn me out from my rightful place,” Lady Sybilla said with utmost dignity.
“You want to restore it to its original state, right?” I asked quickly, just as Alden was about to answer Lady Sybilla’s latest shot. “Well, here’s someone who knew what the house looked like some sixty years ago. You can pick her brain for what the house was like then.”
“That’s hardly restoring it to its original state,” Alden said, his gaze suddenly on me.
He had lovely eyes. They were a pale blue with a thickblack ring around the outer edge of the iris, surrounded by eyelashes that on a woman I would have sworn were fake. “No,” I said, telling myself to stop being so shallow as to be swayed by a pair of pretty eyes. “But it’s better than nothing. She might know how it used to look. You won’t know until you ask her, and just think of the time you’ll save if she’s right on hand, rather than you having constantly to run to the gatekeeper’s lodge.”
He was silent for a moment, his eyes not leaving my face. “Why, if you do not mind me inquiring, have you taken it upon yourself to become a part of this situation?”
“That was quite rude, you know. I thought you Brits were supposed to have impeccable manners.” I straightened my shoulders, about to tell him it was none of his business what I did or said, but my inner self admitted that he had a point—I was butting in. Instead, I gave him a half-apologetic, half-wry smile. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. It’s because I’m a middle child.”
Both of his eyebrows rose. “As am I. What does that have to do with the current situation?”
“Middle kids are almost always peacemakers. In my case, that’s my character to a tee. Well, that and the fact that I love to learn things, but I’m told curiosity is another middle-child trait, so that’s not too surprising. Are you a curious person, too?”
“Yes, but that’s not—”
“Then it’s all settled,” I said brightly, and gave him another elbow nudge. This one he noticed. “You can do your work, and we’ll stay out of your way, and Lady Sybilla will help you put the house to rights, and in return, you won’t boot her out to the gatekeeper’s lodgeuntil you absolutely have to. I like it when things work out. It makes my shui happy.”
“People don’t have shui,” he said with a little frown.
“Really? How do you know?”
“Because like you, I enjoy learning things, and have studied the five arts of Chinese metaphysics; thus, I understand exactly what qi is supposed to be—what you have confused with shui—and it has nothing to do with your personal sense of satisfaction.”
“Huh,” I said, making a mental note to look up the five arts of Chinese metaphysics. “Interesting. I’ll have to Google that later.” I smiled at him. “My Google-fu is very strong, you know.”
He came perilously close to an eye roll, but stopped himself in time. “Regardless, I don’t have need of Lady Sybilla’s presence to successfully complete a restoration of the house—”
“No, but it’s nice to have her on hand, isn’t it? I bet her husband had a library with all sorts of papers and documents on the house that would be useful.” I turned to Lady Sybilla. “You have old house documents, don’t you?”
“Quite a number, yes,” she allowed, and for a second, I saw a glint of amusement in her faded eyes. “I own that should I be ripped from the very bosom of my home—if you will pardon the salty language—then I should feel obligated to take with me those things that are most precious, including all of my husband’s papers, and his entire library.”
“Most of the library was sold off years ago,” Alden said, sliding her a look out of the corners of his eyes. “Or so says your legal representative.”
“Sir James’s books, yes, but not his personal effects.”Lady Sybilla brushed a crumb from the table. “Those are most precious to me.”
“So it’s all settled,” I said happily, feeling I’d done my good deed for the day in making peace in an unpleasant situation despite the sometimes-annoying Alden. “I’m sure you’ll find lots of good historical info in Lady Sybilla’s papers. I’m certainly envious of you having the chance to go through them. There’s nothing I love more than primary historical documents, especially those of the Georgian and Victorian periods.”
“Thenyoucan look through them,” Alden said somewhat snappishly. “I won’t have time. I will be renovating a house despite it being inhabited by an army of people who refuse to leave the premises.”
“Oooh, would you mind if I had a peek?” I asked Lady Sybilla. “I almost have a degree in British history, so I know what I’m doing. Mostly. I do have an abiding love of history, though.”
“You may catalog his papers if you like,” Lady Sybilla said graciously, and, with no little amount of creaking, got to her feet. She clutched an ebony-and-silver-handled cane in one hand, looking down her nose at Alden (not an easy feat when he was at least ten inches taller than she was), and added, “Very well, young man. I will allow you to conduct work on the house, but I must insist that you leave my rooms unmolested. Adams and I have them exactly to my taste.”
Alden started to protest, but checked himself, his shoulders slumping as he said morosely, “You’re not going to leave the house until you’re ready, are you?”
“Most certainly not.”
He sighed. “I could have you thrown out, you know. Legally, I have that right.”
“But you shan’t.” Lady Sybilla creaked past him without even pausing. “Because you are a gentleman, or so says my solicitor. Do not disappoint me, young man.”
