“He is quite deaf, as you know,” she said calmly.
“He is hard of hearing,” Sin corrected. “What of it?”
“He also appears to be near-sighted,” she added.
Sin sighed. Of course she would have taken note, a mere few days into their marriage. She was a dreadfully observant female. And a beautiful, maddening, vexing one.
“His eyesight has been growing worse of late,” he allowed.
“Have you kept him on because you could not pay another butler?” she queried, her tone crisp.
He was not accustomed to discussing household matters with his wife—this was rather a novel situation. Celeste had not bothered to run the household at all. She had deferred all the details to the housekeeper. That Callie was already taking an interest in their home and servants was…pleasing. It was a sign that she meant to take their union seriously.
A strange sensation slid down his spine.
How was it possible that the woman he had coerced into marriage—the woman he had not wanted to wed at all—was already a better wife than Celeste? He tried to think upon the first days of his marriage to her, and all he could remember was a vast sea of disappointment and shopping.
Celeste had adored shopping.
And gambling.
And other men’s cocks.
“Sin?” Callie prodded, bringing him back from the angry maw of the past. “You did not answer my question about Langdon.”
Sin sighed. The devil of a headache was descending upon him. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I will speak with him. If you deem it necessary to hire a replacement, we shall. But he has been an excellent and trusted retainer, all these years. I would like to see him situated in the country, with a pleasant cottage. Eloise would enjoy that as well, I think.”
“Mrs. Langdon?” Callie asked, frowning. “I had not realized he was married.”
“He is not. Eloise is his Skye terrier,” Sin explained. “If you have not yet met her, you shall. She usually accompanies him, keeping near so he does not trip over her. It is the oddest thing, but I vow that little dog knows Langdon has difficulty with his sight.”
Realizing his wife was watching him with a new, curious expression on her lovely countenance, Sin decided to stop speaking.
“You allow your butler to keep a pet, and you know the dog’s name,” Callie said, eying him as if she had never seen him before.
“Of course.” Sin frowned at her. “I can hardly part Langdon from his beloved companion. She keeps him out of trouble.”
“Hmm,” his wife said, before lowering her head to peruse her list once more.
He did not particularly care for her noncommittal hum of a response. “What do you mean by that?”
“You are unexpected,” she said simply. “I am beginning to think you are not at all the man I thought you were.”
Odd. He was beginning to suspect the same about her. What a pair they were.
Decker’s words of warning returned to him, reminding him he dared not indulge in such fantasies. He must think with his mind and not his prick. But the trouble was, they seemed to be one and the same.
“While I am grateful you no longer think me a raving lunatic, do not underestimate me, my dear. You will find I am a more-than-worthy opponent when tried,” he cautioned.
After all, it would not do for her to think him vulnerable or weak. Or, worse, for her to somehow develop some maudlin notion of him.
“I have already found that,” she said softly. Sadly.
He was the cause of that sadness, and he knew a sharp stab of pain at the reminder.
Preposterous, that. Why should he care? Why should her upset bother him at all? She had done her damnedest to make a mockery of him before all society and make certain he had no hopes of saving himself from ruin.
He cleared his throat. They were venturing into dangerous territory. “Will that be all, wife? As I said, I do have other matters requiring my attention.”
