Well, Ethan couldn’t argue with that. He didn’t like being handled by the lady, but she outmaneuvered him. Pinching the bridge of his nose to stave off the impending pain of a megrim, he sighed in defeat. “Very well, but if Nathalie doesn’t wish to come, you’ll not force the issue. And when and if she wants to leave, you will let her. I’ll not have my sister coerced.”
“Of course not, it will be entirely up to Nathalie.” Both Hamptons were looking at him eagerly, waiting for his blessing of the plan.
“Do what you will—I am at your mercy. When should I expect to begin working with Miss Pembroke?”
“I believe she is looking at plans with Matthias now,” Priscilla offered.
Yes, Ethan could most definitely feel a headache forming.
“No, I think we need to make this plot larger,” said a distinctly feminine voice, conveyed as it floated on the breeze toward Ethan.
Rounding the corner of the hedge, he found a clearly befuddled Matthias looking at Miss Pembroke as she considered the garden plans, gesturing toward the right side of the space the men had been clearing.
“There should be room for a path to wind around the perimeter,” she added.
This was entirely too much. “Why are you changing my plans?” Ethan growled, striding across the remaining distance to join the pair.
“Oh, Mr. Beaumont,” Matthias exhaled, frame softening and relief palpable. The gardener raised his eyebrows in question, wide eyes begging for assistance. “Miss Pembroke was sharing some of her ideas for the garden, but I wasn’t quite sure where to begin.”
It was a diplomatic way for the head gardener to imply he had no idea if he should be heeding the young woman’s instructions.
“Yes, I’ll figure out the new plan and get back to you as soon as possible,” Ethan said, hoping he sounded apologetic. “I appreciate all the hard work you and your men have put into this. Miss Pembroke, if I might have a word?”
Matthias gave a small bow of his head before turning away, most likely relieved Ethan would be the one to deal with thedemanding interloper. Meanwhile, Miss Pembroke was giving him a frosty glare as she rolled up the plans and turned more fully towards him. She opened her mouth to share what undoubtedly would be a tart remark, but Ethan preempted her.
“I understand that your cousin has placed you in charge of plans for the gardens, but that doesn’t mean you can order my men about or make changes on a whim. All plans must run through me first so the work may be divided in a sensible manner. Are we clear?”
Wisely, she gave a quick nod and pinched her lips together. Yet not even the space of ten seconds had passed before she opened her mouth once again.
“I feel compelled to say, though, that you must treat me with respect in front of the men. How else will they follow my lead?”
“They won’t,” Ethan ground out. “They’ll followmylead, which is why you will run everything by me.”
“That’s hardly efficient, especially since Priscilla has placed me in charge. I’m only thinking of your time.”
“She placed you in charge of theplan,not my men,” Ethan said, ignoring the mention of his time as it was a blatant attempt to butter him up. “And do you even have a plan? You can’t simply look at the existing drawings and decide it doesn’t suit. I won’t have my men wasting time clearing more land when you don’t even yet know what you intend to do with the space.” He gestured to the right where she had indicated wishing for a pathway. It wasn’t a bad suggestion, but he was hardly going to let the harridan know that.
“I do have ideas of my own, Mr. Beaumont,” she said, her cheeks colored from the admonishment.
“I’m sure you do, but ideas don’t exist until they are written down. Come back to me with a fully revised plan andthenwe can discuss how to proceed. In the meantime, I suggest you leave the men to their already prescribed work.”
“Well, I best get to work on that plan then,” she said pertly before turning back toward the house.
Watching her retreat, Ethan breathed in a sigh of relief. But he couldn’t help thinking how becoming she looked with her cheeks flushed from heightened emotions.
Ethan found himself to be much calmer that evening as he sat at his desk adding up numbers for the January reports he owed West.
He hadn’t meant to lose his temper with Miss Pembroke earlier, but he was concerned that her new position involved with the garden was going to be a constant challenge to his sense of control. He craved things to be in order, and she posed a threat that could upend everything he had only recently put into place on the estate.
Leaning back in his chair, Ethan rested his head on the back edge and rubbed his eyes. He’d been working by candlelight for hours, and it was well past time to call it a night and rest for tomorrow. Standing and stretching, he picked up a plate with remnants of the dinner that the butler had kindly delivered earlier, as he’d opted out of dinner for solitude to both finish his work and avoid Miss Pembroke. Now he would return the kindness by delivering the dishes and cutlery back to the kitchen. No need to make the maids deal with his mess in the morning.
After leaving the dishes with the cook’s assistant, Ethan made his way upstairs, intending to head to bed and paused upon seeing a light on in the library. He peeked inside expecting to find West. What he saw instead astounded him entirely.
Miss Pembroke was sitting at a table in the corner surrounded by open texts. The light from the lamp beside her cast a glow on her cheek and exaggerated the graceful curve of her neck by the shadow her chin left in the angle of the beam. Threads of gold and copper glinted within her upswept red hair, making it look like her entire head dripped with the finest jewelry.
But what captivated Ethan the most was her posture of sheer concentration. Head bent over one of the books, she was studiously making notes on the paper before her. Silently drawing closer, he saw there were sketches scattered about with demarcations often used to denote different types of plants. He realized she was devising the plans that he had accused her of not having, and she seemed to have been at the task for quite some time.
Not wishing to startle her, he deepened his tread to make his footsteps audible behind her. Miss Pembroke lifted her head, turning to see who was disturbing her.
