“Amelia?” Georgie asked.
She shook her head. “I want to go home.”
Georgie wiped the little girl’s face and looked up to motion to Barney. Waiting until Georgie was certain it was safe to close the door, he obliged and climbed back up.
“We’re on our way right now, sweets,” Georgie said. “Does this happen often?”
“Only when she eats too much and we’re in a carriage,” Sophie told her with another of those nods.
Georgie gathered Amelia into her lap as the carriage lurched to a start and rested the little one’s head against her shoulder. “Well, the good news is that we’re not far from home. We shall be there in a minute.”
“Notthathome,” Amelia whined. “Ourhome. I want to goh-o-o-o-o-o-m-e!”
Georgie looked up at Sophie, who shook her head. “It isn’t our home anymore, Amelia. Papa sold it to that man, remember? This is the only one we have now. Itoldyou.”
Georgie hugged her new daughter just a bit more tightly. “Well,” she corrected, “not the only one. But I don’t believe this would be a good time to go searching out the others.”
The others. Including the one Grey had given to her. That quickly Georgie was swamped with longing, loss, regret that she had not trusted Grey more. She owed him so much, suddenly. She wished she had properly thanked him, because he had given her unheard-of independence. He had given her autonomy, if she wanted. Sanctuary. She just had to convince the solicitor she could manage it.
Painswick Park. She might have to change the name. Maybe Thoughtful Husband House. Marvelous Marquess Manor.
Oddly enough, that was what made her smile.
Considering the fact that even though Amelia had recovered from her vomiting, she developed a heretofore unheard whine, the pitch and volume of which would have sent a saint’s teeth to grinding, Georgie was afraid it was going to be a very long night. After all, she was no saint herself. And even as familiar as she was with her own siblings’ unerring knack for that unbearable pitch, it still set her teeth vibrating.
The good news was that Barney helped carry the little girl inside, and Minta met them at the girls’ bedroom.
“Ah, the poor wee thing,” she said. “Let me have her, milady. I know how this goes. Got sisters of my own, don’t I?”
The bad news was that when Georgie helped Minta get Amelia out of her dress, she realized the little girl was hot. Which meant it was not just a surfeit of sweets this time. So, she got to visit with her family physician Dr. Banks, a gruff old graying veteran of wars and diplomatic families, who promptly answered her call to reassure her that this child’s fever was nodifferent than the others she had survived for years with her own family. Which also meant she spent the rest of the night dealing with a stubborn fever.
The next morning, when Minta and Sophie—and Bark—took over the whimpering Amelia’s care, Georgie skipped much-needed sleep to first gather the entire staff in the large foyer. She didn’t know many of them yet, but she needed to deliver a message.
“As you all know,” she said, “the Marquess had to leave on diplomatic business yesterday. Which means we are left behind to not only maintain his home but brighten it—” Scowling, she took a look around. “—considerably.”
For that she got smiles. She nodded. “If you have any concerns, please feel free to bring them to Mrs. Chalmers, and she will bring them to me. I am quite open to suggestion. You see, if any of you didn’t know already, I was rather in charge of my father’s home these last five years or so. So, I know how households work.”
Seeing the smiles on most of the faces, she paused. Time to send the real message “I also know by the surprising appearance of Mrs. Keyse yesterday, even before the wedding announcement was in the papers, that someone on this staff alerted her to events here. I will not demand a confession. I will say that I suspect others on staff knew about this, and that it ends here and now. I do not tolerate disloyalty, not to the Marquess, not to me, and especially not to the little girls, who deserve your kindness most of all. If I find that anyone is sharing information about this house without either myself or Mrs. Chalmers knowing—they will be summarily discharged without reference. And make no mistake. If that sharing involves anything illegal or harmful to our girls, I will not hesitate to bring down the law. Do we understand each other?”
She got a forest of head bobs and curtsies. She nodded back. “I would also appreciate an appraisal of any extra staff we might need. I am already looking for a governess and nursery maid. And a groom for the girls’ ponies, which should arrive soon.”
Accepting another round of nods, she nodded back and smiled. “My primary aim right now is to make this the most comfortable home I can, not even primarily for me or the Marquess, no matter how much I like him. It is for the girls. I would appreciate any help. Thank you. And thank you for welcoming me into what was your home first.”
Having sent that message, her next task was to sit down with Mr. Deevers, so she could get a decent overview of Grey’s holdings and responsibilities. It told her a lot about Deevers’ relationship with Hartman that he didn’t even question her getting her information from him rather than the estate agent.
The good news was that except for the horse farm in Ireland, the estates were all within a reasonable distance. The bad news was that somehow Hartman had taken control of all of them except Painswick Park. Which meant that she would also have to think about hiring men at each estate to supervise their running. Once she broke the news to Mr. Hartman, anyway.
With that information in hand, she sent grooms for the estate books and a note to Mrs. O’Toole to begin the search for not just a governess, but a nursery maid. And then Georgie took a bit of time with not only Mr. and Mrs. Chalmers, but the three footmen who staffed the house, to see which she could trust to protect all of them when out and about.
“Any of them can, milady,” Mrs. Chalmers said, posture betraying her sense of insult that Georgie couldn’t trust her or the mister’s hiring. “They’re all good lads.”
“I know they are,” Georgie answered from behind the small desk tucked into the corner of the library. “In a normal circumstance, that would be enough. But if my suspicions arecorrect, Mr. Hartman is about to find himself in need of new employment, and some things I’ve heard make me distrust his good will.”
At that, the stolid middle-aged housekeeper straightened like a Grenadier and offered quite a frown. “Well, we can’t have that, now, can we?” She seemed to think a moment and then broke out in a quick grin. “You might also find a way to get hold of one of his handkerchiefs or some such so Bark knows his scent. Can I also suggest that our new tiger, Mick Tuesday, might be helpful there? Mick has rather a history with acquiring other people’s handkerchiefs.”
Georgie looked up in surprise and ended up grinning right back. “I knew I could count on your knack for efficient planning, Mrs. Chalmers. We shall see it done.”
She wasn’t truly surprised that Hartman refused her request for the books. She had actually put a contingency plan into action for that possibility. Her uncle had an assistant at the Castle, the son of a tenant, who was quite promising but constrained by the fact that Uncle Packham would never loosen his own hold over the Packham properties. Maybe young Winslow would enjoy a chance at the Greyville holdings. Besides, it would give him and Minta a chance at the life they wanted. Even better, he was a strapping young man, even larger than the footmen. She could send him after the books, and even let him study them without worry.
