She reined in the horse and turned her head to look at him. “I would not like being whipped, but if you enjoyed it, I think I could whip you and derive some pleasure from it, so it would be mutual.”
How had she pulled him into this astonishing conversation?
“Did you enjoy it?” she asked.
Now she assumed—He felt his face heating. Damnation, he never blushed.Never.She peered at him.
“It is not a pleasure I seek out,” he said noncommittally.
“I see,” she said. “You probably also had a third person with you on occasion. I will say now that while I am willing to try a bit of wildness with you, I will not countenance that.”
“That goes without saying.”
“It seems to me that on this topic nothing goes without saying because you were enthralled with having no rules. It is not the wildness of it that repels me, if that is what you think. After due consideration, I concluded it is adultery. A most peculiar form of adultery, but adultery just the same.”
She had thought about this. Perhaps for the last two days she had been working her imagination for hours, trying to figure out whatno rulesmeant. Which left him to wonder where in those circles fell the things that didnotrepel her after due consideration, and just what those activities had been.
“Have you decided when you will be ready to return to London?” he asked, as much to learn her answer as to change the subject.
“Two days hence, I think. I have something I have to do first. I had an idea last night, and now I need to see it through.”
“Another visit to a farm?”
“I need not even leave the house, as it happens. I am going to turn this carriage around. I am very comfortable with the reins now.”
“Just do it slowly. You are hardly an expert. I saidslowly!” He gripped his seat while she continued her tight, fast swing. Then, with a wide-open pasture before her, she snapped the reins and they flew.
* * *
Davina tapped on the door. Mr. Roberts opened it with an exasperated expression. He saw her and immediately looked friendlier. “Your Grace. I thought it was the housekeeper. She has been peppering me with questions all day.”
He stood aside and invited her into his office. Davina saw that the small space gave off to a bedchamber before Mr. Roberts closed that door.
He invited her to sit. She perched herself while she took in the wooden desk, the simple carpet, the nice prospect from the long windows and the shelves of books and ledgers.
“I have come for your expertise.” She gestured to the ledgers. “Some of those appear very old. I expect none of them are ever thrown away.”
“This office has been used for generations for the same purpose, and some of those have been there since before I was born, I expect.”
“So the fire did not take them. How fortunate. Tell me, do those contain the names of servants and retainers?”
“I doubt it. Those fees are recorded as one sum. Each servant is not listed.” He opened the ledger on his desk, flipped back some pages, then turned the book toward her. “See, like this.”
That dimmed her brilliant idea. “I had hoped you had records of servants from decades past.”
He didn’t ask why, but she could see his curiosity. “Other than occasional notes about some problem—such as a footman caught stealing silver or a cook starting a fire—we don’t.” He thrummed his fingers on his desk. “We do have names regarding pensions. The ones who serve here a long time are given one when they leave service. An annual sum, to keep them in their older years.”
“That might be good enough. I would like the names of your oldest pensioners, and where they live.”
“Only the living ones?”
“I think so, to start.” It would be better to learn anything directly, but if she failed to discover something, perhaps she would see if any of those old servants had told stories to their families.
It did not take long for Mr. Roberts to make the short list. “Here it is. The oldest one is at the top of the list. He’s been getting a pension as long as I have been working here, it seems to me.”
She folded the list. “Thank you. I should tell you that I will be taking the phaeton out tomorrow, very early.”
“I will tell Rufus to be prepared.”
