She couldn’t help but grin in response to his grumpy tone. “Perhaps a cup of coffee will help.”
“Not tea?”
“You don’t especially...”Like tea. She stopped herself quickly, aware she’d been about to reveal how well she’d been paying attention to his every like and dislike. “Coffee’s more fortifying, I think. Unless of course you’d prefer a glass of brandy.”
“Thank you, but coffee sounds splendid right now.”
Entering the parlor, Amelia greeted the dowager duchess before ringing for a maid who arrived soon after. Their orders were placed and the maid departed, closing the door behind her.
“Perhaps I should fetch Juliette,” Amelia said.
“She asked if she might take advantage of the weather and try to do some painting,” Lady Everly explained.
“I see.” Amelia folded her hands in her lap. She was not unaware of the fact that Coventry was looking at her with keen anticipation. So she blew out a breath and readied herself for the battle that probably lay ahead of her and said, “There’s something I must confess.”
Silence. It was as if all sound had attached itself to her comment. Amelia looked at Lady Everly and the dowager duchess. Both were now giving her their full attention, and since there was nothing else for it if she wanted Coventry to help her, she didn’t hesitate for another second, plunging headfirst into the subject at hand.
“I have purchased a house.”
Lady Everly blinked while the dowager duchess stared back at Amelia with obvious confusion. “A house?” she asked.
Amelia nodded. “That is, I still need to make one more payment, but once I do, it will be mine.”
“I do not understand,” Lady Everly remarked. “A house is not something one happens to buy when one goes shopping.”
“Most young ladies would settle for ribbons,” the dowager duchess murmured, upon which Coventry coughed.
Amelia darted a look in his direction and saw he was smirking. Actually, he looked as though he was trying not to, which resulted in an odd twist of his mouth and a puckering of his cheek, but there was no denying the smirk nonetheless. It was there.
“I saw it advertised in theMayfair Chronicle,so I went to visit Mr. Gorrell, the solicitor in charge of the sale,” Amelia explained. “The building was inherited by a spinster who died earlier this year. She had no one to leave it to, so she told Mr. Gorrell to do with it as he pleased, and he elected to sell it.”
“Mr. Gorrell, you say?” The dowager duchess glanced at her son. “Isn’t he the cunning sort?”
“Yes,” Coventry said without commenting further.
But that one word was enough to unsettle Amelia and make her feel stupid for not inquiring about Mr. Gorrell before entering into a business arrangement with him. Perhaps then she might have avoided getting cheated.
“Where is this house of yours located then?” Lady Everly asked.
“At the end of High Street. Right where it intersects with Bainbridge.”
“But that is in St. Giles!” Lady Everly’s face had morphed into a stricken expression of absolute shock.
“Almost,” Amelia said, “but not quite.”
Lady Everly stared at her. “I would say it is close enough.” She leaned forward in her seat. “Does your brother know about this?”
“In a manner of speaking.”
“What exactly does that mean?” Coventry asked in a dry tone that suggested she’d best come clean right away. “You told me he gave you an advance on your allowance, so I naturally assumed he was fully informed about every detail.”
“Well...” Amelia did her best not to lower her gaze or fidget while she sat there, the subject of three inquisitive gazes. “He knows I planned to purchase a house in need of a few minor repairs.”
“A few minor repairs?” Coventry asked in stunned disbelief.
“I told him it was a good investment opportunity, and since he knows how... unfulfilled I’ve felt since moving here, he agreed to support me in this endeavor.”
“Because he probably thinks you were looking to buy one of the older houses in Mayfair, do a few touch-ups and sell it for profit.”
