He slowly smiled.
She blinked. “What?”
“You said children.”
Cordelia felt her color rising. “So I did.”
“Ourchildren,” he said, grinning again like the Cheshire cat.
She smiled reluctantly and allowed Thomas to lead her into the library, which boasted only empty shelves. He used the room as an office.
“Our library was once one of the greatest in the country,” Thomas said, gesturing to the barren bookshelves. “It held over 18,000 volumes, but it was sold like everything else of value in the house. I mean to replace them. A home is not complete without a library.”
Cordelia smiled. “Books are the very best companions.”
“People can be too,” Thomas said, and held out his hand to her.
This time Cordelia didn’t hesitate before shaking it. This time she was determined to hold up her end of the agreement. She would help make both their marriage and their home profitable.
24
Thomas sat in the empty library long after Cordelia left it, his heart still pounding. She’d been gone for hours and he’d been so worried that something had happened to her. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. The foreman had sworn up and down that he had checked the entire roof before leaving, and no tiles had been left near the edge. Even if they had, he was sure the man would not have admitted it. But why would anyone place the tiles there? All the other tiles were still neatly stacked in their crates.
If the roof tiles had not fallen on their own, then someone must have pushed them. There were no strangers in the house, which meant that whoever had tried to scare or injure his wife lived there. This thought brought him absolutely no comfort.
He leisurely walked upstairs and past Cordelia’s door to his own room. Thayne was waiting, with Thomas’s dinner clothes in impeccable condition.
“How was your day, my lord?”
“Fine, Thayne. Thank you for asking.”
Thomas stood while Thayne assisted him out of his day dress and into his evening clothes. Thayne knelt at his feet and shined his leather dovetail shoes.
“You seem a little distracted, my lord,” Thayne said.
“I was thinking about the accident the day before yesterday,” Thomas said, raking his fingers through his hair. “Is there anyone in the staff who is unhappy with—with my wife?”
Thayne cleared his throat.
“You can speak frankly with me,” Thomas said. “We’ve known each other since we were boys; I promise I don’t mean to make any trouble for you.”
“Thom—my lord,” Thayne said, and instead of looking Thomas in the eye, continued to polish his shoes. “I don’t wish to get anyone into trouble.”
“Of course not, but I trust you, and the staff is often franker with each other than they are with their employers.”
Thayne sighed. “I’ve heard that Lady Farnham sends back her breakfast several times a day and that it infuriates Cook.”
“Why does she send back the breakfast?”
“From what Miss Vaughn says, there’s not enough food on Lady Farnham’s breakfast tray to feed a small bird, and what’s there isn’t edible.”
Thomas clenched his fists. “You think Cook is purposely provoking my wife?”
“Can’t say, my lord. That’s just what Miss Vaughn has been whispering to the maids. The lower staff is very fond of your wife, but the upper staff feels that she doesn’t know her place.”
Thomas exhaled and unclenched his fists. “What do you mean she doesn’t know her place?”
Thayne turned his back to Thomas and put away the day clothes. “Lady Farnham asked Hibbert to light a fire for her today. He informed her that he’d call a footman to do it, and she said that she could do it herself and she did.”
