Angling her head to one side, Diana was about to scold him again but instead said, “Bring her to dinner tonight. Show her the apartments. I’ll be sure to have them looking their absolute best.” She gave a one-shouldered shrug. “Have her stay as long as she’d like,” she added as she waggled her brows.
When his expression of shock warned he was about to reply with another ‘mother,’ she quickly held up a finger. “It’s time for breakfast. And do be sure to speak with your father about the tenant cottages. The issue of their maintenance has come up again with the foreman,” she added with a grimace.
“All right,” he replied. “But I have to stop at my bedchamber on the way. I’ll see you down there.”
Meanwhile, at the other end of the house
Blurry-eyed from a restless night featuring dreams about Danielle Fitzwilliam and nightmares about Greek gods, Andrew emerged from his bedchamber and stopped short in the corridor. His cousin, Daphne, already dressed in a pink gown with a white pinafore and white stockings, stood in front of the adjacent bedchamber’s door staring at him. The girl’s hair was done up in a riot of curls, and from the way she stood in her black half-boots staring at him, she looked as if she owned the place.
“For a moment, I was going to ask you if you’d lost your sheep,” Andrew murmured. “You look like Little Bo Peep.”
Daphne’s fists went to her hips as she gave a huff, apparently offended by the comparison. “And you look as if you’re three sheets to the wind.”
Andrew blinked and wondered how a nine-year-old would know of such a thing. He glanced down at his wrinkled nightshirt, but then he noticed her gaze had landed somewhere higher. He gingerly felt his head and groaned at how his hair shot off in all directions. “Only my hair does,” he replied. “I didn’t even have anything to drink last night.”
Well, except for the port after dinner, but she didn’t need to know about that.
He wished he’d had a glass or two of brandy. There were times he was sure Lord Norwick was in his bedchamber, giving him ludicrous instructions on how to kidnap Lady Danielle to secure her hand in marriage.
He much preferred the nightmares. At least in those there was a chance some minor god would take pity on him and save him from his fate.
“Well, I’ve no idea who you were talking to in your sleep, but you really should learn to keep it down,” Daphne complained. “You woke me up at least twice last night.”
Raising a finger as if he was about to counter her accusation, Andrew instead furrowed a brow. “I was talking in my sleep?”
Daphne’s expression showed a hint of fear. “Well, if it wasn’t you, then who else would it have been?” she countered.
Deciding to put the blame squarely where it belonged, Andrew said, “Oh, that was the ghost of Lord Norwick. He’s been haunting me of late.” Struggling to keep a straight face when Daphne’s eyes rounded in horror, he headed for the bathing chamber he and his brother shared. “See you at breakfast.”
He took great delight in how Daphne shrieked and rushed past him, a blur of pink and white. She disappeared down the stairs.
“You’re incorrigible,” Anthony said from where he stood outside his bedchamber door, already dressed in Nankeen breeches and a navy top coat of superfine. His waistcoat, scarlet and embroidered with flowers, was more sedate than most he wore. His eyes widened upon seeing Andrew’s state of dishabille. “Good God, you really do look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”
Andrew gave his brother a quelling glance. “Just you wait until it’syourturn,” he warned before disappearing into the bathing chamber.
Furrowing his brows, Anthony wondered at his twin’s parting comment before he made his way down the steps and into the breakfast parlor.
Breakfast had been over for nearly a half-hour when Andrew approached his father’s study. He would have done so immediately after the morning meal, but Anthony had joined the earl in a discussion about tenant cottages that started in the breakfast parlor and continued into the study.
Andrew had never been so glad he wasn’t the heir. If the issue of tenant cottage maintenance fell under his responsibility, he would have ordered completely new ones be built. The current ones were obviously a source of ceaseless problems.
Once Anthony had disappeared up the stairs, presumably to return to his bedchamber, Andrew ducked into the study and closed the door.
“I must mark this date on my calendar,” Adam said with a quirked brow. “Both of my sons coming into the study of their own accord—”
“I wish to make a request, Father,” Andrew interrupted, his anxiousness apparent.
Adam angled his head to one side. “As I told your brother, if you’re requesting a stay regarding the marriage edict—”
“I am not.”
“Or you’re taking exception to your cousin Daphne’s having joined us for a few months—”
“I do not, although I believe she takes exception to her bedchamber being next to mine. Apparently I talk in my sleep.”
Adam straightened in his chair. “She said there was a ghost in your bedchamber,” he commented. “Took your mother a few minutes to settle her down before she would eat her breakfast this morning. Diana is going to see to it she’s moved into a different bedchamber.”
Barely suppressing a grin of amusement, Andrew merely shrugged. “Probably for the best.”
