He started over to the side table. It was bulky but light enough to lift, even with the vase and planter set on top. The plant was dead. Only three purple petals remained of the orchid as it tickled his chin. Turning to take it further into the house, Verity momentarily blocked his way as she went to look up at the ceiling.
“The glass isn’t broken,” she called. “We need to get the water out first. Somehow we need to stop it.”
“We will do that in a moment,” he told her before moving away to set aside the table. Water sloshed around his feet. Already he could feel the coldness squirming its way into his clothing.
He remembered being shorter than this table once. Peering over it whilst hiding from his mother. It was one of their days without the late duke around. A small pinch of the tightness forming in his chest loosened once it was out of the room.
“Is there anyone that can climb on the roof?” Verity asked him when he returned to the room, wildly looking around to see what he might salvage next.
Not the sofa. I’ll need at least one more man to help me carry it out. The chair, then.
Picking up her skirts as the bottom three inches were sticking to her ankles now from the puddles, she moved closer. “Dominic, do you have a ladder? A way up there?”
“Don’t you dare think of climbing up there yourself,” he ordered like he could read her mind. “Roger will have to do it for us, he’ll know what to look for when he returns home.”
“The stablemaster?”
“Yes, he helped build the panels. This room was rebuilt only a few years ago. There’s no reason for such leaks as this,” he added with a growl of frustration. He grabbed a pot and handed it to her. “Take it. I’ll grab the chair.”
Trailing after him, splashing about so the water was going everywhere up to his waist, Verity said, “We don’t know how long this has been going on and we don’t know how long the storm is going to last!”
“We can still salvage what we can. Once we clear out the room, we’ll have more space to sort out how to fix this.”
Dominic set the chair in the hall and, upon seeing servants coming their way in the hall, ushered them through. Then he took the pot from her and set it in the chair. “I care about this house, and I don’t want to see anything more get ruined.”
“I also care about this house,” she pointed out. “And we can’t protect it if we don’t think about the damage it can continue to cause right now.”
A huff of annoyance escaped him. “We don’t have time to plan.”
Her eyes widened before narrowing, crossing her arms like they had all the time in the world to debate this. Impatience sent a painful shiver down his spine. “We have to do something.”
“I agree.” Dominic walked around her so she wouldn’t see his annoyance. With four footmen coming through and three chambermaids following, he waved them around with instructions. “Start with the largest furniture, men. And the plants, if you please.”
Verity stole the attention of Mr. Timmons who had followed the servants through. “You said the Stablemaster is out?”
“Yes, Roger isn’t here.”
“Can anyone else find a ladder to climb to the ceiling? We need the water stopped as quickly as possible. I’ll do it myself if I must,” she resolved.
Dominic caught that. “You are not climbing a ladder.”
“I know how to climb a ladder,” she pointed out.
The servants started to slow down but he waved them back to business while stalking back to her. While Dominic knew he should be relieved Verity didn’t quake over this disaster, he didn’t appreciate her monopolizing attempt at doing something dangerous.
“Thank you for caring.” His words came out through a clenched jaw. “And thank you for volunteering. But I will not have my duchess climbing a ladder in a storm and mess like this; it’s too dangerous.”
Tension radiated between the two of them.
There was also Mr. Timmons. His eyes darted between them; every time he attempted to speak, one of them was already responding. Both of them ignored him to focus on each other.
“You are worried about the room as well as the house, aren’t you? We must keep that in mind. If we don’t address the origin of the problem, it will only grow worse,” she said pointedly with her hands on her hips. “You move too fast.”
They were on the verge of a real argument. Discomfort reared its head as he searched for ways to make her understand that he had to be right.
“I move fast to save what I can. I will not stand about letting everything I care about in this room fall apart,” he bit out.
He didn’t realize what he had said until she pulled back, blinking. After a moment of hesitation, she gave a short nod. “Very well.”
