Page 52 of Courting the Country Miss

He offered her a rakish grin. “Is that a request to take off more?” He made as if to unbutton his waistcoat as well.

“No!” Leticia and Elizabeth shouted together.

Tristan chuckled. Sometimes it was too fun to tease very proper women. He gestured to the maze of furniture. “Shall we start at this end and work our way back?”

“Very well.” Leticia nodded and removed her pelisse. “I’ll show you where to put the bed frames. Elizabeth, do you want to start going through those crates?”

“Of course.”

“Here.” Tristan grabbed a crowbar leaning next to the nearest crate and pried off the lid. Inside laid a stack of primers. After he opened all the crates, he picked up a bed frame and nodded at Leticia. “Lead on.”

She took him to the small bedchamber off from the kitchen and scullery. To his surprise, Leticia helped him set up the frame. He carried in the mattress and tossed it on the bed. As he stepped back, he caught Leticia looking at him, with an expression that, on any other woman, would have been called admiration. Desire, even. But on Leticia…

He grinned. “Leticia Wentworth, are you admiring my muscles?”

She flushed bright red. “No. I mean, of course I’m glad you’re strong enough to help us with all this heavy lifting, but I’m not admiring you. You are such a vain creature!”

He couldn’t resist teasing her a little more. “Come now, admit it; you want to see my muscles. You want to touch them.”

“I most certainly do not. I’ll leave it to all your ladybirds to feed your impossibly large vanity. I’m sure Mrs. Hunter does that quite well.”

He blinked. “Mrs. Hunter?”

She made a sound of disgust that resembled a cat coughing up a hairball. “I don’t care!” She marched out of the room.

Tristan stood, stunned. Leticia thought he was having an affair with Mrs. Hunter? And she was angry about it? Did this require further consideration?

Leticia returned a moment later with an armload of bedding. “One of the other bed frames goes in the room off of the servants’ entrance over that way.” She gestured. “I’ll show you where the third one goes upstairs when I’m finished.”

Clearly dismissed, Tristan went back into the main hall. Women were such perplexing creatures. And no, he did not want to think any more about the reason for her anger.

Elizabeth’s footman, Cooper, and another man arrived. Cooper addressed Elizabeth. “I got yer message, m’lady. You oughtn’t leave withou’ me.”

“I know, Cooper, but we wanted to get started, and Tristan is here with us.”

Tristan acknowledged Cooper who gave him a nod of deference but his mouth still turned down as if he felt unneeded.

Soon, they had the whole group working, and Cooper’s usual grin returned. Tristan kept up a series of quips, throwing out absurd poetry he made up as he went along, and keeping them all laughing. Working together, they got all three of the beds set up, as well as chests and a clothes press. Once the staff quarters were set up, they went to work on the schoolroom, setting up shelves, which Elizabeth and Leticia filled with books, and then bringing in the desks one by one. Tristan worked every bit as hard as the laborers, enjoying himself more than he would have suspected. When they’d finished, they stood back to admire their work.

“It looks like a school.” Leticia’s smile lit up the building. He half-expected her to clap her hands and jump up and down.

“It does indeed.” Elizabeth beamed.

Leticia indicated the end of the room furthest from the small fireplace. “We found another stove to put at this end. It should arrive any day now.”

“We hope to have a pianoforte, as well,” Elizabeth added.

One of the men who came with Cooper brought in a bucket of water that he’d pumped from outside and they all washed off a surprising amount of dirt.

Tristan donned his discarded cravat and tailcoat. “I’m starved. Anything to eat in the kitchen?”

“No. We’ll have to go home.”

Tristan worked at the knot in his cravat that would probably leave his valet weeping. “Very well. Home it is.”

While Tristan handed Leticia and Elizabeth inside the Averston family coach, the workers perched outside. After settling himself in the rear-facing seat opposite the ladies, Tristan flexed his shoulders, trying to ease the tension and fatigue as if he’d spent hours boxing and fencing.

“Thank you for all your hard work, Tristan,” Elizabeth said.