Secrets in Mourning (4 page)

A dangerous glint entered his eye as he took a threatening step forward. “I am the Earl of Lynwood, and I answer to no one.”

Chapter 3

The Earl of Lynwood? How could she have forgotten him? This was his home after all, not the Dowager Countess’s. If he was anything like his mother, she wasn’t sure she’d survive her time here.

“Forgive me, my lord. Had I known who you were, I would never have issued such an order.” She tried to curve her lips becomingly, but faltered at his sudden glare. Her eyes narrowed. She wasn’t in the mood to face off with another Lynwood.

“Let me make something perfectly clear, Your Grace. I am master of this house. I am the law. While you are staying here, you will do what I say, when I say it. And in the future,” he moved forward, taking the glass from her grip, “You will refrain from destroying my property.” He set the glass down with a crack, and Victoria wouldn’t have been surprised to find it broken beneath his grasp.

“I see.” She added a touch of irony to her voice, knowing it would upset him. She wanted to gloat when she saw his lips thin.

“It is by my allowance, and that alone, that you are living here. Had I not permitted it, you would not have been able to attend to my mother during mourning and your inheritance would be void.” The gleam in his eye was threatening, effectively wiping away any smugness she felt. She was trapped here, and he knew it. Suddenly, she felt cornered.

“What do you want?”

He eyed her for a moment. “I assume that you have already met my mother.” He waited for her nod of agreement. “I have no desire to have another bitter woman living under my roof. I allow my mother some leeway because I know what has caused her unhappiness. And the fact that she is my mother forces me to endure her attitude. But you are not a relative, and while you were married to my uncle, there is no bond between us.” He gave her a firm look. “I will not tolerate such behavior.”

Outrage coursed through her, staining her cheeks, but she gritted her teeth. She would not allow another outburst.

He watched her, clearly testing her. “While you are here, I expect you to keep the tantrums to a minimum. Never will I see you do something like what you did only a few moments ago. I don’t care how difficult my mother is, or how much you hate the circumstances. You are here because I allow it. However, I will not hesitate to revoke my permission and send you back to London.”

“Understood.” She had no choice but to comply, and it infuriated her.

This is only temporary
, she chanted over and over in her mind. She wouldn’t be here for the rest of her life. And while she may not like what he was saying, it was something she would have to endure. “Anything else?”
 
Her tone was a bit too sweet.

He arched a brow at her tone. “Yes. I expect that while I am providing a roof over your head and food in your belly, that you will contribute in some way to this household.”

“I believe I shall. Your mother has made it abundantly clear what she expects of me,” she said dryly.

He shook his head slowly. “My mother might have a task or two for you to do, but more will be required. Everyone pulls their own weight here. Everyone. Myself included. I work the land with my tenants, help with the harvests, and care for the estate. There isn’t a day that I don’t labor beside the people that depend upon me. I have no wife, and unfortunately, the house isn’t being run as it should.”

“Shouldn’t that be your mother’s duty?”

“No. Nothing is expected of her. She has been through enough in her life.” He poured scotch into his glass and drank deeply. “During your stay, I will expect you to take over the duties of running the house.”

“You can’t be serious. I am not your wife, nor your mother. My purpose here is to fulfill the stipulation in the Duke’s will. That is all.”

He set the glass down slowly. “And so you will, if you live here. However, the condition of your living here is that you take up these duties. I have no doubt that you have been trained to run a household of this size. Or am I mistaken? Do you lack the ability?”

She knew he was baiting her, but she couldn’t stop herself from answering him. “Of course I can manage this estate. And not just the running of a handful of servants. I am capable of much more.” She couldn’t help but set him straight. Her pride was on the line. “How much of it would I need to take over?”

He shrugged. “Managing the servants, coordinating the laundry days, preparing menus, and seeing to the welfare of the villagers.”

The tasks he mentioned were nothing out of the ordinary, but that didn’t mean she wanted to take over the responsibility. But what choice did she have? She wanted the freedom and independence that the Duke’s inheritance would give her, and to receive it, she needed to live in this household. Taking over duties she could easily see to wasn’t too much to pay to receive the money.

“All right. I will do as you ask. For the period of mourning, I will act as the lady of the house and see to its needs.”

“Good.” He gave another stiff nod. “I’ll inform you if there is another task to be done, but the list I gave you should suffice. Mrs. Waversly is the housekeeper here. You may meet with her in the morning.”

“All right. If you don’t mind, I would like to retire for the evening.”

“Not at all. Good night.”

She knew he watched her as she walked out of the room, but not with avid interest that other men might. He watched her in suspicion.

If he wanted her to run the household, she would. And she would do a great job of it. She didn’t know if he questioned her abilities to get a rise out of her, but she would show him just how valuable her skills could be.

Starting tomorrow, the house would run more efficiently than he had ever seen. A slow smile started on her lips as she walked up the stairs, her hand on the glossy banister.

Passing a servant, she asked for a bath to be brought to her room before continuing on. Surprisingly, a tub was quickly produced and hot water not longer after that.

After drying, then dressing in a clean nightgown, she happily climbed under the slightly musty bedclothes. Without much thought, she fell hard into a dreamless sleep.

Morning came too quickly for her liking. She would have enjoyed to stay in bed the rest of the day, but she knew she couldn’t. There was too much that needed to be done.

Making her way down to the kitchens, she wasn’t surprised to find several kitchen maids there, making bread for the day and preparing the morning meal.

An older woman looked up from her perch. “Your Grace, I was informed that you would be meeting with me with morning.” Standing up, she dusted a few crumbs off her dress. “If it is agreeable to you, we can move to the parlor.”

“Yes, thank you,” Victoria nodded her agreement, but looked over the staff in the kitchen before following the plump housekeeper. The two women working on the meal seemed to be at a disadvantage, too shorthanded to handle food preparation for the estate. She might need to assign another woman or two to help. Turning on her heel, she gestured for Mrs. Waversly to lead. “If you wouldn’t mind, I’m still not certain where the rooms are located.”

“Of course.” Catching the eye of a maid, she said, “Please have a tray brought into the parlor as soon as possible.” After receiving a nod of acceptance, the housekeeper turned and led the way. If her tone was a bit stiff, Victoria didn’t mind. She was new here, jumping into the woman’s position. Besides, the servants hadn’t exactly endeared themselves to her when she arrived.

With her father’s ambitions for her to marry a duke so firmly in her mind, she hadn’t made many friends during her time in society. She wasn’t ignorant of the fact that she had alienated more people than she had befriended. But what other choice had she had? A friend would only be competition to her, so she had been forced to distance herself from the other debutantes, to upset them to the point where they feared her and would let her have anything she wanted.

Would her life always be so empty? Now that she had become a duchess, she wasn’t sure she had made the best choices during her seasons in London. Perhaps she had gone too far, pushed too hard for the one thing that had always given her value in her father’s eyes.

She could always change. She would change.

Having attained her goal, she now had the rest of her life to make whatever she wanted of it. She didn’t have to push people away like she always had, but did she even know how to make friends at this point?

The thought was unsettling. She had never tried to make friends and didn’t exactly know how to go about it. Shaking off the thought, she focused on what needed to be done today. She would have plenty of time over the next year to think about her future.

Glancing at the tables in the hallway, she noticed a few places that needed to be dusted a bit more thoroughly, and made a mental note to mention that to the housekeeper.

It was rather dark in this section of the manor, still oppressed by the old décor. She would need to ask about the renovation schedule as well.

Opening the doors to the parlor, the housekeeper sailed into the room as if she owned it, but waited for an invitation to be seated.

“I appreciate the time you took out of your busy schedule to meet with me, Mrs. Waversly.”

The small deference to her responsibility seemed to make the ice around the woman crack. She looked more open, although cautious, to hear what Victoria wanted to say.

“As I’m sure you are aware, the Earl has asked me to take over the running of the household, and since I am new here, I will need help getting familiar with how things are handled. Because of your knowledge of the house and the servants here, I hope that I may count on you.”

The rest of the cool façade melted away from the housekeeper.

See, that wasn’t hard
, Victoria thought. Making friends should be easy enough when she wanted to. Flattery was a powerful tool.

“I would be honored to, Your Grace. What is it that you wish to know?”

“To start, how many footmen and maids are there? Looking around, it is obvious that the house is understaffed.”

The woman nodded slowly. “Yes. Currently, there are two housemaids, and another that acts as both housemaid and lady’s maid to the Dowager Countess.”

“So few?” It was unheard of. For a house this size, with only three women working to keep it in order, it was a minor miracle that the walls weren’t crumbling down.

“Yes. And we have two footmen.” As Victoria’s mouth fell open, the housekeeper hurried to finish. “They also help in the gardens. Other than that, we have a cook, and one kitchen girl, myself, and Mr. Baton, the butler. Also, a girl from the village comes to help in the kitchens when needed.”

Robbed of speech, Victoria could only sit and stare at the woman. The idea of such little help on an estate this size was ludicrous. The Earl wanted her to run the house, but she wasn’t a magician. She would need servants to accomplish this task. But Mrs. Waversly had no way of approving the expense for more servants. “When is the scheduled laundry day?”

“There’s not, my lady. The laundry is seen to when possible.”

There was an awkward pause. Victoria didn’t even want to guess what that meant or how often the linens were cleaned.

“I see. Well, that is definitely something we will need to see to.”

The housekeeper’s eyes narrowed in concern as if she were rearranging the schedule to see how they would make it work. “I’m not sure that will be possible, Your Grace.”

“We will make it possible. I will speak with the Earl myself to see if we can get additional help. It is astonishing how well the house has been kept up with so few servants.”

“Thank you.” While the housekeeper looked grateful that Victoria would broach the subject with the Earl, she also looked a little perturbed.