Loving a Fearless Duchess: A Historical Regency Romance Book(27)

Edward turned to Nash, “Your mother?”

Nash grinned. “Yes. I love this portrait. She looks lovely, happy. This is how I remember her in my mind’s eye.”

He put the sheet back on, taking care to cover the whole painting lest sunlight fade it.

Nash spread his arm out and guided with his hand. “Shall we?”

They climbed a wide staircase with large thick round balustrades and a wide handrail. An oriental carpet ran the length of the stairs, its width two feet less than the full stair width to show the wood underneath.

Portraits covered the walls in a step pattern to the top.

A wide hallway had three doors on each side and one door straight ahead. Nash opened the first door on the right. A large bedchamber, decorated in different tones of yellow was inside.

Nash said, “Come on in. The rest of the doors open to similar bedchambers but were decorated in different colours. But each has a large bed, a fireplace, a large window, and a wardrobe.

“The maid or the valet lives here.” Nash walked to a door against the far wall and opened it to find an area one-quarter of the size of the main room. He went and shut the door to the maid’s room and gestured them out again before shutting the door.

“We’ll go down the hallway to the last door.”

When Nash opened the door, he walked into a room larger than the one they had just been in. It was decorated in burgundy with a large burgundy oriental carpet. The curtains were drawn on the windows, leaving the room completely dark except for the light in the doorway.

He walked to the curtains and opened one, sunlight streaming into the room. The bed in the middle of the room was the largest Edward had ever seen. There were two wardrobes and two doors against the fireplace wall, for both the maid and the valet.

Except for needing a good cleaning, the house was ready to move in. It had more than enough room.

“Now, we’ll go down to the rooms near the parlour.”

He shut the curtains, and the room was once again dark. He shut the door and then went down past the parlour. They saw the library, study, and dining room.

The library was circular with a cut-out in the outer wall making a sitting area surrounded by windows in the shape of a greenhouse.

“My mother’s favourite place in the house,” Nash said, pointing to the sitting area. “She read every moment she could.”

The round table in the center of the room held a globe of the world with gold leaf used for delineating the borders of different countries.

There were two upholstered chairs in front of the fireplace and a large writing desk, rounded on one side to slide up against the round wall.

Edward had never seen such a unique room, and he could picture his mother spending a great deal of time in it.

Nash moved him along to the study. A large desk lay straight ahead from the doorway, two chairs at the ready in front of the desk. The fireplace had two upholstered chairs in a more masculine fabric than those in the library.

Shelves held a mish-mash of paperweights, farming books laying on their sides, a quartz crystal, and a clock. Edward couldn’t quite make the rhyme or reason of it, but he didn’t care.

The kitchen was large and neatly laid out. The room seemed so quiet to Nash. Shouldn’t there be a lot of pots and pans clanging and vegetables being chopped?

Edward turned around to Nash and signalled he was ready to go. Nash shut the kitchen door behind them and stopped at the parlour to shut the window. Having the window open for even that short amount of time made a big difference in the air in the parlour.

“Do you see why it needs to be lived in? I can’t let it sit without getting a family in here to do me a favour.”

“Edward, what I’d like to do is propose a deal. In return for living here as long as you and Cecilia want, the servants, and that expense would be yours. If possible, I would like to keep the servants I have in place. If you run into a problem with one, of course, you would need to take appropriate action.

“My mother and father combined kitchen expenses for the two townhouses. Your cook would come to my cook, and they would work out what was needed. Apparently, it worked out well. Mother had the idea, and she considered herself a genius when it proved to work out well.

“Same for the fireplaces. Everything was bought and sent to Father’s; then Mother would split it to have it go to where it was needed. Cook knows all the details.”

“I’ll bring the servants in to clean it, and you can bring Cecilia over. How does that sound, Edward?”

“Nash, you don’t know how good it sounds.”

“Thank God. My mother can make me feel guilty from the grave. She wanted her townhouse occupied at all times.”

Nash continued, “My place in Norfolk has a dowager home for your mother, or she can live in the main house with us. She can decide later.

“So, I’ll get it ready, then when we’re ready to put our plan in motion; you and Cecilia will have a place to go.”

Edward stuck out his hand, and Nash shook it. It really was a good plan.

“And there would no longer be anyone to threaten you again.”





Chapter 10


At the beginning of calling hours, Nash was at the Balfours’ door. Once settled in with his teacup in hand, he felt the ease and comfort he enjoyed. There hadn’t been a ton event the night before, and he realized he missed Penelope.