Page 92 of The Bachelor
“Gwyn!” he hissed. “What are you doing?”
“I know the owner,” she said and gestured for him to follow her.
He climbed the steps with his cane in hand. “All right, but I can tell you that looking at the architecture on the inside is just as dull for me as looking at it on the outside.”
Joshua was only halfway up when the door opened, and a gentleman ushered her inside, then waited for Joshua to follow.
“This way, Major,” the man said.
They were expected, apparently. How else did the fellow know his rank? But when Joshua crossed the threshold, it was not to enter some stranger’s house. The place was empty—no furniture, no paintings, no vases . . . nothing.
“What do you think?” Gwyn asked again.
He caught the gentleman who’d let them inside watching him expectantly.
Enough. Joshua was going to get to the bottom of this right now. “Would you please excuse me and my wife?” he told the gentleman.
The man bowed and headed up the rather impressive staircase.
“All right, Gwyn. What is this about?”
She swallowed hard. “We-e-ell, I know you said that you didn’t want my dowry—that I could save it for our children, and that if we didn’t have any, I could spend it as I liked. But I was thinking that this would be a fine way to invest the money for their future. And . . . that is . . .”
“And what?” he demanded.
“It would also be a good place to live.”
It took him a minute to comprehend what she was trying to tell him. “Youboughtit for us to live in?”
“Not yet,” she said hastily. “Good Lord, I wouldn’t buy a house without consulting you. I’m not as daft as all that. But you haven’t been comfortable at Armitage House ever since you found out that it was one of the servants there who provided Malet with his information about our jaunts.”
“I should have shot the servant, too,” he groused, “especially because the damned fellow was also the one to let Malet in through the kitchen the night the bastard nearly killed you.”
“It’s a good thing youdidn’tshoot the servant. I daresay Fitzy wouldn’t have approved of that. Or conveniently carried off the body for you.”
Joshua eyed her sternly, though he was struggling hard not to laugh. “One day, you are going to call my employer ‘Fitzy’ in his hearing and lose me my post.”
“Don’t be absurd,” she said with a wave of her lovely hand. “Fitzy has already increased your ‘secret’ pay twice. He considers you valuable.” She narrowed her gaze. “You’re changing the subject. The point is—”
“That you want to buy us this house so we will have a place of our own.”
She blinked. “Well,yes.It’s affordable now, but it won’t be forever.”
“And I suppose your dowry will pay for the furnishings, etcetera?”
A secretive smile crossed her lips. “It should. It will also cover a few other things, like a carriage and servants.” She walked up to take his hand. “But if you hate it, just say so, and we will return to being, as you said, ‘beholding’ to your cousin.”
“When you put it that way,” he said, “how can I resist?”
Her eyes went wide. “Do you mean that? Truly?”
“I mean that I will seriously consider it. But first I want to see all the financial details—to make sure you aren’t fudging the numbers to get what you want.”
“Me? Fudge numbers? Never!”
“Right. What was I thinking?” He shook his head ruefully, knowing that this wasn’t an argument he would win. “I also want to see the whole place from top to bottom before we even think of making an offer.”
“Of course! That’s why we’re here, after all.”
