Page 30 of Her Beast of a Duke
Once again, he looked out at the tavern and wondered what Isabella was doing at that moment.
“Mrs. Tisdale,” Isabella called out a few days after she had caught the Duke exercising in the garden. She strode down the main hallway on the ground floor, fueled by purpose. “Mrs. Tisdale, where are you?”
The housekeeper emerged from the parlor, her hands clasped before her. “Yes, Your Grace? What can I do for you?”
Isabella paused, looking around her pointedly. “I have been struck with inspiration. This place is far too dreary, and I cannot stand it. If I have to look at one more black or very,verydark gray décor, I am going to jump out of my chamber window.”
She could almost hear Alicia muttering, ‘says the least dramatic lady in the ton.’
“Your Grace, anything you wish to change can be.”
“Without His Grace’s permission?” she checked, more of a warning than anything.
Mrs. Tisdale looked hesitant but nodded. “He understands you are the mistress of the house, as he is the master of it.”
“Then it is decided,” Isabella said gleefully. “I will begin in the drawing room, for I intend to invite my family in the near future. Or at least Lady Mary, my friend from London. I will not entertain guests in such drab colors, not when I came from a home bursting with light.”
“Of course, Your Grace,” Mrs. Tisdale agreed.
Isabella turned, already gathering the staff in the near vicinity. “I wish for more candles to be placed around the hallways. On every other surface you find, place a candle on it. The lighting ought to be warm at night,inviting,almost intimate, without trying. And heavens, these heavy curtains must be adjusted. If I wish to eat in darkness, I will find a sewer for myself, but not while in my own home.”
“Perhaps the drawing room can have lighter curtains, while the library can have more translucent ones, along with the music room. Those rooms ought to be as light and airy as possible, unless it is the evening, upon which we can make the ambiance cozy.”
The staff immediately set to work. Isabella watched them scurry around, knowing that the décor came from Oscar’s need for cold, dark isolation, judging by his own chambers. Isabella would not stand for it. If she were stuck here, then she would not be stuck in darkness.
So, while her husband remained out checking on his tenants at a nearby farmstead, Isabella got herself involved.
Room by room, changes were made. Curtains were switched out, and she sent maids for bolts of fabric to lighten furnishings.
Isabella also sent an order letter to a village craftsman to get lighter wooden furniture placed around the house. Namely, she intended to replace the furniture in her own room. She wanted to replicate that of her townhouse room. While Wickleby Hall had been beautiful enough, nothing compared to her childhood bedroom in the family’s townhouse.
“Miss Duchess.”
She turned at a small voice that had called her by the strange title. In turn, she was still getting used to even being a duchess.
Facing a small boy in a servant’s uniform, no more than nine, perhaps, she was surprised. His blue eyes were wide and innocent, full of curiosity.
“My mama works as a chambermaid, and she says I might be able to help. She says you are making things…” He frowned, his mouth twisting. “Lovelier!”
Isabella’s heart flooded with adoration. She had always loved children. Watching the way her own mother had treated her and her siblings had always filled her with a longing to be better than that, wanting to know how it would feel to raise a child in a loving household.
“Are you… part of the staff?” she asked, thinking of her formidable husband.
He was hard and cold, but surely, he was not so cruel as to employ a child.
The boy shook his head. “No, but I like the uniform! Mama lets me help out when I ask, but I mostly live with my grandparents in the village nearby. She told me earlier today that I can come and assist!”
“Oh, well, that is excellent,” Isabella said, brightening her voice for his sake. “What is it you would like to help with?”
“I like music,” he told her. “Papa has taken me to Rigby Village before, where there is a tavern that bards play at!”
Isabella’s curiosity was piqued, but she filed that away for a moment. “All right, then. How about we… put up some art for the music room? You can help me choose from the collection I have already acquired. And flowers! We must have flowers in there. Nice, fresh blooms. Do you like fl?—”
“Yes, I do!” he said excitedly. “My name is Thomas, by the way.”
“Well, it is lovely to meet you, Thomas.”
She offered her hand to him, leading him to the music room, where she had already ordered several art pieces to be spread out for consideration of what to decorate with.
