Page 78 of Sweet Siren
"I was teasing you. I want you to have whatever you want, Liv. I don't care how much itcosts."
She tipped her head. "I'm confused. What are yousaying?"
He tucked her arm in his and patted her hand. "Just show me the house, Liv. Tell me how wonderful it will be to livehere."
* * *
"Shallwe go outside and start in?" she asked, her mind more calm, her words more practical when talking about architecture anddesign.
"Let's. We'll leave Pierce here to entertainCamille."
Liv glanced at the couple and shook her head. "I would say it seems the other wayround."
"She is a delightful girl. I remember meeting her at Marianne and Remy'swedding."
"Thank you. I find her...effervescent. She fills me with pride. Her vivacity forlife."
"I can see Pierce finds heramusing."
Killian's son and her daughter were laughingtogether.
"Camille will be coming out soon," hesaid.
"No. She'll turn sixteen in a week, but she won't have a debut." Liv rolled a shoulder, sensitive about this issue. "I cannot afford it. She doesn't expect it. Doesn't wantit."
"I understand," he said. "Lily was married before she could have one, but she didn't want it anyway. Marianne was a widow and couldn't bear the idea of it in any case. And Ada flatly refuses. She finds it just as much fun to drive the men of the town crazy without adding the tensions of being presented atcourt."
"Wise of them. Camille says she'll learn more if she remains an observer of society rather than aparticipant."
"Oh, what does she observe?" he asked with agrin.
"She's a writer. Or an aspiringone."
"Bravo," he said as they made their way across the uncut lawn to the entrance of the house. "A poet, I wouldimagine."
"Mmm. She is dreamy. But no. Though she tells me she'll change, she puts her pen to gothic romances. Gloomy men in towers. Virginal young ladies in dire circumstances. They pine for eachother. "
He had a wicked half smile to his lips. "Have you read herwork?"
"I have. She's quite eloquent. One wonders how and when children learn what they do. She didn't decide to read anything until she was ten and then she read everything, even the labels on tins and store flyers. Most of it aloud, too. A few months ago, she told me she sent off one of her stories to a publisher inLondon."
He chuckled. "Any wordyet?"
"Nothing. I don't expectany."
"Don't be too sure. Pierce made his first fortune at eighteen investing in a copper mining company in Colorado. No one else thought it had a chance. He did." He came to a stop before the porch at the entrance to the house and waved a hand above him. "The coachentrance?"
"Exactly. Larger than usual by a third to accommodate two traveling coaches pulling to the front door at the sametime."
"Have you decided on thecolumns?"
"Doric. Simple.Orderly."
He swung around to view the green before them. "I like the escalation of the land. A plane. A welcoming court. And the drive curves around the main block to the carriage house andstables."
"And to the kitchen garden. I think your cook, whoever she is, will love the expanse. The entire plan for the landscape takes advantage of the serenity of theview."
"I liked the plan when Roger first showed it to me. I didn't want a castle on a hill, but a home nestled in its properplace."
