Chapter 111

"This is Mrs. Ferret."
So Splendor's death hadn't happened. Instead, the front door had swung open, because there weren't any rugs on the flagstone floor to stop it. Splendor thought that was why the door didn't just swing open, it almost removed itself from its hinges and careered across said floor. Before she was anywhere near it, which was not always the case. Penetrating cold blew out, not in. The sun hadn't just gone behind a cloud on a nice day, Arctic winter had followed.
Ferret was an unfortunate name. The woman herself had the appearance of having dropped a guinea and found a farthing. Some people were so devoid of the desire to better themselves that they dressed in pinched black to match their expressions. Splendor's desire was to show his majesty how unfazed she was by this rapid and unprovoked downturn in events. London and Babs Langley. She fixed a smile on her face. Her best.
"You will pardon me, Your Grace, openin' door in advance of you ringin'." Mrs.
Ferret ignored the smile and her. "But Bates told me you was here. And had brought company. Young ladies."
Was it a crime to be one? Splendor had never thought so before. But the look Mrs. Ferret failed to cast her said her education was sadly lacking that way.
"Yes." Stillmore strode over the stone threshold into the pale white hall. "My wife and her friend."
"Wife? Wife?" Mrs. Ferret's voice rose. "Mr. Bates never said nothing about no wife."
Stillmore stared at the ceiling. "Perhaps because he's not married to her. Well. It happened, whether Bates said so or not. If I say she is, it should be good enough."
Splendor swung her gaze around. "You mean, you take my getting out that cart as assent-?"
"Oh, sir, I never meant ... " Mrs. Ferret interrupted. "Oh bless me no. I mean, I wouldn't, bein' mindful of me position here'n all, dream of offerin' an affront. Excuse me, Your Grace."
Mrs. Ferret touched a feeble hand to her breast, as if she wouldn't take issue with him arriving on the doorstep with a two-headed hamster and saying he'd married it.
"Will I just show her downstairs, same as usual, Your Grace?"
"I will do that. Thank you."
As usual? Splendor turned her gaze back, swallowed the hot tide that rose.
Thank God in some ways. Remove this old bat from the equation and Catterton House might have her otherwise. From the outside it looked like a two-roomed cottage with a tower that stood like a sentinel. Inside though, it was a completely different fish. A whitewashed palace, with steps leading down to other levels that were obviously set into the steeply dropping cliffside. It would be private here. The kind of place Topaz would be safe. The kind of place they could both hide.
Not if it was home to his women. Not when she'd thought London.
"But, of course, Your Lordship Grace." Mrs. Ferret curtseyed so low it was a miracle she didn't keel over on the flagstone floor. "And what about the other ... lady, sir? Will she just be left sitting out there in the cart, while you ... you know?"
"Yes. No. I ... I mean ... " Splendor burst out before she could stop herself.
"Not at all," Stillmore said. "She will be coming in here. But would you have a problem with that, Mrs. Ferret?"
"No, Your Grace. All I were doing was asking."
"Well, don't."
"Fine then I won't. I'll just go tell Bates to start peeling the vegetables for lunch.
A light one will it be, Your Grace? Or do your guests require stuffing?"
Fury scorched Splendor's cheeks.
"A light luncheon will suffice for now. After all, it's now ... " He dug in his pocket, his watch burning holes in hers for a second. "Oh, never mind. But you will extend the courtesy of this house to my wife and her friend for the duration of their stay here."
"Their stay?" Mrs. Ferret's ears stood up, a March hare's surveying their domain. "How long will that be? Begging your pardon, and not wishing to give an affront, but Bates won't like that."
"Believe me, he is not-" Splendor tried to speak, to say Bates wasn't alone, that the duration of her stay would be all of five minutes, but Stillmore cut her off.
"I mean what I say, Mrs. Ferret. Now, why don't you hurry along? If it's not too much trouble, that is?"
"But of course, Your Grace. I were only wondering, if their stay is to be so short, if there was any need to be turning down the bed sheets, or not?"
Scorn glinted in the woman's gray eyes. It was his house. Papa always said a man should be able to do what he liked in his house, provided he paid for it, although Papa, often as not, had not.
But Ferret stared as if Splendor was a common slut. Two women might be a bold move on his part, especially when one couldn't walk. The wife business though must amount to wool-pulling cheek in Ferret's book.
For this Splendor had lost Gabe and the ten thousand. How could she?
"I think I said I would take care of things." Stillmore walked to the top of the stone staircase. "You should do the same."
If the look Mrs. Ferret shot before swinging on her heel was anything to go by, who she wanted to take care of was Splendor. Ferret's heels had barely clicked out of earshot down the stone staircase when Stillmore cocked his brow. "Shall we? The bedrooms are this way."
"Your Grace-"
"Oh, what is it now?" He set off down the stairs. "For Christ's sake can't you just hold your wretched tongue for once in your life? I said Catterton. This is Catterton."
Gabe and the ten thousand. It made it even more imperative she force his hand, it also made it vital she handle this calmly, carefully, without infuriating him, so that he wouldn't refuse to write her out another check for the ten thousand. Or she'd have to face staying here, his wife in name only, with Topaz and Ferret.
Topaz and Ferret? Topaz and Ferret was a bad idea. Threatening to leave in the hope of bringing him to his senses was a bad idea, when he'd no senses to speak of, let alone ones she could blackmail him into. He'd just tell her to go.
Of course, she could simply do that, but why should she go now? Now that she saw the complete fool she'd been. Over him. In every way.