“These paintings. There are a great number of them throughout the house.”
“Indeed, there are,” she agreed.
“I allowed you to put your sisters’ watercolors on the walls. Nothing more.”
“These are my sisters’ watercolors,” she pointed out.
“Then how come there are so many, when you had only brought a few with you?”
“When you made the concession, I wrote to my sisters and asked them to send me any of the pieces that they had available. And they have obliged. As such, I have decorated the house with their watercolors, and I will continue to do so as they continue to send me new pieces.”
The ingenuity of her plan did not escape him. A part of him wanted to laugh outright at her quick thinking. While another part of him was furious at her for making a fool of him.
“Very well.”
He turned and stalked away. After all, there was nothing he could do about the fact that she had outsmarted him. And that thought, more than anything, made him more curious about her.
But that was only the beginning of the changes she made.
He sat bolt upright in his bed, his eyes darting around, trying to determine just what it was that had woken him so abruptly from a restful sleep.
The second thump made it clear.
Within moments, he was out of bed, immediately calling for Henry, his valet to assist him.
“What the blazes is happening here?” he asked the man as soon as he entered the room.
Henry looked away and then down at the floorboard.
“Something is going on out there. What is it?” Matthew snapped.
Although Henry was always upfront with him, he was silent now, helping him get dressed and then quickly stepping out of the way as Matthew barged into the hallway.
But what he found was not at all what he had expected.
There were men in the house.
A great number of them.
Moving things around.
Bringing in new furniture.
“Miss Jenkins!” he called out.
The housekeeper hurried over immediately, looking startled and perhaps a little fearful.
“I tried to stop her, Your Grace. I told them to take those things out, but they said that the Mistress had ordered them and that they would deliver the furniture regardless of what I say.”
“The Mistress, then?” Matthew practically growled.
Miss Jenkins nodded frantically. “Yes, Your Grace.”
Of course, it would have to be Diana. No one else could have ordered such things and had them added to his accounts.
For now… well, he needed to put a stop to this before she decided she could do that whenever she wished. And so he strode purposefully toward Diana’s rooms to confront her.
Yet, she was not there.
