“No, he has too much of that Society starch in him. Mother was less strict. Always proper but less strict.”
They headed down one flight of stairs, and Eloise paused on the landing, her hand on her back. Robert faced her, putting both hands on her waist. “Are you ill?”
“No. I picked up Daniel on our walk so that he could pick a—” Eloise paused, her eyes narrowing. “Why would you think I might be ill?”
Caught.“Can I not be concerned about my wife’s—”
“No. Robbie...”
“Your courses are late.”
She sighed and leaned back against the railing. “Only a few days. And how do you know my courses are late?”
“I do spend a lot of time in your bed.”
Her cheeks flooded pink, and she looked around, as if checking for some of the boys. Robert chuckled. “Most of them have gone. The three who are staying the summer are out on the grounds.”
“Probably bothering the grooms about the horses.”
“Probably.” Robert pulled her into a hug, and Eloise leaned her head on his shoulder. He adored holding her like this, in silence, just being with her. Especially when the house was this quiet.
It was not usually. The chaos that had surrounded them before their marriage continued well past the wedding. When they had first opened the school, they had housed twenty boys inside the main house. The fifth floor had been converted to a dormitory, and the rooms on the fourth floor—except for the nursery—had been turned into schoolrooms. They lived on the third floor while the servants and teachers occupied the sixth. But with new investors and repeated stories about the school in the papers, they had expanded. A new building with schoolrooms and teachers’ quarters sat near the stables, and a new dormitory housed an additional twenty students. All of them from the streets and rookeries of London—yet two of the older boys had been admitted to Eton. Robert and Eloise were proud of the work they had done.
And for the first time, the Duke and Duchess of Kennet were arriving for an extended stay. They had visited before, but this time, they would be in residence for several weeks. His father had already insisted on reviewing the books, and his mother planned to turn the three summer students into proper gentlemen. He thought she would be fortunate if she could persuade the three hellions to sit in the same room together. But she was the Duchess of Kennet, and she had performed much more strenuous miracles in the past—including her own recovery.
“Robbie?”
“Hm?”
“You would be all right if...”
“Of course.” He leaned back to look at her. “As long as you are.”
She shrugged one shoulder. “Well, they will never lack for playmates.”
He cleared his throat. “Well...”
Her eyes narrowed again. “How many?”
“Four. But not until fall term.”
“Robbie! We are overcrowded now. Where will we put four more?”
“Did I mention that I set up an appointment with the Duke of Devonshire next week? He has lots of money. Your charms are sure to sway him.”
“You are incorrigible.”
His hug tightened. “You love that about me.”
“In spite of it, I think.”
Robert paused and tugged at a stray lock of hair that had come loose from its pins. After more than two years, Eloise’s hair had regained its original length and more. A few strands of silver had started to glint in the sunlight, and Robert found himself hoping they would both live to see themselves gray and toddling through the hallways with their canes and hot toddies, surrounded by grandchildren and an ever-growing number of boys under their care.
“Do not tug on that. You know what happens when you pull on my hair.”
Robert’s grin turned wicked as he wrapped the strand around his fingers.
“Your parents will be arriving soon.”
