Grace smiled proudly. “Do you like it? The children and their tutors find the area suits them.”
“I think it’s remarkable. Nothing like the dingy school-room I was used to and the bedchambers are larger. What’s in here?”
“That is the art room. Next to it is a space for sewing, games, and reading.” She took his hand. “At the end of the corridor on either side are the tutors’ rooms. They each have a bedchamber, a small dressing area, and a parlor. There are two bathing chambers as well.”
He peeped into the tiled rooms with copper tubs. “Remarkable. Is this what you have planned for Worthington House?”
“Something very like it. The school-room floor there is larger. What do you think?”
“It’s perfect. How long will it take to accomplish the renovations?”
“We will have to discuss it with Mr. Rollins.” She glanced at him and wrinkled her nose. “This took the last part of summer and all autumn. I don’t believe the renovations can be completed this Season.”
Clearly, she was in her milieu. He turned her toward the stairs. “What’s your plan for where we would live?”
As they descended, Grace replied, “I thought we could reside here at Stanwood House for this Season. There is enough room for everyone. Of course, Patience would have to agree. Yet, if we began the work at Worthington House immediately, it could be completed in time for the Little Season.” She glanced at him with concern. “You don’t mind having the children with us when we are in London, do you?”
Matt came to a halt. Many people did leave their children in the country for the Little Season and sometimes during the primary Season. But the idea that they’d leave their bunch alone with only the servants and tutors filled him with foreboding. “No, I don’t think I’d sleep a wink if we didn’t have them with us.”
Grace’s laughter was musical. The only problem with her scheme was he didn’t like the idea that she would not be in his home and in his bed. “Where would we sleep?”
She worried her bottom lip as she thought. “In my chambers?”
Wondering how long her bed was, he glanced at her skeptically. “Let’s see it then.”
Grace led him along a corridor and stopped at a room at the end. “Here it is.” She opened a door to her parlor and kept on through a dressing room until they entered her bedchamber.
There was little chance he’d fit the bed, but to be fair, he’d give it a try. “May I?”
She glanced at him and then at the bed, and gave him a dubious look. “Yes.”
When he lay on it his feet hung over.
“Oh dear.”
“My lady . . .” Bolton entered from the dressing room, stopped and stared at him. “That’s not going to work, is it?”
Worthington smiled ruefully. “No.”
Grace rubbed her forehead. “Perhaps we could have a larger bed made.”
“It would be so long you wouldn’t be able to walk around the bed.” Bolton frowned. “My lady, why do you want to stay here?”
“We’re renovating the school-room, and redecorating some of the other rooms at Worthington House. We can’t live there while all that is going on. I thought it would be better if our brothers and sisters resided here until the other house can accommodate them.”
Wrinkling her brow in thought, Bolton nodded. “I understand you not wanting to live across the street with all the racket, but you and his lordship could sleep there.”
He bestowed his best smile on her. What a wonderful woman his affianced wife had for a maid. “Bolton, that’s a wonderful idea.”
Frowning, Grace glanced at her maid. “But what if one of the children falls ill or has nightmares?”
“My lady, you could be fetched immediately if you’re needed.”
Worthington sent up a silent prayer to stay on Bolton’s good side.
Rubbing the bridge of her nose, Grace finally said, “Yes, I suppose it could work.”
He’d been sitting on the edge of the bed and went to her. “If it does not, my love, we’ll find a way to stay here.”
