“And at Kenilworth House where I was trained,” Payne said.
“It’s because the floor is shared with the nursery,” Jaynes commented.
They looked at Chandos, then Theo. “We will have to give this some thought.”
He nodded, but did not respond.
“Let us move to the next floor.” She hoped the more lived-in areas would not be nearly as bad.
As with the nursery and servants’ quarters, the stairs had no landing but descended directly from the middle of the floor. The furniture was all covered; still, it was clear that the rooms and windows were larger. “This is what I expected from the children’s level. Who stays here?”
Jaynes wrote something in her notebook. “No one, my lady.”
“Odd.” Theo did not understand the arrangement of this house.
“It is.” Once again, Chandos glanced in each room. “What if we were to make over this floor into the nursery and schoolroom? That would give us the space to make the servants’ chambers larger.”
“It would also allow us to separate the male and female servants, which is not the case now.” She looked at Jaynes. “Would that make it more comfortable?”
“Yes, my lady. The women always have to be fully dressed when we leave our chambers, but the men don’t always remember.”
Theo could well imagine that. “We could also add a bathing chamber to that section.”
Chandos nodded. “We have pipes going to a bathing chamber on the family level. I assume they could be run up to make additional bathing chambers. It was not something I ever thought to do. We could also put one on this floor.”
“That is a very good idea.” There would be plenty of room. “We may discuss it with Mr. Rollins, the architect, when we meet with him and his wife.”
They descended to the next floor and continued the inspection.
“This is the family level,” Jaynes said. “Her grace’s apartment is down here.” She pointed to the right. “The master chamber is on the other side of the floor.”
“We do not have to look at her grace’s rooms at the moment.” The time for that would come later. She smiled at Chandos. “I am very interested in seeing our chambers.”
He appeared a bit disconcerted. “Frankly, I’m not certain you’ll approve of the arrangement.”
What could be wrong with them? “Why?”
“You’ll see.” He led her to a set of rooms at the end of the corridor in the back of the house and opened a door. “This area contains my apartment. As you see, it opens up onto a parlor, the bedroom is to the right, and my valet’s rooms are to the left.” He grimaced. “Your rooms are at the other end of the corridor.”
“You were correct. I do not like it at all.” Theo turned on her heel, strode past other chambers to the other end of the wing and opened the door. It was the same plan. There was not even a way for the duchess to conveniently access her husband’s bedchamber or vice versa. “Am I correct in thinking that your mother’s rooms are next to your chambers?”
“Yes. We could combine those two areas for our apartments.”
That would work with one possible exception. “Do you not intend that we sleep together?”
He stared at her for a several seconds. “Is that what you want?”
“I do.” Theo realized that many couples did not. Yet, all her sisters shared a bedchamber with their husbands. “I desire to sleep with my husband. Not alone.”
Chandos smiled. “I would like that as well.”
“In that case, we can have Mr. Rollins design the rooms accordingly.”
“Excellent.” Leo breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t thought at all about where Theo would sleep. He was ecstatic that she wanted to be with him. “The rest of chambers on this floor are for family, and the few guests that must be accommodated overnight.”
“With your mother here, we will not be able to reorganize the rooms until later.” Perhaps they would both stay in his rooms until hers were finished. She would be sleeping there in any event.
“We still have my rooms.” If he had his way, he’d move his mother into her own house immediately. He wanted to show her his bedchamber, but all she’d be able to do was look at it. His villa in St. John’s Wood was a much better place to introduce her to lovemaking.
