“Am I in the right hall?”
Emily laughed at his question. “I believe so.”
“Denys!” Draven bellowed, walking into the foyer.
Denys came running from a side door. “Milord!”
Emily saw the trepidation on the steward’s face as Denys rubbed his hands together in a nervous gesture. “Does it meet with your satisfaction?”
Draven looked to her. “Milady?”
She nodded. “‘Tis wondrous.”
Denys smiled.
“Was there any money left over from your budget?” Draven asked.
“Aye, milord. Quite a bit, point of fact.”
“Then keep it.”
Denys looked shocked. “Are you certain, milord?”
“You’ve earned it. Take the sennight off and rest yourself.”
“Oh, thank you!” Denys headed back out the door he’d entered.
Draven started for the stairs when a stern voice called out, “Not with those muddy boots on your feet, you don’t!”
Emily arched a brow at the daring tone as a plump woman around the age of five-and-two-score entered the hall from Draven’s antechamber.
“I’ll not have you muck up my floor,” she said, her voice even sharper than before. “Even if this hall be yours, milord, it gives you no right to lay waste to our hard work. Now off with those boots.”
The look on Draven’s face would have scared the devil himself. But the woman merely came to a stop before him and met his gaze with an impertinent directness.
“Who are you?” he demanded, his voice lethal and sharp.
“Beatrix. Steward Denys hired me to keep this hall, and keep it I shall.”
Draven opened his mouth, then frowned. “Beatrix?”
“Aye, your mother’s maid. I swatted your backside when you were just a babe, and I can do it now as well.”
Emily’s eyes widened at the woman’s audacity.
Instead of angering Draven, the words seemed to amuse him. There was a softening around his features. “I was told you were dead.”
A tenderness for him burned in the woman’s eyes and Emily sensed a longing in the woman to reach out and touch him. “If I am, then I’m back to haunt you,” she said in a much gentler tone. “Now off with those boots.”
To Emily’s utter amazement, he obeyed.
“Thank you, milord. Your room is waiting for you above. Denys and me moved the lady’s things to the guest chambers.”
“You have guest chambers?” Emily asked.
Beatrix smiled. “His lordship does now.”
“My gratitude for your service, Beatrix,” Draven said gently, then he walked up the stairs in his stocking feet.
