“But this is the floor the family sleeps on.”
“Lady Crossvale said you were close enough.”
“That’s kind of her.” Tessa moved more slowly now, heavy with hesitation. “But I should have liked to be consulted.”
Before they could move fully away from the stairs, a figure streaked out of a room and toward them, small and impish and drooling.
Tessa caught the toddling child just before she could tumble down the stairs. Her mother reached her a few seconds later. Daphne Ives was tall and willowy with a few strands of silver at the temples of her dark hair, and the child tumbled, giggling, into her mother’s arms from Tessa’s fierce hold.
“Thank you, thank you, Tessa,” Daphne said, rubbing her nose against the little girl’s cheek. “She simply bolted and was too quick for me to catch up.”
No wonder. Daphne’s belly was taut beneath her skirts. That explained why Tessa hadn’t seen much of her down below.
“Should you be lying down?” Tessa asked. “Would you like me to take the little one to her nurse?”
“Oh no. Nurse is in the garden with the eldest two children. And little Lizbet just woke up while I was ensuring your room is properly prepared. I promised Mother I would do so.”
“That’s not nec?—”
“Excellent, Excellent,” Lady Chattaway called from several steps below them. “I’ll leave the two of you to it, then.” She huffed back down the stairs, and Daphne strode in the other direction, down the corridor.
Tessa trotted after her. No other choice. She’d known Daphne all her life, but she was eleven years older than Tessa and Remmy and had always been more like an adult to them than a playmate.
“You must not exert yourself,” Tessa said. “I’m sure Mr. Strickland will not be pleased.” Mr. Strickland was a terribly wealthy American who’d earned his coin through shipping. The only real interaction Tessa had with the man was watching him scowl at anyone who inconvenienced his wife.
“Mr. Strickland knows better than to try to keep me passive, no matter how far along I am.”
A head popped out from a room they passed on the left. Mr. Strickland, all auburn hair and blue eyes behind silver-framed glasses. “She’s right.” He grinned then disappeared, and, looking quite smug, Daphne opened a door at the very end of the corridor.
“Here we are,” she said, stepping aside so Tessa could enter.
The room was small but lovely, and Daphne had thrown the windows open. Sheer curtains flared in the wind and a small bed closed in with blue silk curtains sat in the middle.
“It’s Nora’s room, but she asked to be housed in another wing of the house where there are less people. And with six children and counting, it’s no wonder she needs the space. I think she is trying to rival Mother for offspring.”
“Thank you.” A request to change rooms perched on the tip of her tongue. But she had already inconvenienced Daphne, so she swallowed it.
“Of course.” With Lizbeth popped on her hip, she crossed the room to a tall, elegant wardrobe. “Your clothes have already been put away.”
“Thank you.” Everything done without her consent. But lovingly so. “It’s a beautiful room. I’ll be quite comfortable.”
“Wonderful. You are like a sister to all of us, and we’re glad to have you to ourselves. If you need anything, I’m just down the hall, and Kit is across the hall and Frederick and Horace are near the stairs, and Remmy is next to them,and—” She broke off with a laugh. “We’re all about you. Just call out and someone will come running.”
“I will.”
Daphne left, Lizbeth waving over her shoulder with a slobber-glistening hand.
It was a lovely room. Thick carpet and freshly painted walls. A small cheval glass hung above a table and porcelain washbasin with little pink flowers painted round the edge. She stood at the window, breathing in the fresh air for several moments. The Ives family was so… nice. They always had been. Warm and inviting, protective and loving. Her own family had never left her feeling half so safe.
Yet Verity… Oh, she was so glad to see her sister happy and whole. The girl had been her one great worry. Tessa had escaped to a better life, but Verity was still trapped.
“Bloody hell.”
Tessa yelped and spun around.
Remmy stood in the still-open doorway, looking vaguely nauseous. “What are you doing here? If you’re looking for me, don’t.” He looked both ways down the hallway behind him. “I clearly do not need a bed to misbehave, but given the chance… I refuse to test my fortitude. I will not survive another seduction, and neither will your reputation.” He said the last bit in a tone somewhere between a hiss and a whisper.
“I’m not here for… that. I’ve determined to leave you alone. Haven’t you been able to tell?”
