“Was it anything interesting?”
“Indeed.” She handed it over before accepting the linen towel. “She attended quite the musicale last night. I cannot believe it wasn’t mentioned at the garden party today. It’ll be useful, but only if I can deliver it this week. I shouldn’t like to miss out on the chance again. Missing a week is unreasonable.”
“You just married, so there should be some allowance,” Lucy murmured.
“But no one knows that,” she pointed out. “They don’t know it is my journal. If they did… that in itself would be a dreadful scandal. I’d never survive out in society again, I should fear.”
Lucy nodded. “Then we shall ensure it never happens.”
After dressing, Verity sat at her vanity while her maid carefully tended her hair. It allowed her some time to take notes, busyscribing her thoughts and ideas for the paper based on what she had learned. By the time Lucy was done, Verity too had filled out the entire page.
“I should hope we won’t attempt to leave the house tonight,” Lucy said.
A glance at the window had Verity shaking her head. “We shall not chance it, I think.” While the lightning had distanced itself from London, it could still be seen in the distance. She didn’t like the thought of anyone out there at this hour and wouldn’t dream of risking her life or another’s. “It will have to be tomorrow.”
“I for one think it’s remarkably clever not to post the same time every week,” her maid commented in a hushed whisper. “Surely it must keep all of London on their toes!”
“I hope so,” Verity murmured with a sigh.
Soon, the two of them had finished up to make it as though Verity had never been in the cold and wet. She’d stopped shivering after her bath, and could have dropped right into bed if it weren’t for her rumbling stomach. Besides, she wished to see how Dominic fared after the matter.
He rose in the dining room upon her arrival, nodding before pulling out her chair himself. “I wasn’t certain if you would join me. I’ve sent most of the household to bed.”
“That is wise. They did very well tonight,” she said and sat. “Thank you.”
“Indeed. Those that are still working have been permitted a late start tomorrow, I should add. Will this be enough?” He asked with a nod toward the table. “It’s all I asked to be prepared.”
Eyeing the five plates, she nodded. “This is perfect. Warm food should put us right to sleep after all of that hard work in the sunroom.”
“Yes.” He pulled the warmed bread over and offered her the bowl. There would be no servants to wait on them for once. Verity was impressed a duke would deign to serve himself. Nodding her thanks, she took a slice. “I shall have a carpenter brought over tomorrow to see what can be done.”
“Perhaps an ironworker, too?” She suggested.
His lips curled upward. “He will be next on the list.”
“I apologize if I am overstepping,” Verity muttered, realizing he knew what he was doing. There were few incidents in her household growing up that she knew about, let alone worried about fixing. A room had never fallen apart before her very eyes. But Dominic seemed to know what to do. This was his estate, after all.
“You’re not. I can simply assure you that we will be doing all we can to mend the room and ensure the damage doesn’t last or spread.”
Verity chewed quietly for a minute before noting, “The sunroom is very important to you. Have you spent a lot of time there?”
Pausing, he seemed to think about it for a moment with his eyes gazing into the distance. The duke didn’t notice her. She watched him carefully, curiously, wondering about him. She was disappointed by the time he said, “Not as much as I should like to.”
A tenderness swept over her when she heard a note of disappointment. “Perhaps we could add a table there next. Something to enjoy small meals, or a few books for reading. We could take afternoon tea in there together.”
His gaze shifted over to her. “You have an answer for everything.”
“Shouldn’t I?”
Something about her reactive question made his eyes spark. Whether in amusement or annoyance, she couldn’t be certain. “It causes me to wonder where your answers come from.”
Feeling her shoulders draw tightly together, she forced back the urge to roll her eyes at him. “Do you mean you wonder if I’m pulling words out of the air or if I have actual credence towhat I say? Simply because I was raised a lady doesn’t mean I don’t have thoughts and capabilities. No matter what is often written, women are just as capable of intelligent thinking and strategizing as men.”
“Sometimes too much,” she could have sworn him mutter.
Verity couldn’t let this slide. “I beg your pardon?”
“I did not mean it in the way that it sounds,” Dominic retorted hastily. He paused to rub a hand over his face, muffling a partial sigh. “Only that you are always prepared with your quick tongue.”
