Page 99 of Holding Onto Love

“I know! I know!” Crispin laughed, cringing theatrically. “Mrs. Wardrip, this is Mrs. Badge. Mrs. Badge, Mrs. Wardrip.”

“How do you do?” Vanessa said.

The housekeeper flushed. “Well enough, thank you.”

Crispin said, “I’ll show Mrs. Wardrip to her room.” He took Vanessa’s valise out of her hand.

Mrs. Badge looked scandalized. “I’ll take her. You go clean up.”

“It’s on the way. We’ll be wanting supper in an hour.”

He grabbed Vanessa by the elbow and hurried her away, through a dark corridor toward a sturdy set of stone stairs.

“She has a great deal of trouble with steps. Reg tried to warn me, but I didn’t realize…” He shook his head. “I’m going to have to hire more help.”

She had far too many questions so only asked the first. “Captain?”

“Ah.” He nodded, looking a little abashed. “Didn’t I tell you?”

“No.” She hesitated before asking. Men, even of Crispin’s undeniable caliber, were not promoted until a position opened above them. Then there would be jockeying and shifting.

He said, “Colonel Harrington. Damn it. Not dead, thank God. His horse fell on him and crushed both hips.”

“Oh, Crispin. I’m sorry.” Harrington was admired, though not particularly well-liked. He was arrogant. Well, so was Crispin. But differently.

They started up the steps and Crispin wiggled her valise.

“Not much in here.”

She said, “Travel light.”

He smiled at her. “Good for you.” They reached the landing.

“You’ll be in the countess’s room.” He laughed as she started to protest. “Don’t make too much out of that. It’s where Reg and Georgiana stay and it’s clean. I don’t want to cause more trouble for the Badges than I have to.”

She stopped arguing and merely followed him down a hallway. Doors were closed. The hall was dark and a little dank. Crispin halted and turned to her.

“I should explain.” He chewed his lip a moment, then said, “This property was deeded to me years ago. I sold it to buy my commission since my father refused to pay for it. He didn’t want me in the army. An excess of love, I suppose.” He shrugged. “Unfortunately, I was very young and stupid and a bit angry, so I sold it to…well, some half-crazed poet who really hadn’t the means to afford such a place. He let all the staff go. Drank and scribbled for a year, then sold it back to my father.”

“But the earl didn’t rehire the staff?”

“He didn’t realize they had been released. There were only five permanent people here. Others traveled with us from Chaumbers. Our steward at the time was an elderly man whose faculties were not what they once were. He simply paid no attention to the fact that those few salaries were no longer being paid. When he realized the error, he hired a caretaker to keep watch on the place, but that was about all the man did. Watched it fall to ruin.” Crispin laughed a bit ashamedly. “I offered the cottage to Reg and Georgiana for their honeymoon sight unseen. I shudder to think what they found.”

Vanessa did too.

“However, I suspect they made do.” Crispin snickered.

Vanessa gave him a small shove, thinking of that generous, warm, but very proper young couple.

“Actually, they were wonderful,” Crispin continued. “Reg fired the caretaker, found the Badges, and brought them back—as a kindness, I suspect—but it’s too much for them as it is now. He hired some workmen to clear up the drive, at least, until I had a chance to look at it and see what I wanted done. Georgiana saw to ensuring a couple of the rooms were livable. And bless them both, they didn’t tell Jasper.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s my responsibility and unfair to expect Jasper to take it on.” He sounded wearily exasperated, but then he frowned. “And because Reg treads more lightly than Jasper.”

“You can’t mean that.” Jasper was not a pushy man.

“No?” He lifted his eyebrow. “Jasper is well-intentioned, I grant. But he’d look at this mess and sigh and set it to right. He’d hire someone to hire someone to oversee all the necessary workers to restore it to the idyllic retreat of our youth. I’d return, eventually, to find it exactly as it was.”