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Fraser glanced at her slyly. “I think you like her anyway, lass.”
“All right, I do like her,” she admitted. “But it’s almost as if she doesn’t want the renovation to bestarted, much less completed. Beyond endless consultations and meetings, I have done nothing concrete except move items out of one room. It could all be put back as it had been before, with nothing changed except for a month of my time wasted.”
“But you’re getting paid. What’s the harm?”
Letty glowered. “How will it help establish my name if I am known as the designer lucky enough to be hired by the Duchess of Hawthorne, only to accomplishnothing? I will be judged as incompetent. It will be said that a woman designer can only dither and delay, not create. My work crew wasn’t happy from the marble tile fiasco for the judge, and I can’t have them thinking that these delays for the duchess are my fault. I have to finish something, and I have to do it fast.”
Fraser held up a hand. “I know that look, Letty. Think about what you’re doing. You have rushed into things before, and things have not always turned out well for you.”
Letty barely heard him. “The Duchess of Hawthorne hired me for a renovation, not a demolition. Maybe she doesn’t trust that I can do it. I’ll have to prove to her my worth.” She took a deep breath. “I need to take a risk.”
For the first time since starting work on Hawthorne House, she felt passion stirring in her. She grinned. “Fraser, do be a dear and show me all your unsold pieces, will you? Especially anything that you think might suit a duke.”
* * *
Letty could hardly contain her excitement as she strode up the stairs to Hawthorne House two weeks later. She had been here so often now that she had developed an inordinate fondness for the lion’s head knocker bolted to the front door, for the butler and his dour demeaner that thawed a little every time she saw him, and for the shiny black and white tiles that lined the grand hallway.
There was nothing better than a reveal day.
Although this was the first time in her career that the reveal would be a total surprise to the client.
She grinned at Mrs. MacInnes as she passed her in the hallway and received an encouraging look in return. The housekeeper had been instrumental in helping with the organizational work involved over the past week, and Letty was looking forward to working with her more closely on the rest of the house.
Letty slipped into the duke’s dressing room. She pressed her thumb against a painting to straighten it, fussed for a moment with the curtains, and then took one final look around. It looked good.Reallygood.
She heard the clacking of the duchess’s shoes as she approached the room before she saw her. Letty took a deep breath as the duchess appeared, the final crowning element of any room she entered.
Letty beamed. “Surprise.”
But the duchess’s face was pinched and white with rage. “Miss Barrow, you have overstepped.”
Letty whipped her head around, worried there was something out of place after all. But everything was as she had designed it. The mirror in the mahogany frame that Fraser had delivered yesterday looked wonderful. So did the set of armchairs in the corner. The walls were pristine, papered with navy and cream stripes.
The effect was masculine and dark and powerful, with black leather and deep bronze stud accents, and pops of gold as she had noticed that the rest of the house was full of it. The hammered bronze washstand glittered in the sunlight. A trio of white handkerchiefs embroidered with a fancifulHwere fanned out on the satinwood dresser.
“Overstepped?” she asked slowly.
The duchess skimmed a hand over the slick surface of the dresser, which Letty had polished within an inch of its life. “What gave you the right to refurnish this room? You were meant to be still planning the designs for the bedchamber, not working in the dressing room.”
“Everythingwas the charge you gave to me during our interview, Your Grace,” Letty said stiffly. “I believe I covered every detail in this room. However, if you do not care for it, theneverythingcan be removed and replaced as it was. The wallpaper could be torn down by tomorrow.”
“The paper is not the issue, Miss Barrow.” She appeared to be struggling for words, which surprised Letty. The duchess was always composed. “Youare the issue.”
“Me?” Her heart started to hammer. This wasn’t going according to plan at all.
“To tell you the truth, Miss Barrow, when I hired you, I didn’t know if you could do it.”
That stung. Deeply. “Excuse me?”
“I thought you inexperienced. Incapable of doing what would need to be done in such an estate. I didn’t think you had the knowledge, or the expertise.”
“I told you I could give satisfaction, Your Grace,” Letty snapped. She wasn’t going to give up without fighting on behalf of her work. “I may have never designed for the nobility, but I know exactly what I’m doing. Those are fleur-de-lis on the drawer pulls, and French lavender pressed among the towels. Forgive me, but I have heard the talk about the Duke of Hawthorne. I hear that he is an extravagant man who loves to socialize. The shelves in the dresser are extra deep to fit his considerable wardrobe, and there are chairs and a chaise lounge to entertain friends.”
The public rooms downstairs would be redone to focus on wealth and power and prestige, with as much marble and gold as she could fit into them. But the upstairs rooms would never be on display, so she had personalized the dressing room to suit the man as much as the duke. The bedchamber was meant for the duke and duchess and their duty. But she rather thought that the duke would appreciate the privacy in the dressing room to do what he liked.
“To entertain…friends.” The duchess gave a hollow laugh.
Letty frowned. Surely the duchess knew of the duke’s affairs with other men? But perhaps it had been too familiar of her to have drawn attention to it. Maybe that was what offended her.
