‘But it is already May! Surely you cannot seriously expect it all to be done in such a short time?’
‘I have quite set my mind to it—and when I set my mind to something, Mrs Prim, I usually get it. And I can be very persuasive.’
He winked at her saucily. In her entire life nobody had ever winked at her, and she felt her lips purse in consternation. If she had not been pretending to be a servant she would have given him a proper set-down. As it was, she had to settle for stony, disapproving silence.
‘You can go through all the catalogues and then show me a selection of the most suitable wallpapers. I shall have to trust you to make a great deal of decisions in my absence, Mrs Prim. In the meantime, I will sort out your household accounts.’
She could tell by the way his eyes drifted to a pile of papers stacked haphazardly on the desk that his attention was already elsewhere, so she inclined her head and went to walk away.
‘By the way, sir,’ she said as an afterthought, ‘my name is Mrs Preston—not Mrs Prim.’
A slow smile crept over his face. ‘I am well aware of that, madam.’
Ross was awoken by the spring sunshine streaming through his bedchamber window and decided that he needed to add thicker curtains to his growing list of things to buy. At the best of times he was not a morning person, but the sun in the countryside was definitely more invasive than it was in the city. It had a piercing quality that could not be ignored, no matter how hard he tried to.
To make matters worse, he could hear too many noises outside in the hallway again. In the fortnight during which he had intermittently lived at Barchester Hall, the sounds of Mrs Prim and her battalion of maids had woken him on a number of occasions, with their rattling buckets and clattering brooms.
Irritated, he threw the bedcovers back, dragged himself out of bed and trudged heavily towards the door. Clearly, if he was ever going to get some rest, it was time he made them understand that he really did not like being awake this early.
‘What is all this blasted noise?’ he barked as he threw open the door.
Two young maids and his prickly housekeeper dropped the linens they were carrying and stared at him open-mouthed. Only then did he remember that he was only wearing his drawers. Now that he no longer lived in bachelor lodgings he should probably purchase a dressing gown, he realised as the two maids giggled shyly behind their hands at the sight of his bare chest. Out of habit, he grinned wolfishly at them, well aware that he looked pretty good in his birthday suit. The maids happily grinned back.
‘Mr Jameson!’
He could not help but notice that Mrs Prim-and-Proper was not giggling at the spectacle. She turned towards the two maids angrily, her face glowing beetroot-red, and pointed at the pile of sheets on the floor.
‘Take those downstairs at once.’
They nodded in unison and scurried away, leaving Ross alone with the woman on the landing. To rile her, he braced his arms on the doorframe above his head and smiled innocently while she did her level best not to meet his eyes. Those same eyes kept flicking to his bare chest, though, he noticed, and he was prepared to bet money that she liked what she saw.
‘Good morning, Mrs Prim. How are you today?’ he asked cheerfully, still braced against the door to show his biceps off to their best effect.
‘Mr Jameson.’
She was all pink, outraged and flustered, and the spectacle made him smile.
‘It is not proper for you to wander around so freely in your underclothes.’
‘Is it not?’ Ross responded as he idly scratched his stomach and watched her eyes lock on to that spot. ‘I do apologise. But seeing as I was rudely awoken by all the noise you were making I do think that I should be excused. I am never fully compos mentis at the crack of dawn.’
Immediately, her gaze shot back to his face and she stared at him accusingly over the rim of her glasses. She did that a lot, he realised—and always over the rims of her thick lenses, never through them. If she did not need the awful spectacles for distance he had no idea why she would wear them. They were an abomination on her face.
‘Mr Jameson, this house is, as you have rightly pointed out, in a shabby and neglected state. We are presently doing our best to clean out the bedchambers, ready for the tradesmen to begin their renovations. That requires the maids to work in them. Already it is past midday—not the crack of dawn, as you claim—and we waste several hours every day waiting for you to be awake. Perhaps if you kept more regular hours then you would not be so tired in the mornings.’
For emphasis, Hannah folded her arms across her chest and stoically held her ground. She would not allow the sight of his naked body to distract her.
Although it was quite distracting... He had interesting muscles all over the place. And hair. Fine dark hair dusted his chest, and a thin trail of it bisected his navel and disappeared into his drawers. To make matters worse he had crossed his own arms, mirroring her posture, and this caused the muscles in his upper arms to bulge significantly in a way that made her breath hitch.
‘You dare to lecture me on my bedtime, Mrs Prim? Have you been keeping track of the hours I keep? I did not know that you cared.’
He raised his dark eyebrows suggestively and she felt a hot, guilty blush stain her cheeks. She had become a little preoccupied with his nocturnal activities.
His voice dropped to a silky whisper. ‘Do you disapprove?’
‘The hours that you keep and how you choose to spend them are not my concern, sir,’ she finally bit out. ‘But the hours that the servants keep are. The maids start at six o’clock. Are you suggesting that I pay them for standing idle for hours on end while you are still abed? That is not going to get this house finished by the end of the summer.’
His green eyes narrowed in assessment and then he cheerfully shrugged in surrender. ‘You are right, as always, Mrs Prim. I am still working to town hours. Now that I am intent on rusticating for the summer I should make more of an effort to get up in the morning. Add a cockerel to the list of things I need to buy. I shall endeavour to drag myself from my pit the moment that he crows.’
Hannah nodded curtly, refusing to be amused by his roguish charm. The man was a snake, after all. She needed to remember that. ‘As you wish, sir. I shall also add a dressing gown to the list.’
Clearly the woman was a mind-reader. ‘Does the sight of my near nude body bother you, Mrs Prim?’
He was laughing at her—she could hear it in his voice despite her resolutely avoiding his eyes. Of course the sight of his naked body bothered her. Hannah had never actually seen a man without his clothes on—not that she could admit that as a supposed widow. Nor could she admit that the sight of his fascinated her far too much—although she suspected he knew that already.
‘On the contrary, Mr Jameson.’ Her eyes locked with his defiantly. ‘I find your shameless displaying of it to all and sundry crass. A gentleman would never behave in such a manner. He would have more respect for the impressionable young maids in his employ.’
He sighed and pretended to be contrite. ‘You are quite right again, Prim. Thank goodness I have you here to correct my errant ways. Sometimes I can be a very naughty boy.’
Hannah glared back at him, unfazed. ‘So I have read, Mr Jameson. In fact there is another story about you in the newspapers this morning. Something about a vicar’s daughter, I believe, although I could not be bothered to read it all. I suppose we should be thankful that your indiscretions are kept in London and that none of the maids can read.’
Then she turned and scurried down the hallway before he could use his abundant charm again. That was the problem,