Page 21 of The Seaside Homecoming
He barked a laugh. “Of course you are.” He looked over and noticed Mary. “And who is this?”
“Mary is a skilled housemaid.”
“I did not advertise for a maid.”
With a glance at Mary’s pale, anxious face, Claire lifted her chin a fraction higher. “Perhaps not, but you did advertise for a respectable female, and respectable females do not travel unaccompanied.”
“I see. Well. Come inside and we shall discuss it.”
He opened the front door and, after scraping off his shoes, led the way inside. As she followed, she noticed that although he was of average height, his shoulders were markedly broad.
They entered a long entry hall with a narrow table beneath a mirror, pegs along one wall, and three doors on the other. Stairs at the far end led to the floors above.
He stowed his stick and hat in a closet, then gestured them through the first open door. The modest room held a table bearing the remnants of breakfast, a small settee, and a cluttered desk positioned to take advantage of the sunlight from an east-facing window.
“Pardon the disarray,” he said. “We use this morning room as informal dining parlour, sitting room, and office. Guests eat in the formal dining room next door. We have only a few guests at present, but hopefully business will return to previous levels soon.”
Tossing his gloves upon a pile of papers, he opened his mouth, hesitated, then with a glance at Mary said, “Perhaps your maid might wait in the hall while we discuss things?”
“Aye, sir.” Mary bobbed a curtsy, retreating back into the hall and pulling the door closed behind herself.
When she had gone, he began. “As I said, I don’t know that I wish to hire a housemaid.”
In reply, Claire ran a gloved hand over the fireplace mantel, held up a dusty finger, and then gestured to the crumb-speckled table. “Pray, do not be offended, but the place is not as clean and neat as it should be. An experienced maid will be a great asset.”
“The woman who owned this place before me made do with a cook and scullery maid.”
“Then clearly that woman did a great deal of housework herself, and you do not.”
“Very true.” He gestured for her to be seated in a chair facing the desk.
She complied, and he sat as well. Now at closer range, she noticed faint freckles in the lighter skin beneath his green eyes, and deep parenthetical grooves from nose to lower cheek. The left groove was more prominent due, she guessed, to a habitual lopsided grin.
Trying to sound businesslike, she asked, “So what is your part in this partnership?”
“My part? I bought the place, which cost far more than fifty pounds, I assure you.”
“And once you take on a partner, you intend to have no part in the day to day?”
“As little as possible.”
“Then why, may I ask, did you buy a boarding house?”
“No, you may not ask.”
Claire opened her mouth to protest but then changed tack. “You mentioned hoping business will return to previous levels soon. Has the place been closed?”
“Briefly, after the former owner married and while we made some needed refurbishments.”
We?Again Claire wondered about the woman who’d answered the door.
“It has taken time to settle in and grow accustomed to things here. Therefore I have been somewhat lax, as you’ve noticed. I am also tardy in announcing the reopening under new management. One of our guests was already acquainted with the place from previous stays. The other is an acquaintance of mine. I trust we shall begin operating at full capacity now you’re here.”
Nerves kneaded her stomach like cat claws. “I am to fill it?”
“Yes, as well as to help manage it. Why do you think I wanted a partner?”
“For my fifty pounds.”
