Page 125 of A Duchess to Fight For
“I will leave you Sir John except to say my brother Hobart just left to meet with Donny Williams. He wants to persuade Donny to come down and take a look at the stables. Hobart is as much a horse lover as Donny. Both want to avoid putting down a horse that should be out to pasture.
“I hope you don’t object. We didn’t know how my conversation with you would go, and Hobart got ahead of himself.”
Frederick stood then so did Sir John. Sir John bowed then walked Frederick to the front door. “I can’t tell you how much your visit means to me. Thank you for coming.”
Sir John bowed again, and Frederick left.
*****
Percy was uncharacteristically grumpy. He paced while his trunks were being hoisted to the roof of the second carriage, the carriage his valet and two additional footmen were travelling in. They were supposed to leave at sun up. At this rate, they would leave at sundown, if they were lucky.
He had said goodbye to Louisa over dinner last evening. She cried. She didn’t want him to go. He sighed. He should just take Gordon Castle apart stone by stone.
After two and a half days and two stops at coaching inns, Percy made it to Gordon Castle. Or maybe he should call it Gordon rubble. It was worse than he thought. He shouldn’t have ignored the place.
Winters met him at the carriage. They went straight to Percy’s office to talk.
“Where’s the whisky, Winters?”
Winters opened the cabinet near the desk and took out a decanter and a glass. “Take out a glass for you. You’re probably going to need it.”
A servant he didn’t recognize brought tea and refreshments. When Percy raised an eyebrow, Winters said he needed to hire servants from the village for Percy’s stay. He had been living without them.
“We’ll take a tour. Before we do, what is your opinion, Winters? Should we dismantle this place and build something new from scratch?”
Winters leaned back in his chair. He had known Percy since he was a boy, so there was an informal rapport between the two that suited both of them well.
“If we’re talking money, it would cost you about the same to get this place to the way it should be as it would cost to build a new place. I’m attached to this place and don’t want to see it go. It could be as comfortable as something new once the renovations were done.
“I guess what I’m saying is the money isn’t going to decide for you. It will cost about the same. It comes down to this, Percy. Do you like the place or not?”
“Winters, what is the cost difference to maintain either place?”
“Once it’s back to the way we want it? None. It’s not a money issue.”
“Let’s go take a look.”
Percy and Winters went into every room and talked about what needed to be done. The butler found them and asked Percy when he wanted to eat. Percy looked at his watch, shocked that it was nine o’clock.
He told the butler to tell Cook he wanted to eat now. He told Winters that he wanted to continue to talk about renovations through dinner.
They agreed to meet the next morning to finish the tour and tackle what areas needed attention first.
Percy went to his room with a cognac and parchment. His old desk still had a quill and a sealed bottle of ink.
He missed her. Three days on the road and one day in the Castle, and all he could do was wonder what she would think of the place. This project was going to take every day, ten-hour days to make a dent in it.
Thank God Winters knew what he was doing. After he left for the wedding, he wouldn’t be back for at least six months. The honeymoon and the townhouse redecoration would take at least that long.
He couldn’t leave Louisa in the house with workers coming and going. Even if she stayed at Frederick’s, she couldn’t supervise them without a man around. Wallpaper hangers would be in the bedchambers. No, it would be at least six months.
Percy got Winters to hire workers. Many workers. Percy would supervise one project, and Winters would supervise another.
He hired a gardener and two assistants. He explained what he wanted then let them get to work. He checked the progress every day and was pleased with it.
Cook made a noontime meal for the workers. A buffet-style table was set up, and the workers sat wherever they wanted.
Percy knew that for some of them, it was their only meal of the day. He encouraged them to take leftovers home. He told Cook to make more food so the workers had more leftovers.
