Page 123 of A Duchess to Fight For
“Ah, the tea.” Percy waited until the servant retreated.
“As I was saying, as soon as the wedding is over, I ask if you would take on the task of redecorating this entire townhouse. It hasn’t been done since I was a child. Now that we will be entertaining, it sorely needs your attention. You will, of course, have an unlimited budget. I want your home to be one you are proud to entertain in.”
Louisa looked around the room. “It is a bit dated. Is there a particular theme or colour scheme you had in mind?”
“Theme? Do houses have themes?”
Louisa laughed. “Yes. Roman, Greek, French, country . . .”
Percy put up his hand to stop her. “Can’t you see my eyes glazing over, Louisa? I want to know nothing about any of it. Including colours. I will not need to know the particulars. Except my office. We will tackle that last, I think.
“Do you think you could start a month or two after we return from our honeymoon?”
“I think,” Louisa said slowly, “there are rooms that should be started shortly after we come home from our honeymoon. Two rooms I would like to tackle would be this parlour and our bedchamber. If the bedchamber is as bad as this, I would be motivated to change it.”
Percy put down his teacup. “Let’s take a tour. Try not to gasp in every single room.”
She seemed to like the idea of redecorating the townhouse. Percy hoped so. It sorely needed it. He wanted her to be happy. And busy. It wouldn’t do to have his bride sitting around with too much time on her hands. She might decide it was a mistake to marry him.
By the time the redecorating was finished, Percy hoped she would have something else to occupy her time. Like an heir.
“And here is the nursery. It’s rather large. You always talked about having a small family, so if you want to knock down a wall to make it smaller, that can be arranged.”
Louisa looked up at him. “Not so small. At least two. Maybe three.”
He pulled her into him. “Whatever you want. I hope to have an heir if you can arrange it.”
She laughed. “I’ll see what I can do.”
