They beamed back at her. She obviously had the knack with staff, he thought as Michael took his hat and gloves and Sophia went towards the stairs with Chivers. ‘Tea in the drawing room in fifteen minutes, please, Hawksley,’ she said decisively. ‘At what time would you wish dinner, Mr Chatterton? Or do you dine out this evening?’
He looked at her poised, one hand on the banister, her willowy figure half-turned to look back at him, expecting him to leave her alone on their wedding night and apparently quite composed about it. What did that say about her expectations of him? ‘I shall dine at home. Seven-thirty, my dear, if that would suit.’
Sophia coloured a little at the endearment, but nodded to Mrs Datchett and Hawksley and followed the maid upstairs. Cal stood and watched until she vanished around the turn of the stair. His wife in his house. It was curiously, and unexpectedly, pleasant. And he would have neither, he realised, if it had not been for the shipwreck and Daniel’s death. This charming, gentle young woman would be his sister-in-law.
‘Sir?’
Cal hauled himself out of the deep pit of his thoughts. ‘Yes, Hawksley?’
To his credit the other man did not flinch at the tone. ‘Wilkins is above stairs, sir.?
?
His new English valet of a few months was a pernickety little man, much given to tutting under his breath at outrages such as a creased cuff or a loose button. Cal had not asked his body servant Ardash to leave his home and family to travel with him to England, and thank God he had not, or the poor devil would likely be dead by now. On the ship he had got used to looking after himself, but one of his first acts on arriving in London had been to find a man to maintain the standards of appearance and dress the Company’s Court of Directors would expect.
‘You moved my things down from the main bedroom and organised the room on the first floor for my use? Excellent. Then send hot water up, if you please.’ He climbed the stairs to his new chamber, a safe one floor below the one that was now his wife’s. He had every intention of visiting her bedchamber regularly, but he would choose his time, not succumb to the urge to make love to her just because she was next door. And with a floor between them there was no risk he would disturb her when the nightmares seized him.
Wilkins put down a pile of linens and bowed. He seemed to feel that his master’s new status as a married man required some formality. Cal looked around the room to distract himself. It would do, although it seemed dark and rather bland.
‘The valises are here, sir. I will have madam’s heavy trunk carried up whilst you are at tea. Do you require a change of linen now?’
What he would like was a cold bath, Cal thought with an inward grimace. He shrugged out of his coat and surveyed the state of his cuffs. ‘No, this will do until I change for dinner.’ He rolled up his sleeves as Andrew the footman came in with a jug of water. ‘For later, the swallowtail coat and evening breeches and the striped silk stockings.’ He must signal the importance of their first dinner as man and wife with suitable attention. ‘And I want flowers for the dining room and my wife’s bedchamber. Andrew, will you organise that as soon as possible?’
‘Sir. I’ll go along to Shepherd’s Market at once. Shall I get roses if I can? They may have some hothouse ones, sir.’ Andrew looked as though he was bright enough to choose the right thing.
‘Yes. Something pretty and elegant. Deep pink, if possible. Do not stint on quality or quantity.’ Callum probed at his own motives as he tied a fresh neckcloth. Was he attempting to woo his new bride? Or was this some sort of apology for that afternoon at Long Welling when he had so shocked her by his ardour? He caught his valet’s eye in the mirror and smoothed the frown off his forehead. What did it matter, so long as Sophia was not unhappy and the household ran smoothly?
‘Buy flowers regularly. Use your discretion unless Mrs Chatterton expresses a wish for anything in particular.’ In India flowers and garlands were available in lavish abundance, for a few paice. Here they would be more of a luxury, an easy way to make Sophia feel that he was paying attention to her comfort.
She was sitting in the drawing room with tea pot and cups arrayed in front of her when he came down: a picture of domesticity. Cal thought she looked chilly, although he would have been hard pressed to explain why. He took the seat opposite and accepted a cup from her hands. ‘Thank you. Is it me, or is this room dull? I never noticed it before.’ He had bought the house from another bachelor.
Perhaps her presence in it, the little vignette of femininity she created, showed up the bland masculinity of the rest of the room. ‘A trifle.’ Sophia fished in her cup with the mote spoon to remove a stray tea leaf.
‘Shall we move? I am sure we could find something else soon enough. You can choose somewhere you like.’ He found he wanted to please her.
‘One cannot simply pack up and shift houses just because one does not like the wallpaper, Callum!’
‘Why ever not? It is commonplace in India to move house at the drop of a hat.’
‘But I like the house itself,’ she protested. ‘It is just that it isn’t ours yet, not like Long Welling is. Will be.’ A soft pink colour tinged her cheeks. He liked the way it made her look, and he liked, he discovered, the fact that he was able to make her blush.
Best not to pursue that now. But it was strange how attached she was to the old house even after it had been the scene of their first falling-out. ‘But we will come to feel at home here, I am sure,’ Sophia added hurriedly.
Cal crossed his legs to disguise the effect that thoughts of Long Welling’s master bedroom were having on him. ‘Redecorate as you wish. It needs to be fit for entertaining.’ Sophia brightened and he realised that he had done something that gave her pleasure. It was about time, he thought, mentally kicking himself. His had hardly been a considerate courtship. Not a courtship at all, just a demand. ‘Do the whole house, if you wish. My bedchamber is dull, too.’
‘How much—?’
‘Whatever it needs. I trust you not to indulge in embossed Spanish leather wall hangings, Egyptian-style chaises and full Meissen dinner services.’
‘Oh, but I am so tempted,’ Sophia said. ‘Just think, I will be able to obtain all the most fashionable journals now I am in London. I can follow the latest style, the most outrageous mode.’ Her blue eyes danced as she teased him and warmth stirred inside. Desire, certainly, but something unfamiliar, comfortable and comforting too. ‘When shall we go and view the showrooms and warehouses?’
She wanted him to come with her? No, surely not. She was just checking that he did not wish to supervise her expenditure. It had been fun to furnish a house with Dan and they had haunted the auction houses and the bazaars together. But now, without him? No, too many ghosts.
Dan would have loved it and would have indulged his peacock tendencies to the full. He would have chosen some outrageous and impractical wallpaper, teased Sophia into giggles with improper remarks about bed hangings and bought frivolous gadgets just for the fun of it. But there was so little between Sophia and himself to build upon, and he did not want to spoil her enjoyment in doing up the house just as she wanted it.
‘Callum?’ Sophia said, her head on one side, that smile curving her lips. It was only a shopping expedition, yet somehow he felt as though he was facing a test of real importance.
‘You will have to do that yourself,’ Callum said, bending forwards to put his cup down. ‘I will be too busy for shopping and, besides, the house is your realm. Take one of the footmen and your maid.’