‘Morning, ma’am.’ The maid poked her head around the door with a bright smile. ‘The master thought you might like breakfast in bed today.’
‘Oh.’ She wriggled up to a sitting position, thoughts of slumber forgotten after all. She’d never had breakfast in bed before, but the idea had always been wickedly tempting. ‘Yes, I would.’
‘Here you go.’ Eliza placed a large tray over her lap, piled high with ham and eggs, toast and jam.
‘You said this was Captain Amberton’s idea?’
‘Yes, ma’am, though he said to wait awhile because you were fast asleep.’
‘I was? I mean...he did?’ She blinked in surprise. How had he known if she was asleep or not when they’d slept in separate bedrooms? ‘Is he having breakfast in his chamber, too?’
‘No, ma’am, he left for the mine two hours ago.’
‘Oh.’ Violet picked up a cup of hot chocolate and sipped at it thoughtfully. They’d had a pleasant dinner together the previous evening, catching up on each other’s news, before Lance had escorted her up to her new chamber and then left her at the door. But if he’d known that she was still asleep that morning, then surely that meant he’d been in her room at some point—to say goodbye, perhaps?
‘He said I should ask if there’s anything else you might fancy?’ Eliza nodded at the tray.
‘Something else?’ Violet echoed the word incredulously. Considering the massive amount of food piled up in front of her, it was hard to imagine what else she could want. ‘No, this is plenty, thank you. Would you like some? Here...’ she patted the bedcover ‘...why don’t you sit down?’
Eliza stole a fleeting look at the door, hesitating for a moment before perching on the edge of the bed.
‘Can I have some toast?’
‘Of course. Jam and butter?’
‘Yes, please. Cook watches how much we have.’
Violet smeared a generous amount on to two pieces of toast, offering one to Eliza and biting into the other herself.
‘The master seems very keen to make you happy.’ Eliza gave her a conspiratorial look. ‘He’s been like a different man this past month, Mrs Gargrave says.’
‘Mrs Gargrave says that?’ Violet swallowed a mouthful of toast in amazement. It was hard to imagine the housekeeper approving of her husband in any way at all. ‘As a compliment?’
‘I think so, as much as she ever gives one anyway.’
‘How has he changed?’
‘Well, for starters, he gets up early in the mornings now and goes to bed at what she calls a reasonable hour. And she hasn’t filled the decanters in a whole month.’
Violet took another bite to stifle a smile. She hadn’t necessarily expected Lance to stick to that part of their bargain while she was away, but apparently he had.
‘And he was eager to get to the station in good time yesterday. Left a whole hour early, Mrs Gargrave says.’
‘Really?’
She felt her cheeks flush with a mixture of embarrassment and pleasure. She was starting to think that Mrs Gargrave said a little too much, not that she wasn’t pleased by the thought of Lance himself being eager to see her. She’d had mixed feelings about seeing him again, but when she’d seen him waiting on the platform, she hadn’t been able to stop her heart doing some kind of jig in her chest. She’d told him that she was glad to be back and it was true. Despite her eagerness to travel and her resolve not to think about him in Scotland, she’d felt more homesick than she’d expected, not for Whitby, but for here...for him.
And yet, something about their relationship seemed to have shifted in her absence as well, as if he really had missed her. The way his eyes had seemed to light up when he’d seen her again had made her want to run into his arms the way Ianthe had into Robert’s. When she’d accidentally brushed her head against his shoulder in the carriage, he’d put his arm around her as if he wanted her close too, even if he had chosen to sleep in a separate bedroom last night. Was he what felt missing from her bed?
Having taken the opportunity of travelling with Ianthe to ask some more pointed questions about that particular aspect of marriage, she was half excited, half alarmed by the idea of sharing a bed with him again. Not that it was going to happen for another seven years. Not unless they changed their minds about their arrangement anyway...
‘Your new sitting room is ready, too,’ Eliza continued. ‘Freshly painted and everything.’
‘My what?’
‘Your sitting room. Captain Amberton said you wanted to use the tower.’
‘Oh!’ She swallowed the last of her hot chocolate and wrenched back the bedcovers, wriggling into a dressing gown. Apparently he really did want her to be happy. The very thought of her new sitting room achieved that. She couldn’t wait another moment to see it!