“Are you sure the maid can’t speak?” Dev pressed. “Do you really know what became of Mr. Seaton and where the banns were cried? Just who were Mrs. Seaton’s references?”

“You raise valid questions, but you cannot question that Mrs. Seaton does a splendid job of keeping this house.”

“Absolutely splendid,” Dev agreed, “and she trysts with you in the library.”

“Are you telling me I shouldn’t marry her now?” Westhaven tried for humor but found the question was partly serious.

“You might well end up having to marry her, if last night is any indication,” Dev shot back. “Just make damned sure you know exactly who it is you’re trysting with before the duke gets wind of same.”

Knowing he wouldn’t get any more work done after that discussion, Westhaven left the library in search of his housekeeper. He couldn’t be precisely sure she was avoiding him—again—but he’d yet to see her that day. He found her in her private sitting room and closed the door behind him before she even rose to offer him a curtsy.

“I wish you wouldn’t do that,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. She stiffened immediately.

“I wish you wouldn’t do that,” she retorted, turning away her face when he tried to kiss her.

“You don’t want me holding you?” he asked, kissing her cheek anyway.

“I don’t want you closing the door, taking liberties, and bothering me,” she said through clenched teeth. He dropped his arms and eyed her curiously.

“What is it?”

“What is what?” She crossed her arms over her chest.

“You were willing enough to be bothered last night, Anna Seaton, and it is perfectly acceptable that your employer might want to have a word or two with you privately. Dev said he saw you and Morgan in heated discussion after lunch. Is something troubling you? Those confidences you referred to last night, perhaps?”

“I should not have trusted you with even that much of a disclosure,” Anna said, uncrossing her arms. “You know I intend to seek another position, my lord. I wonder if you’ve written out that character you promised me?”

“I have. Because Val has yet to return, it remains in my desk. You gave me your word we would have the rest of the summer, Anna. Are you dishonoring that promise so soon?”

She turned away from him, which was answer enough for Westhaven.

“I am still here.”

“Anna…” He stole up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I am not your enemy.”

She nodded once, then turned in his arms and buried her face against his throat.

“I’m just… upset.”

“A lady’s prerogative,” he murmured, stroking her back. “The heat has everyone out of sorts, and while I was allowed to sit on my lordly backside for a week, claiming illness, you were expected to be up at all hours.”

She didn’t contradict him, but she did take a deep breath and step back.

“I did not intend to upset you.” The earl offered her a smile, and she returned it just as the door swung open.

“I beg your pardon, my lord.” Stenson drew himself up to his unimpressive height, shot a disdainful glance at Anna, and pulled the door shut again.

“Oh, God.” Anna dropped down onto her sofa. “It needed only that.”

The earl frowned at her in puzzlement. “I wasn’t even touching you. There was a good two feet between us, and Stenson was the one in the wrong. He should have knocked.”

“He never does,” Anna sighed, “and we were not touching, but we looked at one another as something other than housekeeper and employer.”

“Because I smiled at you?”

“And I smiled back. It was not a housekeeper’s smile for her employer.”

“Don’t suppose it was, but it was still just a smile.”

“You need a butler, Westhaven.” Anna rose and advanced on him.

“Any footman can answer the damned door. Why do I need another mouth to feed?”

“Because, a butler will outrank that toadying little buffoon, will be loyal to you rather than the duke’s coin, and will keep the rest of the male servants toeing the line, as well.”

“You have a point.”

“Or you could just get rid of Stenson,” she went on, “or have your brother perpetually travel around the countryside with Stenson in tow.”

“I suppose if Stenson is back, then Val can’t be far behind,” Westhaven observed.

“I have missed him,” Anna said. She looked a trifle disconcerted to have made the admission but let it stand.

“I have, too.” Westhaven nodded. “I miss his music, his irreverence, his humor… How is Dev settling in?”

Anna crossed the room and opened the door before answering his question.

“Well enough, I suppose,” she replied, busying her hands with an arrangement of daylilies. “He doesn’t sleep much, though, and doesn’t seem to have much of a routine.”

“He’ll settle in,” the earl said. “You will let me know when Lord Valentine returns?”

“No need for that.” Val stepped into the room. “I am back and glad to be back. It is too damned hot to travel, and Stenson was unwilling to travel at night. Not a very servile servant, if you ask me, though he does a wicked job with a muddy boot.”

“You.” Westhaven pulled his brother into a hug. “No more haring off for you, sir. Nobody knows how to go on without your music in the house or your deviltry to keep up morale.”

“I will wander no more,” Val said, stepping back, “at least until the heat breaks. I came, though, in search of Miss Morgan.”

“She might be in the kitchen,” Anna said. “More likely she’s reading in the barn. With dinner pushed back these days, she has some free time early in the evening.”

“Val?” The earl stayed his brother’s departure with a hand on his arm. “You should know, in your absence, I’ve asked Dev to bunk in with us. He was without his domestic help, and we have the room.”

“Devlin, here?” Val’s grin was spontaneous. “Oh ye gods and little fishes, that was a splendid idea, Westhaven. If we’re to be stuck in Town with this heat, at least let us have good company and Mrs. Seaton’s conscientious care while we’re here.”

He sailed out of the room, leaving Anna and the earl smiling in his wake.

“Good to have him back safe and sound,” Westhaven said.

“Three for dinner on the terrace, then?” she asked, every inch a housekeeper.

“Three, and I wanted to speak with you about a practical matter.”

“Dinner is very practical.

“Dinner is… yes, well.” He glanced at the door. “I have commissioned a fair amount of furniture for Willow Bend, but the place needs drapes, carpets, and so forth. I’d like you to see to it.”

“You want me to order those things? Shouldn’t your mother or perhaps one of your sisters take that on?”

“Her Grace is bouncing between Town and Morelands and preparing for the summer’s house parties. My sisters have not the expertise, nor do I have the patience for working with them on a project of this nature.”

“But, my lord, one of them will eventually be living there. My tastes cannot possibly coincide with those of a woman I’ve never met.”

“Not possibly.” The earl smiled. “As yours will be better.”

“You should not say such things.” Anna’s frown became a scowl. “It isn’t gentlemanly.”

“It’s brotherly and the truth. Even I know salmon and purple don’t go together, but that’s the kind of scheme my sisters would consider ‘daring,’ or some such. And they would pester me endlessly, while you, as I know from firsthand experience, can turn a house into a home with very little guidance from its owner.”

“I will take this on,” Anna said, chin going up. “Be it on your head if the place turns out looking like one of Prinny’s bad starts. What sort of furniture have you commissioned?”

“Why don’t we finish this discussion in the library?” the earl asked. “I can make you lists, draw you some sketches, and argue with you without every single servant and both brothers hearing me.”

“Give me a few minutes to talk with Cook, and I will join you.”