She smiled, kissed him and stayed in his arms for a long moment. "May I see the rest of the house?"
"Of course."
Each time they walked down a hall or entered an occupied room, the servants quickly scattered and he was beginning to see why. He showed her the first five rooms on the west side of the bottom floor and opened the door to the sixth.
On the floor lay several pool cues and a set of balls. "A billiard room, how quaint. It is missing a billiard table, dearest," Olivia purred.
"I have much yet to purchase."
"So you said." She waited while he opened the door to the next room and found it completely empty. "What shall you have here?"
She was being so much more pleasant now, and he found it difficult to ignore just how much he loved this Olivia. Adultery was such an ugly sin, but other men had managed to forgive their wives. With the right kind of sincere apology, maybe he could too…in time. "I thought it suitable for a day nursery."
"It is a pleasant room and one that the maids can come to much faster than one upstairs. Indeed, it will make a fine day nursery."
He meant to avoid one of the rooms, but forgot which one it was until after he opened the door.
"What's this?" she asked.
"'Tis a servant's dayroom for Donnel and Blanka."
"A dayroom on the bottom floor?"
"They are old."
"They are not that old. A servant's room down here is quite inappropriate."
"'Tis hard to ask them to climb the stairs. Donnel is in her late sixties and Blanka is not much younger."
"Yes, I know, and they have been with you forever." She sweetly smiled and took his arm. "Perhaps it is permissible when there are no guests."
He was about to argue the point further, when he stepped back into the hallway and found Alistair waiting for him.
"Dinner is served, Your Grace."
He noticed the more formal way the butler addressed him, but ignored it for now. "Thank you, Alistair, we shall be there directly."
"As you wish." Alistair bowed and then hurried away.
"My how the time flies," she said, "I had no idea it was so late. Which way?"
He put his arm around her and guided her down the hall, back across the parlor and into the dining room. She did not recognize the American who waited to serve them and simply disregarded him.
"Is McKenna not joining us?" Hannish asked as Keith held a chair for Olivia.
"She wished to give you time alone, Your Grace."