Page 65 of All For You

“Hello, Ms. Bennet. I’m the housekeeper here.”

“You have a stunning place,” I said. “So beautifully cared for.”

“Thank you, it’s been a pleasure to work here for forty years. I’ve known Darcy—” She blinked. “Excuse me, young Mr. Wainwright and his brother, since they were lads.”

“Mrs. Reynolds, would you mind showing Lizzy around a little while I work?” Tabitha asked.

“Of course not.YoungMr. Wainwright always encourages us to welcome new visitors. You know what he’s like. I beg your pardon. Maybe you don’t. Have you met him, ma’am?” she asked me.

“Once or twice.” I trained a pleasant expression onto my face.

“Then you’d know how he is. He’s so kind and generous and so easy to be around. Such a good man.”

I’d glimpsed sides of him where he was likable, a good man, that last night dancing, hay baling, jumping into the river, even the dog training. But he’d proven otherwise in how he’d influenced his brother, and he could be judgmental, rude, and interfering.

She touched my arm gently. I must have zoned out.

“Would you like me to come with you and point out the main attractions?” she asked.

“I don’t want to trouble you,” I said.

Darcy wasn’t here, but I pictured him everywhere—striding through the door, looking out the window, finding fault with everything he saw, annoyed that the sky wasn’t blue enough, the grass not sufficiently green. And now that the housekeeper had met me, wouldn’t she tell him I’d been here? I imagined the scowl. But that wasn’t how she presented him at all.

In fact, it sounded like he was a good delegator and appreciative. But then there were all the events, strangers in his house. How did he handle all this? Or did he spend a lot of time in his apartments, sort of living over the shop?

“Oh, it’s no trouble at all, and I’m so proud of this place,” the housekeeper said. “It’s a treat for me to give tours, as we have a full staff who usually do them. As you could probably imagine. We have three hundred thousand visitors a year.”

Three hundred thousand visitors?This was a huge business—I didn’t know why I expected it not to be—and he ran a property development company down in London too. No wonder he was so grumpy arriving at the Amor Inn that first night.Still, that didn’t excuse everything that came after his arrival.

“Gosh, that many?” I said. “That’s impressive.”

“It’s a lot of people to keep happy and interested, but we do.”

She led us down a long, wide hallway glittering with chandeliers, our footfalls softened by traditional red carpeting.

I tensed, expecting Darcy to walk toward us any moment.

“You’ve worked here for forty years?” I asked. “You must have seen lots of changes.”

The way she affectionately mentionedyoungMr. Wainwright made me wonder about the old Mr. Wainwright, Darcy’s father. But I was sure she wouldn’t let slip any opinions about him.

“Yes, and all good changes when it comes to the young Mr. Wainwright.”

We walked past room after carpeted formal room—a music room, a drawing room, and a proper ballroom. The grandeur was head-spinning.

And yet somehow with the views out to the hills and lake, the vast space wasn’t as overwhelming as I would have expected. In one beautiful drawing room, I paused and imagined a couple living here and having a regular life. This home was stately, made for grand gatherings, and yet there was something peaceful and human-sized about the other rooms—the library, the smaller dining room. I wasn’t sure if it was because of all the light on both sides, the views softened through roses and elm trees and broken-down arches. Something about the views brought me peace, then made my spirits soar.

“Let’s go to the sculpture room,” Mrs. Reynolds said.

“So you’ve known young Mr. Wainwright since he was born?” I asked, wondering if maybe he’d had a more difficult childhood than I knew about, growing up with this kind of money. It might not all be easy. Maybe isolating. Was that why he was difficult as an adult?

She nodded. “Most of the staff have worked here for decades, and the Wainwrights are two of the nicest lads you’d find anywhere. Since the young Mr. Wainwright took over, he’s made a lot of changes. All for the good. He wants to hold free events that include more of the villagers. I’m one of the traditional ones here who doesn’t like change, but the village needs this place to gather, to be a central hub they’re proud of and feel comfortable in. Though, making this estate more accessible to all does mean we have to make more money from the events wedocharge for. So it’s more pressure.” She took in an almost imperceptible breath. “Oh, listen to me running at the mouth. I’m being indiscreet. It’s that he’s so thoughtful about other people who don’t have the same privileges, even though that makes it harder to turn a profit.”

She made him sound genuinely thoughtful. But how could that be true of the man I’d met? “Oh, that’s quite the praise, then.”

“Both of the boys are wonderful.” She laughed. “Most of the staff have stayed on since he took over. Why would you go anywhere else? He is the kindest, most generous employer, a joy to work for.” She chuckled. “Workwith,he keeps telling us—we are workingtogether—but that’s him. He has all these modern ideas about respecting each other and what we contribute. We do laugh about it a little. I’m old-school, and I can’t get used to not simply following orders.”

I nodded numbly, still struggling to reconcile the man I’d interacted with who loved to give orders and the warm one she was describing.