Page 29 of The Duchess’ Second Chance

“It’s not my favorite either,” Amanda grinned. “Perhaps we can talk to Sampson about a budget for new furnishings. But we must also be prepared for the possibility that he’s attached to these ones and wants to keep them.”

“Who could possibly be attached to this?” Rose frowned at the settee.

“You never know what’s going to matter to a person,” Amanda said. “We can’t assume anything.”

“As the duchess, aren’t you allowed to change whatever you want?”

“I wouldn’t like to assume that either,” Amanda told her. “I’ll always want to ask first. It just seems like the right thing to do.”

Rose sighed. “If you say so.” She moved on to a chair and pulled the covering off of it. Amanda began to do the same with other pieces of furniture.

She tossed the sheets into the center of the room. “Pile them there,” she said. “I’ll figure out what to do with them after we’re finished with this.”

“This chair is nice,” Rose commented, revealing a carved wooden piece. “I think we should keep this one.”

Amanda grinned. “Let’s wait until everything is uncovered and see how it all looks together.”

Soon enough, the task had been accomplished. They stood looking around at all the uncovered furnishings. “It’s very nice,” Rose said. “But everything is in the wrong place, pushed up against walls. We can’t have people over to sit in this room while it’s like this, can we? They wouldn’t be able to carry on a conversation.”

“No, you’re right about that,” Amanda agreed. She pondered the layout of the room. The furnishings would need to be moved, that much was evident.

Rose gathered the sheets in her arms. “May I take these to be laundered?” she asked. “I met the laundry maid the other day when I was exploring, and she said that if I came back another day she would let me help with the laundry.”

“You want to help with the laundry?” Amanda asked. “You know that you don’t have to, right?”

“It looks interesting. And the room where they do it is warm, and it smells nice.”

“All right,” Amanda said. “Take the sheets down, then, if you’d like. Come back and find me when you’re finished so that we can start your lessons.”

“All right!” Rose gathered the sheets and scampered away out of the room.

Amanda sighed, looking around. Rose had been right about one thing. This place was not suitable for company, not yet. The furniture would have to be moved.

She made her way over to the largest chair and braced her hands against the back of it, getting ready to shove it into the center of the room where it might look more appropriate.

“What are you doing?”

She looked up. Sampson was standing in the doorway, a frown dominating his face as he took her in.

A shiver of nervous energy ran down her spine. “I was just…getting this room in order,” she said. “Getting it ready to receive guests, I mean.”

“Did someone ask you to do that?”

“No, of course not. I just thought it might be a good idea,” she said. “I mean, isn’t that one of my responsibilities as duchess? Taking care of the household?”

“Moving furniture is not the responsibility of a duchess,” he said firmly. “We have staff for that. If you wanted to make changes to the household, you should have talked to them, not come in here trying to do it all on your own. You might injure yourself.”

“I’m not going to injure myself,” Amanda protested. “Nothing in here is so heavy that I can’t push it across the floor without getting hurt.”

Sampson sighed. “You’re determined to make things difficult, I see.” He shed his jacket, draping it over the back of the nearest chair. “If we’re going to do this now, then let’s do it.”

“What do you mean?” She blinked in surprise.

“I mean that I’m not going to stand back and allow my wife to move heavy things on her own. And as you seem unwilling to turn the task over to the staff, as you ought to, my only recourse is to help you with it myself.”

“Oh, for…you really don’t have to do that, Sampson.” She flushed. “I have things under control without your help.”

He shook his head. “Don’t even bother trying to convince me,” he said. “I’m not going to let you do this on your own. It’s completely unsafe. It would be just my luck if you were to sustain an injury after all, and then I would be forced to confront the fact that I had failed in my pledge to George. The only thing he asked of me was to make sure you were well cared for, and I don’t think moving heavy objects without supervision is quite what he had in mind.”