Chapter 54

“You’re a talented architect,” Lady Eugenia assured me as she instructed the men where to place the furniture. She had a memory like a steel trap. I never would have remembered where each piece was supposed to go, even though I’d lived there for most of my life. “No, no! That console table goes against the far wall. Yes, that’s much better.”

“But…”

She gave my arm a shake, just as she would do when I was a small boy, and I smiled at the memory, momentarily soothed. “Your father will appreciate what you’ve accomplished here. And he’s going to be very pleased with the observatory you’ve built for him.”

“Yes.” But I knew my doubt was obvious in that one word when Lady Eugenia sighed.

She rested her palm against my cheek. “Go put some sticking plasters on your fingers before you bleed all over Sir John. And try not to worry.”

“Yes,” I said again, but as I walked away to find the items she’d suggested, I resumed worrying the torn cuticle of a thumbnail.