Chapter 14

Ellie thought Charles was taking this setback rather well, all in all. He was certainly grumpy, but he was obviously trying to be good-natured about it, even if he wasn't always succeeding.

His impatience showed in a thousand ways. Ellie knew that she would never be able to forget the look on Sally Evans's face as she watched Charles down his entire cup of tea in one extremely fast gulp, clank the cup back onto the saucer, proclaim it the finest beverage of which he'd ever partaken, and grab Ellie's hand and nearly yank her out the front door.

All in ten seconds.

Ellie wanted to be angry with him. She really really did. But she couldn't quite manage it, knowing that his impatience was entirely due to her, to the way he wanted her. And that was too thrilling a feeling for her to ignore.

But it was very important to her that she make a good impression on the villagers, and so when Sally asked if they'd like to inspect the progress on her chimney, Ellie exerted firm pressure on her husband's hand, smiled, and said that they would be delighted.

“It turns out it was a bit more complicated than a regular cleaning,” Sally said as they exited the front door. “There was something stuck…I'm not really certain what.”

“All that matters is that we get it fixed,” Ellie replied as she walked outside. “It has been cold of late and it is only going to get colder.” She spied a ladder leaning against the side of the cottage. “Here, why don't I go up and take a quick look.”

She was only on the second rung when she felt Charles's hands at her waist. In less than a second, she'd been deposited firmly on the ground. “Why don't you stay here,” he countered.

“But I want to see—”

“I'll look, if it's so imperative that one of us do so,” he grumbled.

There was a small crowd of onlookers gathered around the cottage, all visibly impressed by the earl's hands-on approach to land management. Ellie waited in their midst while Charles scaled the ladder, nearly bursting with pride when she heard such comments as, “He's a right one, the earl,” and “Not too hoitytoity to do a spot of work, he is.”

Charles moved across the roof and peered into the chimney. “It looks good,” he called down.

Ellie wondered if he actually had any prior experience with chimneys upon which to base that opinion, but then decided that that didn't really matter. Charles sounded as if he knew what he was talking about, which was all that really mattered to the tenants, and besides, the man who had done the actual work on the chimney was at her side, and he was assuring her that it was as good as new.

“And so Sally won't have any trouble keeping warm this winter?” she asked him.

John Bailstock, the mason and chimney sweep, replied, “None at all. In fact, she—”