"The household is well established. It will not require any significant adjustment from you."
"I have been told as much, yes."
Julian inclined his head slightly, as though confirming that the matter was settled. The conversation had moved on deliberately, and Eleanor did not endeavor to return to the other matter.
For a moment, she remained where she was, her attention no longer on the house, nor the staff, nor anything he had just said.
His question as to how she had persuaded Lily to engage with her as she had lingered, not because of the wording, but because it suggested that something had been done, that Lily’s ease required explanation, or intervention. Eleanor glanced in the direction Lily had gone, where the sound of movement could still be heard faintly through the garden.
It had not felt like persuasion. It had not felt like effort at all.
She turned back to Julian, though he had already moved on from it, his attention directed elsewhere, the moment closed as neatly as he closed everything else.
Eleanor said nothing, but the question remained.
CHAPTER 8
Julian had not intended to remain in the garden.
He had gone there in search of his sister, expecting to find her where she usually was at that hour, not leaving the boundaries he had set and occupied in a respectable manner. The routine had been established carefully. It was a reliable one, something that they had agreed upon.
What he had found instead had not aligned with any part of it.
Lily did not behave that way, not ordinarily. She did not laugh without restraint, did not do whatever she pleased without first wondering whether or not it would be permitted. She was attentive, measured, accustomed to order every bit as much as he was.
And yet…
Julian’s gaze had settled on them before either of them had noticed him. He had not interrupted, for once he knew that they were safe there had been no immediate reason to do so. He planned to speak with his sister about it eventually, but doing so in the moment would only have upset her.
And so, he had simply watched Lily moving without hesitation, speaking without pause, entirely unguarded in a way he had not seen in…
He could not immediately place when. Her attention was fixed on Eleanor, not seeking approval nor checking herself, but continuing as though nothing about the interaction required any caution at all.
It had been unfamiliar.
And for Eleanor, there had been no visible effort in it. He saw no attempt to direct or control. She had followed Lily’s lead without diminishing it, answered without correcting, allowed the moment to exist without shaping it into something more structured.
It had not resembled instruction, it had not resembled management, and it worked. The image remained with him long after Lily had run off.
Eleanor had fallen into step beside him without comment. The path curved ahead of them, leading away from the more open part of the garden into a quieter area.
"You have established yourself here very quickly," he said.
Eleanor glanced at him.
"Have I? I do not believe that I have done very much at all."
"The staff appear to have accepted your presence without difficulty."
"They are efficient," she replied. "It would be inconvenient for them not to."
"That is certainly one interpretation."
"It is the correct one, I believe."
Julian allowed that to stand.
"And my sister," he added after a moment.