Maria bit down on her lip. Complaint, no. She would not wish to do that on the first day of their marriage.
“I would not say that I am complaining,” Maria managed her tone carefully. “But I am merely pointing out that you seemed to look more at the wall than you did at me, or at the guests.”
“Did you not wish for me to look at the guests?” Stephen asked. There was a hint of amusement in his voice now. “They did the trouble of attending our wedding. It would be considered a rude thing not to acknowledge them.”
Maria shot him a look. “Yes, but was it really necessary for you to look at only them the entire time, and ignore your wife entirely?”
“Perhaps that was what was required of me,” Stephen replied.Infuriating, Maria thought. He seemed to have a ready-made answer to everything.
“How thoughtful. One cannot fault you for attention to hospitality,” she said in a dry voice. “But I was merely pointing out to you something which I noticed.”
“You are observant, yes,” his tone was amused again, and Maria wondered if he extracted some sort of joy from riling her up in this manner. “I shall keep that in mind.”
“I suspect that there will be many new things that you shall discover about me now,” she said. She did not know where the confidence had come from, but she was not going to shrink herself.
It was true that she already did feel comfortable around him. Maybe it was because he had given her those lessons before they had gotten married, or maybe there was just something comforting about the way they were around each other.
Comforting and difficult both,she corrected herself. Their personalities seemed to be at odds for the most part, and she did not know how that was going to be resolved over the course of a marriage.
“Hmm,” was all that he said in response. She waited for him to continue, but it was as though he had run out of things to say to her now.
The rest of the drive passed with the measured patience of two people determined not to quarrel, or perhaps just ignore each other a tad bit more.
Verwood House received them well. And Stephen was quick to lead her to her chambers.
“These are yours,” he said at the door of a bright suite. “If anything displeases you, have it changed and do not worry in the slightest.”
She walked a slow circuit, hands tucked into her gloves so he would not see them shake.
“It is all… possible,” she said. “That is praise, in case you wondered.”
He nodded once and set a small ring of keys on the desk.
“Mrs. Walsh answers to you in domestic matters; I in none. The nursery is shut; you may ignore it. The chapel needs no attention beyond flowers. If you prefer another paper in the sitting room, choose it.”
“You have prepared everything,” she said, the words straight.
“That was the point.”
“It usually is,” she said.
He let that pass.
“Tea is ordered for four. Supper at eight, plain. I will be in the library until six.” He glanced toward the window. “It suits in the afternoon.”
She turned from the window to him.
“And a husband,” she said. “Does a husband suit here as well, or do I expect him in some other room by appointment only?”
He held her gaze just long enough to confirm he’d heard the question.
“You will not often be put to the inconvenience.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I have work,” he said. “Town, chambers, the estate offices. We will keep a sensible schedule. It prevents bruised expectations.”
“Whose?”