Her Villain by S.M. LaViolette & Minerva Spencer

Author:S.M. LaViolette & Minerva Spencer [LaViolette, S.M. & Spencer, Minerva]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crooked Sixpence Press
Published: 2024-05-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

The morning after their trip to the dress shop David left early but made sure to leave Callie a letter with an official banking seal and her name. It authorized her to spend to her heart’s content and have the bills sent to him.

Halfway through her first day at her new job, Callie realized that taking charge of a huge house was going to require a great deal of thought, time, and effort. At least if she was going to do it properly. It had initially seemed like she was getting the better of the bargain, but the more Callie pondered all that she had to do, the more she realized that she would be working far more hours for David than she had ever done at the tea shop.

She had believed the job of spending his money wouldn’t just be simple, it would also be easy and enjoyable. But once Callie had the purchasing power, her expectations subtly shifted. She now had so many choices to make that it was harder than not having any money.

Well, not quite, but close.

“More maids?” Mrs. Jenkins barked when Callie mentioned hiring a parlor maid, a chamber maid, and a scullery maid.

“Yes. Mr. Remington wishes to engage a full-time staff.”

Mrs. Jenkins’s eyebrows shot up so far it looked as if they might launch right off her forehead. Whether she was disconcerted because Callie had referred to David by his surname when she usually just called him David, or because David wanted a houseful of servants, Callie wasn’t sure.

“Am I to be consulted?” Mrs. Jenkins asked, her fists on her hips.

“I am consulting you.”

“Who said I wanted a fulltime position?”

“Do you?”

Mrs. Jenkins stared for a long moment and then said, “I might.”

Callie wanted to roll her eyes. “If you want it, you must tell me because the position of cook is one that I will need to fill otherwise.”

“I just said I might, dint I?”

“I am sure Mr. Remington would be very pleased if you agreed to work fulltime.”

Mrs. Jenkins grunted, no doubt a habit she’d picked up from David. “As it ‘appens, I might know a footman and some maids. But I don’t know no ‘ousekeepers nor butlers.” She said the last two words like they were diseases a person contracted while engaging in unsavory activities in foreign climes.

“There will need to be somebody to direct the servants, Mrs. Jenkins.”

“I reckon I’ve been doing that already.”

Callie told herself to have patience. “Are you saying that is something you would want to continue doing?”

“For proper wages.”

And so it went.

After two hours of bargaining and prodding and cozening, she had a cook/housekeeper and the names of three maids and a footman, all of whom would come for interviews on the morrow.

None would live in—that was one thing David had specified—which suited Mrs. Jenkins down to the ground as she had Mr. Jenkins and numerous small Jenkinses at home.

By the time two o’clock came around—the time Callie would have been finishing up work at the tea shop—she was exhausted.

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