Aurora looked down at him, stretched out there as if he already owned the place. “I hope your testing will not impede the time you have to spend choosing a bride.”
“I should not think so.” He jumped up and gestured for her to replace him on the settee. When she sat, he caught up her feet by the ankles and placed her legs along the length of heavy brocade cushions. “A good length for a woman, too. And if I wanted to sit down beside my wife, we could both be very comfortable together.”
He plopped himself back down, sitting in the remaining space beside her, and stretched out his legs along hers. “This is quite cozy, isn’t it?”
“Indeed.” She knocked his feet aside and struggled to sit up properly again. “You were saying?”
“Oh, yes. I happened upon Miss Firth in Hyde park, four and then two days ago, and had a friendly chat with her each time. I mentioned seeing you recently, of course, and she sent along her best wishes for your health and expressed a wish she hoped to see you soon.”
Aurora blinked. “I did not imagine you would mention your matchmaker when courting.”
“Why not? You are a friend we have in common. It was an excellent way to begin a conversation, too. She had so many good things to say about you, and I agreed with all of them.”
Aurora nodded. “When do you see her next?”
“Sadly, she headed out of Town yesterday with her family to visit an ill relative in the countryside,” he said, wincing. “I’ve no idea when she might return.”
“Oh,” she said, disappointed to hear it. An ill relative in the country might mean that Miss Firth would not be back for some time. She smiled at Sullivan though. “Any other developments.”
“I came upon Lady Catherine Jagger riding into Hyde Park the day after I last spoke with you. She was with a trio of other women, and I could do no more than raise my hat to them as they raced past.”
“Did you not join them?”
“No. I was leaving, having exercised my horse enough for one day.”
She sighed. “That was bad luck. Next time perhaps you will be able to join them.”
“Yes,” he agreed, before walking off into another chamber. “Dining room, and I believe that there could be a parlor for the lady of the house,” he said, looking about with his hands on his hips. “Terrible drapes though. They would have to be replaced.”
Aurora shuddered at the color, a shade of burnt orange that hurt the eyes to look at. “Something in a soft green, perhaps?”
“Or blue,” he murmured, casting her a cheeky smile and looking her up and down. Aurora’s pelisse was blue. “But of course, I would leave that decision up to my wife, since it would be her chamber…her house to decorate to her taste.”
“Yes, indeed,” Aurora murmured, and walked away from him to return to the front room to hide her annoyance. She hadn’t chosen the blue pelisse because he’d said she looked well in it. It was a match for this particular yellow gown. They were a set. “Is that all?”
“Upstairs next,” he suggested before filling her in on the details of his week of social engagements. She had to give him credit. He had not shirked his need to meet with other ladies.
They headed upstairs, Aurora lifting her skirts clear of the treads. It was far dustier upstairs than below. Again, there were four square furnished chambers, all accessible from a narrow hallway. One chamber had a small walled-in closet at one end. “The master or lady’s chamber, I suppose,” Sullivan murmured before crossing the house and disappearing inside a far doorway. “There’s another here, too.”
“Another what?” she called, rushing after him when she couldn’t clearly hear his reply.
“Another closet for clothing, but oddly shaped. Do you think it large enough for a lady?”
Aurora walked inside. “I could fit my entire wardrobe, but perhaps not Sylvia’s.”
“Ah, well. I’ll have to consider whether the space could be enlarged later,” he said. “I would want my wife to have the luxury of an extensive wardrobe, too.”
Aurora turned. Sullivan was blocking the doorway, his arms extended to each side of the door frame as he leaned in. He offered a grin. “I’m glad I invited you to join me here today.”
“To discuss your courtships.”
He leaned even farther toward her, his eyes locked on hers. “Yes, but I knew I could count on you for an honest opinion, too. Tell me, would you want to live here?”
“This house is not for me,” she said quickly, as her heart started to beat faster at the thought that maybe it might be.
“But imagine if it was, then…”
Aurora ducked under his arm, and out into the open space of the bedchamber. “I could not say, my lord.”