“Yes, Your Grace.”
“Which means I am in charge of running this household, correct?”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“That includes the menu, does it not?”
The footman paused, clearing his throat.
Willow arched a brow.
“Yes, Your Grace,” he murmured, shifting on his feet. “That is how things are usually run.”
Usually. Meaning not here.
Too bad, Willow thought. That, too, was about to change.
“Well, Wendell, it appears you have a choice to make.”
“Your Grace?”
“You can continue to follow the duke’s instructions, in which case I will consider you my enemy, or you can come over to the right side of it, and I shall consider you my friend. Of course, you will not lose your job, as I, the lady of the house, am also in charge of hiring servants and letting them go.”
The footman swallowed.
“You will not be relieved of your position if you choose my husband’s side, of course,” Willow reassured. She did not wish to make allies based on threats. “I’d understand if you did for reasons of loyalty and so forth, though I would kindly ask you to leave the room so as not to impede my next plan of action.”
He looked surprised by her words and Willow thought she saw a flash of admiration. She needed the servants on her side. It would show her husband she carried some weight.
“A change will be a good thing, Your Grace,” Wendell said after a brief moment of pause and Willow flashed him a blinding smile.
“My thoughts exactly. Now tell me, what other instructions has my husband handed out?”
“Your Grace is to be escorted at all times.”
“Even in the house?”
Wendell nodded. “I am to shadow your every move.”
Willow scowled. Last night, to her relief, when she had returned home, she had found no footman stationed outside her door. Poppy must not have heard correctly. Or the duke had changed his mind. Needless to say, she’d be watched from today.
“Are you to lurk outside my chambers at night, too?”
Wendell flushed. “That would be Thomas, Your Grace.”
“I see. And I take it you are to report my every step to the duke?”
Wendell nodded.
Willow had not underestimated her husband, he was a man with pride after all, but this seemed way beyond the pale. Hopefully, now that Wendell was on her side, she would not feel so alone in this cold house while she delved deeper towards the root of her husband’s need for control.
“Where is the dowager?” Willow asked.
“She retired to Bath this morning, Your Grace.”
Willow blinked in surprise.She had? Not that Willow was complaining, but she hadn’t expected her mother-in-law to leave at all.
“Did the duke send her away or did she decide to go on her own?”
