Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Maggie woke in Algernon’s arms to the continuous sway of the ducal traveling carriage. She inhaled the scent of his body, noticed the warmth and weight of his arm across her middle, and sighed, blissfully content with her situation.
She was in love and loved.
She was a wife.
Even without the benefit of a marriage, she had given Algernon her heart and passion without strings. Their desire could never be denied. It was part of who they were to each other.
She glanced around at him to find him dozing, too, but then he roused and blinked sleep from his eyes.
“Good morning, Your Grace,” she whispered.
“You have to stop calling me that. I will answer to Algernon, husband, darling, or dear. Not Your Grace or Ravenswood.” She smirked at her husband’s complaint even as he pulled aside the curtain to glance out the carriage window. “We’re almost home.”
Maggie’s stomach flipped. She had become nervous about her reception at Ravenswood the closer they got to the estate. She hoped his brothers would not be difficult about their marriage.
Algernon insisted they wouldn’t be a problem, and if they were, he was the duke. He could marry anyone he pleased.
But until she was certain how the news was received, she continued to worry. It was quite a leap from poor tutor’s daughter to duchess. She had her work to focus on as well, and that also might be met with disapproval.
Her father’s life’s work was now her own.
She was well into rewriting his lessons into pages suitable for printing.
First, a mathematics primer for very young children.
Then a child in the middle years. And lastly, another primer for the older children, those not yet old enough to attend university or who could not afford to go.
However, Maggie also wished to publish a more rigorous primer for exceptional students. She intended to have them all done in a few short years. And if she was successful, perhaps one day she could use the money to support the Ravenswood Estate.
Algernon would always require more funds to run the estate, and she was determined not to be a burden and contribute. He’d said the need for the money was not urgent, but the debt to his brothers would always weigh on him until it was repaid in full.
The carriage slowed and made a hard turn. Maggie hurried to open all the curtains to see outside.
“Ravenswood,” she whispered, sighting green, lush fields and familiar woods.
“You remember now,” he murmured.
“Yes, I used to dream about running through the woods with you.”
His hand settled on her leg. “We could run about like that again, I’m sure, but perhaps since we’re older, a walk will suffice.”
“Probably more dignified for a duke,” she teased.
“And a duchess,” he agreed, laughing. “Oh, it is good to be home with you at last.”
Maggie nodded, feeling excitement bubble up inside her despite her misgivings.
She had loved everything about Ravenswood as a girl. Well, except for her father and Algernon’s. It had been her favorite place out of all the grand houses she’d been dragged to. And the closer they got to the sprawling country house, the more her memory of the place returned.
“It hasn’t changed very much,” she told him, sitting on the edge of her seat now.
“My father neglected the place in his later years, choosing to gamble away the money instead of making improvements here, and leaving me to pick up the pieces. There is much still to be done and always more on the horizon.”
“At least Ravenswood has you to restore her to glory,” she told him, covering his hand with hers.
Algernon drew her back against his chest. “A bit of advice before we arrive: no matter what my aunt or brothers say to you, don’t take it to heart.
You belong here with me. And if the old dragon, my aunt, doesn’t approve of our marriage, she will be the one leaving. She still calls me boy, you know.”
“Aunt Violet was the one who used canes on you, wasn’t she?” she asked.
“Yes, she still swings them around. Hasn’t hit anyone with them yet, since she needs the pair now to walk with.”
“Good.”
The carriage turned, and there was Ravenswood Palace, but it seemed smaller than Maggie remembered. Its facade was dulled by age and the late duke’s neglect.
But then again, the last time she’d been here, she was a mere girl of ten and overwhelmed by the opulence around her father’s latest employer.
In the years between her last visit and today, Maggie had gained more experience of the world of the aristocracy and wealthy landowners. She’d seen wonders and places she’d never dreamed existed, and suffered terrible losses, so she took nothing for granted anymore.
Especially not coming home to Ravenswood.
Algernon helped her from the carriage when it stopped before the front doors, grinning like the loon she adored with all her heart.
He held out his hand and drew her inside, speaking with the butler, whose face had wrinkled even more in the intervening years. Algernon asked for his brothers to be informed of his return, and his desire to speak with them immediately in his chambers.
Then he tugged Maggie directly toward the main staircase to take her upstairs with him.
Maggie rested her hand lightly on the mahogany stair rail as she ascended and allowed her fingers to glide upward, caressing the wood lightly like a lady should.
However, the last time she’d been here, Maggie had slid down the banister on a dare.
She’d been eager to keep up with her new friends, all the boys who had lived here, and it had been fun playing their games for a while—until it suddenly wasn’t anymore.
She reached the upper floor, and they turned to walk along a hushed, carpet-lined hall.
Finally, he showed her into a large chamber.
“The master suite, I assume,” she said, as she looked around.
“Indeed. Make yourself at home,” he promised, before disappearing into what she further assumed to be his dressing closet.
Maggie wandered about, drinking in the contents of Algernon’s private domain and the huge bed standing between two tall windows.
The chamber was large and airy, full of light, with wonderful views down towards the distant lake.
She went to look out the window and spotted groups of people clustered out on the grounds.
They were too far away to identify, but they appeared to be picnicking.
She turned to ask Algernon about them when the door burst open, admitting a trio of men.
“About time you dragged yourself home,” one yelled, and then disappeared into the dressing room.
None of them noticed her immediately.
“Well, where is she?”
“She is behind you,” Algernon answered, and then reappeared with a man who could only be one of his brothers hanging off him.
The three men, three Sweet brothers she’d once known as children, turned as one and finally spotted her.
She dipped a curtsy.
The youngest of them rushed over. “Maggie!”
She was swept up into his embrace and twirled around and around.
“I thought I would never see you again,” he complained.
“Stratford, put her down,” Algernon ordered.
“But it’s Maggie, Algernon!” Stratford argued even as he obeyed.
“Yes, I am aware of that,” he said, his lips twisted in a smug smile.
The one with the most serious face peered at her. “Why is Maggie Black in your bedchamber again, brother?”
Maggie lifted her chin. “You would be Nash.”
He inclined his head but turned his gaze on the duke. Nash had never quite warmed to her, or understood Algernon’s insistence that she join in their games as often as she had.
The third brother strolled closer, eyes narrowed on her.
“Hello, Jasper,” she said politely.
“Mags,” he drawled, smirking. “Good to see you back at the old pile. Here to stay this time, or just passing through?”
Maggie glanced at Algernon quickly.
“Maggie is here to stay,” Algernon announced.
“Good, because the last time you left, two of my brothers bawled their eyes out for a whole month.” Jasper came forward, caught up her hands, and surprised her by kissing her cheeks.
But his touch, hidden from view of his brothers, traced over the ring on her finger as he whispered, “Stratford was almost as inconsolable as your new husband.”
“She was practically our sister,” Stratford protested, having missed Jasper’s last remark.
“Never my sister,” Algernon was quick to clarify with a wink for her, but then whatever he might have said next was cut off by the sound of breaking glass.
Algernon dashed to the window to look outside.
Nash, however, pinched the bridge of his nose. “Not another window. Why can they not be satisfied with bowls instead of cricket?”
“What the devil is going on here? Who are those people?”
Jasper groaned. “Our aunt is still hosting that little family gathering you agreed to let her have.”
“Little? There are…” Algernon started, as he started to count, pointing his finger.
“Fifty-three adults and a dozen younger ones in the nursery, all told, plus servants, horses, and dogs. Lots of unruly, barking dogs.”
Algernon turned, face pale, eyes wild. “I did not agree to this. Is she trying to bankrupt me?”
Jasper shrugged. “Who knows what the old dragon wants. I try to stay out of her way as much as possible. She’s still too fond of swinging those canes for my taste.”
Maggie bit her lip to hold in her thoughts about Aunt Violet and her canes. It was not her place to venture an opinion on family matters so soon. But Aunt Violet needed to be put in her place eventually.
“I’ll deal with her,” Algernon growled.
“We’ll keep Maggie company while you tackle the dragon,” Jasper promised.
“No.” Algernon shook his head. “She’ll need to meet my duchess eventually.”
Maggie did not remind him that she was already well acquainted with his aunt Violet and her canes. But before she met anyone else, she needed a moment or two in private to prepare. “If you could show me to my room, I’d like to freshen up first.”
“Yes, of course, my love” Algernon murmured. “Your trunks should have been brought up already, and I had the butler send up water, too. Come this way, my dear, and I’ll show you your bedchamber.”
Behind them, she heard Stratford whisper, “Did he just say her bedchamber?”
“He did indeed,” Jasper said, not bothering to lower his voice. “Didn’t you notice the ring on her finger? Do try to catch up.”
“Our brother has made a surprising choice indeed. I’ll find out why later,” Nash announced, as they moved as one to look into her new chamber.
Jasper snorted. “Isn’t it obvious?”
Maggie turned and kissed Algernon full on the lips, and then asked him to shut the door behind him to give her privacy from his brothers’ conversation.
He was reluctant to leave her alone, and she let out a shaky breath when he finally left and she could no longer hear him or his brothers in the connecting bedchamber.
But then she made the mistake of glancing up, and she saw a gilt-decorated ceiling directly over her head. As she lowered her gaze, she noticed gold and crystal everywhere.
She moved around, peeking into a doorway that led to a spacious private sitting room. The room contained a long settee, empty bookshelves, and a large desk near the window.
The mantle in this room was bare, and she dug in her pocket for Algernon’s wedding gift.
Besides the ring on her finger, he’d given her a small toy figure of a woman that bore a striking resemblance to the one she’d lost here as a girl.
It always astonished her that he remembered so many insignificant things about her, and she’d burst into tears on the spot at the time.
She backed out of the sitting room and faced her future as Duchess of Ravenswood, something she had trouble imagining on the journey here.
How would she ever feel at home in this vast house with so much opulence everywhere she looked?
The sheer grandeur of her bedchamber took her breath—and her composure—away.
She ducked behind a dressing screen and found water to splash on her face.
When she emerged, she felt slightly steadier when she looked around, but her father’s trunks and her traveling case looked too shabby for anyone else to see.
She carried her lighter case into the large empty dressing closet she found, but on the way back for the trunks, she tripped and fell flat on her face on the Persian rug.
Her door burst open, and her new brother-in-law, Stratford, rushed into the room. “Maggie?”
“I’m fine, Stratford,” she promised, pushing herself up to sit, and then taking his hand to get to her feet. “Just a moment of clumsiness.”
“That used to be me,” he admitted, grinning.
“Your head was always trying to go faster than your legs could carry you.” She glanced at the empty doorway he’d come through. “What were you doing, lurking at my door?”
He grinned. “Algernon said to wait for you.”
“Am I expected somewhere?”
“No.” Stratford shrugged. “But it’s what they say when they want to exclude me from any serious conversation.”
“That’s terrible.”
“No. Not really. Their discussions tend to be long-winded and I don’t have the patience for them anyway. Algernon will tell me what I need to know in the end, or Jasper will.” He smiled at her shyly. “So you are finally my sister.”
She showed him her wedding ring. “To be your sister is the sole reason I accepted your brother’s offer.”
“Ha, unlikely,” Stratford exclaimed, grinning back. “You’re probably in love.”
“I am.”
“Good. Algernon deserves that after all he’s been through,” Stratford announced. “Can I help with anything?”
She glanced at the trunks and nodded. “You can pick those up for me and carry the left one to the sitting room, and the right one to my dressing closet.”
“Happy to,” he promised, but as he gallantly hefted the left, and heaviest, into the air, groaning, the bottom fell out of it. All her father’s journals, along with the letters Maggie wanted to keep, were scattered across the floor…
Along with the unexpected glint of old metal and crumpled paper.
Maggie gaped at the mess. Stratford stared at the glittering contents on the floor, wide-eyed. “That was supposed to happen, wasn’t it?”
“No.” Maggie bent down and picked up a gold coin. She stared at it in shock, and then at the other money at her feet. “Does that trunk have a false bottom?”
“Had a false bottom,” Stratford corrected, and crouched down opposite her. He hefted the broken trunk closer to look at it. Then he handed her a wad of banknotes that hadn’t yet fallen out.
Maggie nearly swooned before she’d finished counting.