Chapter 34
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
The journey back to Blackwall Castle was not at all like the first. For one thing, Valerie had Adrian in the carriage with her…
as well as Nora and Cecil, who had never really traveled anywhere.
As such, it had been somewhat eventful, between their youthful excitement, Nora’s aversion to the sway of the carriage, and the sight of new places leaving them in awe.
“Are they asleep?” Adrian whispered, as the sun began to dip in the late-afternoon sky.
Valerie put a finger to her lips. “Do not say the word ‘sleep’ or they will wake up. It is the first rule of caring for children.”
“I am learning so much,” he said wryly, from the opposite side of the carriage.
Cecil and Nora had chosen to commandeer most of Valerie’s side, both of them curled up on the squabs like kittens. They looked peaceful for the first time in their lives, as if a weight had been lifted from their shoulders as soon as they had passed the gates of Gramfield Manor.
At the moment of their departure, Gregory had tried to insist that they should all remain and that only Adrian should return to his castle.
“What will society say? It will be in every scandal sheet from here to Carlisle!” had been his argument.
“They can say what they please,” Valerie had replied, “for we will soon be wed, and it will not matter. What is more, how are they likely to find out as long as no one tells them? They have forgotten Adrian, and I intend to be forgotten with him.”
The bitter, resentful old man had not even bothered to wave, his last act of cruelty to the children he had never much wanted.
Valerie knew it had hurt Cecil’s feelings, in particular, but he would recover, and he would have a much finer role model now.
Yes, Adrian had his faults, but the difference between him and Gregory was that Adrian knew how to own up to them, and held no one responsible but himself.
“Come here,” Adrian murmured, patting the empty space beside him.
Biting her lip, Valerie shook her head. “I do not dare.”
“Whyever not?”
“Because it would not be wise to be near you,” she replied in a hushed tone. “I do not trust myself.”
Memories flooded her mind, so delicious that her skin began to flush with heat. She fanned her face with her hand, eager to be back at Blackwall Castle as quickly as possible. She had been parted from him long enough, in every sense.
He smiled—a sight she doubted she would ever take for granted—and traced his fingertips across the velvet. “Just for a moment?”
“You cannot be trusted either,” she insisted with a soft, breathy laugh.
With a nod, he expelled a sigh. “I could not wait to get you out of that manor, but now I rather wonder if we should have stayed for the night.” He glanced at the children to be certain they were sleeping. “I might have stolen down the hallway in the dead of night and knocked upon your door, and—”
Nora wriggled, her eyes fluttering for a moment, a quiet murmur babbling from her mouth.
“Invited you to have a nightcap,” Adrian concluded, his blue gaze twinkling with mischief, a stifled laugh rumbling in his chest.
Reaching out to gently pat the little girl until she sank back into a deep sleep, Valerie looked around the full carriage and realized that her life had begun.
She had not understood it before, but she had been in a sort of suspension ever since her mother died.
There had been so many things to do, and other people to care for, that she had not really thought of her future.
Instead, her future had been forced to come to her, and she could not have been more grateful.
“I should warn you,” she whispered. “Nora, at least, has not yet learned to spend the entire night in her own bed. So, you must be careful of when you knock upon my door.”
Adrian raised an eyebrow. “Then, I shall get her a dog to hold through the night. I shall get her whatever she needs, so that she does not disturb you in your chambers.”
“You mean, so that you can disturb me instead?” she asked, grinning.
“Naturally.”
She sat back against the squabs, radiating a happiness she had never known she could feel. “Well then, we shall have to convince her.”
Adrian entered the castle first, Valerie and the children hiding in the carriage to make the surprise all the more dramatic.
It had been Valerie’s suggestion, while Adrian had secretly thought it a little mean.
But Cecil and Nora’s enthusiasm for the scheme had convinced him, despite him not being much of a thespian.
They will figure it out in an instant. He was certain of it.
“Your Grace? Is that you?” Jarvis came haring out of the nearest hallway, practically screeching to a halt on the stone floor.
Mrs. Mullens was not far behind him, running out with her hand on her lace cap. “The Duke of Delamere arrived not two hours ago,” she gushed, her eyes searching. “He said for us to put on a feast. Does this mean…”
She trailed off when she saw no sign of Valerie, her face crumpling.
Adrian could not do it. For speaking about him so casually and uncouthly outside the garden door, they likely deserved a light scolding, but dashing their hopes was much too cruel.
“Valerie, you may come in now!” he called back. “She is just tending to the children.”
The housekeeper’s eyes brightened again, her hands clasped. “Children? She has brought her siblings with her? Are they to stay? Oh… oh, this is a happy day indeed!”
“They are to stay,” Adrian confirmed, unable to resist a smile.
The servants of this household, these two especially, had been as loyal to him as friends.
They had made the castle bearable at times when it should have crushed him, always reminding him to eat, to sleep, to survive.
Indeed, without their tenderheartedness, Valerie would never have been permitted to set foot in this castle to steal his heart.
Mrs. Mullens squealed as Valerie and the two children wandered blearily into the soft glow of the entrance hall, unable to contain her excitement. Even Jarvis seemed agitated, incapable of standing still as the new members of the household made their entrance.
“You could not do it, could you?” Valerie laughed.
Adrian shook his head. “I could not.”
“Do what?” Mrs. Mullens asked.
“I wanted it to be a surprise,” Valerie explained, “so I asked Adrian to go in first to pretend that he had not returned with me. There was an entire speech about my refusal that he was supposed to deliver, but I suppose he is too kind for that.”
The housekeeper roared with laughter. “Oh, Miss Wightman, my poor heart wouldn’t have been able to bear that! You’d have walked in to me standing in a puddle of my own tears!” She smiled across at Jarvis. “I’d have liked to see Mr. Jarvis struggle to keep a calm face, though.”
“Darlings, this is Mrs. Mullens, and this is Mr. Jarvis,” Valerie said, ushering the children toward the servants. “If you need anything, just ask them and they will fetch it for you. Within reason. No asking for ponies or pistols.”
Cecil mustered a shy smile. “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
“Oh, he speaks so well!” Mrs. Mullens cooed.
“It is nice to meet you,” Nora joined in, not to be outdone.
The housekeeper clasped a hand to her heart. “Oh, such a darling girl!” She offered her hand to Nora. “Now, what do you say we go and bother the cook for something delicious? She is preparing the feast as we speak, but she won’t mind sneaking us a few morsels beforehand.”
“A cook?” Nora gasped, grabbing the housekeeper’s hand eagerly.
Meanwhile, Cecil looked back at Valerie, as if to ask permission.
“Go on, dear boy,” Valerie encouraged. “Eat as much as you please.”
With a boyish grin, he followed the housekeeper and his sister across the entrance hall, all three disappearing through an archway.
Jarvis bowed to his duke and the soon-to-be duchess and quickly darted after them.
No one could resist Mrs. Leggat’s cooking.
And, Adrian expected, it was an excuse for the butler and housekeeper to show off the new arrivals to the rest of the staff.
“Alone at last,” Adrian said with a smirk, his arms sliding around his beloved’s waist, his head dipping to graze a trail of kisses up the curve of her neck.
Valerie melted into him, her own arms covering his, as if hugging him, hugging her. “Can we not leave this castle for a while?” she murmured. “I think I have traveled more this festive season than I have ever traveled in my life. Honestly, I do not care for it.”
“A hermitess for a hermit,” Adrian said, chuckling. “I promise, my love, you will not have to leave this castle unless you want to.”
She moaned, the sound like a caress to his loins. “Say that again.”
“You will not have to leave this castle unless you want to,” he purred, wondering how long they might have before someone came looking for them to join the New Year’s Eve feast.
Slowly, she turned in his arms, her palms smoothing over the muscle of his chest, her eyes gazing up with a sultry desire. “I cannot wait to be married to you, my love. To truly call this castle my home.”
“I cannot wait either,” he replied, his hand sliding brazenly across the swell of her backside. He lowered his head, whispering close to her ear, “But I will. It will be a torment, but I will.”
She laughed softly, arching her neck back as his lips brushed her skin. “We should at least wait until the children are settled and our engagement is announced.” A breathy gasp escaped her. “Although, you are right; it will be a torment.”
“I love you,” he whispered. “I have waited all my life for you—what is a few more weeks?”
She pulled back so she could look deeply into his eyes, smiling the smile that never failed to make his heart swell with utter devotion.
“I love you, too.” Her voice hitched. “I thought I was destined for misery, stuck in a marriage of duty and convenience with a stranger. You have saved me, Adrian. You have saved me and my siblings. I… do not have the words to thank you for that, but I shall spend my life loving you in return.”
“I want nothing more,” he replied, his own voice cracking slightly.
For a decade, he had tortured himself over the loss of his mother, dreaming of all the ways he might have saved her, wishing he could have done more.
He had not known he could find peace by saving someone else, instead.
Yet, here she was, wrapped up in his arms: the woman he had saved.
The woman he loved with all of his healing heart.
“And I think,” he added softly, “that you saved me too.”
Valerie brushed her thumb over the thin scar that cut through his lip, her bright eyes brimming with what he hoped were happy tears. “My love, I believe we have saved each other.”
As he dipped his head and kissed her softly, slowly, he could not have agreed more.
This Christmas, fate had brought him an angel instead of endless ghosts: the brightest light, to guide him through a long and happy life together.
Indeed, as he smiled against her mouth, so full of joy and hope, he had never been more grateful for the winter, and the snowstorm that had swept her through his front door.