Chapter 2 #2
Marcus was a favorite amongst the servants. At seventeen, the illegitimate son of her father’s valet hoped to become a gentleman’s gentleman himself someday. He’d yet to master the fine art of shaving, though.
Natalie unconsciously touched her own face. A cut with a razor must be painful indeed! Her smile brightened momentarily. “You are too kind, Winston, far too kind.”
The sound of rapid footsteps descending the large curving staircase interrupted her musing. Neither her mother, her father, nor any servant clipped down the stairs in such a carefree fashion. She gawked upwards and let out a happy squeal. Stone!
He and Darlington had been traveling throughout all of England this spring, and they’d barely arrived back in London in time to attend Joseph’s wedding. She, of course, had not been able to stay to visit with them. They must have arrived home while she was out.
She was so happy to see him! His dear, sardonic smile told her he understood exactly what she was going through.
In possession of considerably more charm than her other brothers, Stone had the uncanny ability to turn her mood without uttering a single word.
His easygoing personality made him an excellent counterbalance for Roman, the eldest and their father’s heir.
She ran up the steps and threw herself into his arms. “Oh, Stone! I am so happy to see you!” Her brother grasped the balustrade so the exuberance of her welcome didn’t send them both tumbling. Laughing, he returned her embrace affectionately with his free arm.
Natalie spoke into his shirt front. “You certainly took your time in London. You are staying for a while, aren’t you?
I’ve been so miserable!” She hadn’t spoken with him in ages, so she had no difficulty summoning a few tears to garner sympathy.
What a pitiful creature she was turning into!
“With Joseph gone, I have been so bored. Papa is being a tyrant.”
Stone tilted her chin up and frowned.
“Ah, Nat, it can’t be all that bad.” He stepped back and looked her over in mock judgment. “You are still in one piece. All of your parts appear to be in working order.”
She summoned a tremulous smile, and his blue eyes sparkled back at her. He could be merciless in his teasing.
“But, Stone, Mama’s guests are ancient! I’m stuck here all summer with none of my friends, and I have absolutely no one to talk to! You cannot imagine how utterly wretched Father has been.”
Stone dropped his arm around her shoulders and led her down the majestic staircase. “I thought Monfort was here,” he said with a quick glance in her direction. “I was surprised to hear they were hosting a party at all. Nobody tells me anything.”
Natalie would hardly consider it a “party.” Her mother’s guests were all at least twice her age, if not three times! The Duke of Monfort was somewhere near his late thirties, but might as well have been seventy, for all his irritability and lack of humor. “Monfort doesn’t count.”
Stone emitted a low chuckle. “So you are not heartbroken, then, over the loss of Cortland? Just suffering from the consequences, eh?” Pulling her toward the back of the house, he stopped for a moment to regard her affectionately.
“And feeling sorry for yourself, too, I’ll bet.
” At Natalie’s rueful nod, he guided them down another stairway to the kitchen.
“I must locate some trunks a friend left here for safekeeping a few years ago. Tell me everything while we track them to ground.”
“Have you asked Mrs. Winston where they might be?” Natalie was intrigued. “What’s in them? Whose trunks are they?” She was ready to jump on any undertaking, no matter how minor, if Stone was involved. His mere presence lifted her disposition.
With a hint of condescension, Stone answered her barrage of questions.
“I am in search of Mrs. Winston this very minute, as of course she will know where they are stored. As for what is inside of the trunks, you will have to ask Lord Hawthorne. He merely told me they were important to him, and he did not trust them in his father’s care.
With good cause, apparently. Seeing that the old man torched Maple Hall. ”
“That man isn’t coming here, is he?” She wrinkled her nose in distaste, remembering his demeanor in the park, and on several occasions before that.
She didn’t care so much what his father had done.
The new earl had established his own rakish reputation with no trouble at all, thank you very much.
And yet…she shivered at the memory of his nearness…
Stone continued to drag her along without answering.
When he caught sight of the sturdy woman who kept house at Raven’s Park, he greeted her warmly.
Within the same household, a butler marrying the housekeeper was highly unusual, but Natalie’s father, having come into the earldom later in life, kept an open mind regarding such matters.
He wasn’t nearly as traditional as many of England’s noblemen.
Mrs. Winston curtsied in Stone’s direction and then brushed her hands together efficiently. She never failed to be in the middle of some task or another. “What may I do for you, Mr. Stone? Did you wish me to have Cook add something special to the menu this evening?”
“Whatever she prepares will be heavenly, I’m sure,” Stone assured her.
“But for now, I need assistance in locating Lord Hawthorne’s trunks.
” He gave her a description of the items he’d stored for his old school friend and the approximate date when they’d arrived.
Before he finished talking, Mrs. Winston was nodding.
“They are on the third floor, I believe, in the farthest of the servant’s quarters not currently being used. Last room facing the back.”
Stone thanked her and headed for the servants’ stairway. Natalie followed him anxiously.
“Is he not something of a rake, Stone? After this nasty business with his father, ought you to continue associating with him?” Natalie persisted, taking up the conversation where they’d left off.
She’d not told anyone how Lord Hawthorne had stopped her in Hyde Park the other morning.
Whenever she recalled the encounter, her conscience niggled at her.
Notwithstanding Garrett Castleton’s suggestive behavior, the brief meeting had left her ashamed of her own.
Stone stopped and turned to look down at her.
His light brown hair was mussed, but his features looked earnest. He seemed to consider his words carefully before speaking.
“Not all families are like ours. We have caring parents, aunts, and uncles. We have each other, Natalie. Not only did Garrett lack a mother growing up, but his father was a madman. You can’t imagine…
” Stone’s jaw set, and his eyes narrowed.
“My friend did not have a normal childhood.”
Remembering how Lord Hawthorne had taken hold of her hand and refused to step aside for her, Natalie bristled. “But the earl acquired his own reputation! He must be nearing thirty. He wasn’t forced by his father to become such a rogue. He’s made these choices as an adult!”
Stone sighed in exasperation and resumed climbing.
After they’d ascended a few more steps, he spoke again.
“Lord Hawthorne is a good man, and Father agrees. You, my dear Nat, must stop giving so much attention to what so-called polite society says about him. What are they saying about you, my dear sister? That you are a flirt? A jilt? Not woman enough to keep Cortland happy? Is any of it true?”
“Of course not!” Natalie nearly exploded in her denial. How cruel for Stone to rehash such gossip!
“I know that. But just as you wish some benefit of the doubt, I ask you to do the same for my friend.” He paused again, searching for the right words. “Try to be sympathetic, Nat. Garrett Castleton could have only wished his father dead sooner.”
Still reeling from her brother’s words, it took a moment for Natalie to contemplate what Stone asked of her. Could she possibly consider the meeting in the park objectively?
She’d known the earl’s identity at once, having surreptitiously watched the former viscount from afar on a few occasions.
Of similar height to Cortland, but leaner, he exuded a hint of danger.
His face was narrow, his chin strong, but his sable eyes could be downright offensive.
By flicking them up and down her person, he’d aroused a curious sensation deep inside her.
More than once, he’d stared at her with what seemed like vulgar familiarity.
Having been warned to steer clear of him by other respectable ladies, she’d avoided him.
Society only received a man such as Castleton due to rank and wealth.
He’d never made any attempt to gain society’s approval as a gentleman.
Could he be anything other than the man she’d already determined him to be? The thought unnerved her.
“Consider the possibility, little Nat, that the man was, in fact, rebelling against his father. You wouldn’t have any notion of what’s that like, now would you?”
She ignored his insinuation. “Please, Stone, do not call me that. It sounds as though you are referring to some sort of a bug.” Little gnat, indeed. Her brothers tortured her with that nickname since they were children. Apparently, it was to follow her into adulthood.
Natalie arrived at the landing short of breath and picked up her original train of thought.
“So you are saying he flouted the rules of society to get back at his father?” When she’d been forced to greet him in the park, he had been disheveled, his black hair hanging in his face, his eyes bloodshot and shadowed.
But there had been something else…If she had she not been forbidden to speak with anyone and had she not been running late, she would have been friendly. She would have!
Stone grinned. “You are an annoying little bug sometimes,” he said, ignoring her question.
“Do be serious.” She lifted her chin haughtily. Surely Stone would not invite a menace into their midst? And yet, if she was not to avoid the man, then what exactly was she to do with him?
“He’s not had an easy time of it, Nat. Won’t you trust me? I wouldn’t invite him into our home if he was capable of half the things he’s rumored to have done.”
“So he is coming here?” Natalie resisted the urge to bite one of her fingernails as they arrived at the last door.
Stone pulled it open and walked into the shadowed room.
Curtains blocked all but a few slivers of sunlight, and heavy cloths were draped over the furnishings.
He pulled a few of the coverings back in a careless manner before discovering what he looked for.
There appeared to be a variety of different-sized crates, along with a few trunks.
Ignoring her question again, Stone explained the crates.
“The Hawthorne seat, Maple Hall, is in ruins, but the dower house is intact. He’s coming to retrieve these and will store them there now that he is the earl.
” Shuffling about and folding some of the large sheets of canvas, he inspected the condition of the crates.
“He was concerned his father would destroy his mother’s effects, given the chance.
Wise decision. If left in his father’s care, they would have burned with everything else. ”
“He is coming to Raven’s Park to retrieve them, then?” Natalie stood with her hands on her hips, regarding her brother in exasperation.
Stone looked up, giving her his full attention once again.
“Indeed. He will arrive sometime this week.” He put a foot up on one of the trunks and leaned an arm upon his knee.
“And, for me, will you try to remember he isn’t the same person as the old earl?
I convinced him to take a short holiday here.
I’ll keep him out of your way, hunting and fishing and whatnot.
But if you run into the man, will you please not give him the cut?
Treat him as an esteemed guest in our home? ”
Natalie leaned thoughtfully against the doorframe. “Father knows? Father finds his presence here acceptable?” This information gave her considerable pause.
Stone nodded. “Of course. It was at his behest I invited him. Father understands Hawthorne is his own man.”
“Well then.” Natalie pursed her lips in thought. “In that case, I will be my normal delightful self. But if he says anything unfitting, I shall not hesitate to go to Father.”
Stone rolled his eyes heavenward. “I’ll keep him well out of your way—” He paused with a grin and then added mischievously, “—little Nat.”