CHAPTER 16 #2
“A manservant comes by day. You will have to get yourself into bed, but he will serve you in the morning. There will be water enough upstairs now. He always brings up extra before he leaves.”
Ives rubbed his hand over his face, feeling the rough growth shadowing his jaw. “Can he give shaves without butchering?”
“Yes. Unlike Percy, he does not seek to draw blood whenever he has a sharp weapon in hand.”
Ives stilled. His hand fell from his face. “Did Lance tell you about that?”
“Percy’s smug satisfaction told me.”
Ives picked up his valise and walked to the door. “I’ll find that one extra bed now.” He looked back, over his shoulder. “You did not miss much for someone who only saw us a few times a year, Gareth.”
* * *
London.
Eva barely contained her excitement as the carriage passed the final toll. Out the window one could see the last of the countryside giving way to the outskirts of town.
Rebecca hugged the door of the carriage, her head to the window so she missed none of it. Wesley and Sarah faced them in the cramped space.
“Do you think the duke will be there? Residing in the house, that is,” Sarah asked.
“I do not know.”
“I think it safe to say he will not be there when we are.” Wesley spoke matter-of-factly, without the least resentment.
He might dress like a gentleman and have an income that exceeded that of many of them, but his voice said he knew that dukes did not socialize with such as he, or even acknowledge an acquaintance.
Both he and Sarah looked splendid. Sarah wore a fashionable cream carriage ensemble with Prussian blue trim.
Wesley’s coats were impeccable. They had arrived in Langdon’s End two days ago to take Rebecca and her to London in their fine carriage.
Trunks tied to the roof held a good amount of Sarah’s wardrobe.
“For all of us,” Sarah had explained. Sarah’s lady’s maid rode up there, too, along with Wesley’s manservant.
They entered London in style. The carriage slowed to a crawl and descended into streets flanked by tall houses and busy shops.
The neighborhoods grew finer and finer until they turned onto one with independent houses of astonishing size that faced a big park.
One more turn, and they stopped at a corner house that filled most of its block.
“Oh, Eva, look.” Rebecca moved from the window so Eva and Sarah could gape. Curved outer stairs led up to the main door, and four levels rose above that one.
Wesley dipped his head to look also. “You will be spoiled proper when this is done, Sarah. I won’t be able to keep you in the style to which you will have become accustomed.”
Sarah giggled and planted a kiss on his cheek. “Well, now, Wes, my love, you will make it up to me in other ways.”
The look that passed between them hinted at what occurred between them behind closed doors. Eva wondered if she would have noticed that a month ago . . .
A little army of servants marched out the door. Footmen helped them out of the carriage while others brought down the trunks. Men took the ribbons from the coachman. All the soldiers wore livery.
Eva absorbed the activity like a series of fascinating pictures. She angled her head back to study the house, then the ones near it.
“Welcome, Rockport. I see you survived the journey in a carriage with three ladies.”
Her head snapped upright. Gareth stood five feet away, greeting Wesley. He bowed to Sarah and Rebecca, and finally to her. When they all walked to the house, he managed to fall into step beside her.
“I fear we may lose our way in here,” she said with a laugh as they mounted the stone steps.
“You may lose your way, but rest assured, I will not.”
More servants. More activity. A footman took Wesley away with his valet trailing behind. A housekeeper named Mrs. Summers led the rest of them up the long staircase, then up again to the next level beyond that.
They approached a double set of doors. Masculine voices could be heard nearby. Mrs. Summers opened the doors to reveal an apartment of impressive size. Sarah bit her lower lip and tried to appear unimpressed, but her eyes became large and round.
“Mr. Rockport is beside you,” Mrs. Summers said, angling her head toward those voices. She walked through a flanking sitting room, and to a door on its far wall. “This, Miss, is for you,” she said to Rebecca, throwing open the door to reveal a bedchamber fit for a princess.
Sarah and Rebecca were beside themselves, all but dancing with barely controlled glee. They whispered to each other while pointing to the drapery, the silk upholstery, the sitting room’s magnificent secretaire, and the garden views out the back window.
“Your maid will have a chamber above,” Mrs. Summers told Sarah. “Someone will come for her and take her to it, after she has had time to settle you.” She turned to Eva. “If you would come with me now, Miss Russell.”
Eva left the lovely apartment in Mrs. Summers’s wake. Past the stairs they walked. Down a corridor. Through another landing for more stairs. To a door tucked into a corner. Not one of those big double doors, either. A rather small plain one.
Mrs. Summers ushered her in. Eva had been given an apartment like Sarah’s. Perhaps not as large, but it had beautiful light and a group of three big windows on one wall from which one could see the park.
“I was told you draw,” Mrs. Summers said, “I thought that the northern light in the sitting room would suit you.”
“This will do splendidly. Thank you.”
“I will send a woman up to help you.” With that, Mrs. Summers left.
Eva did not wait on the servant. She unpacked her valise, then meandered her way back to Sarah’s chambers. She found all of her travel companions basking in the luxury of their lodgings.
“Where did you go?” Rebecca asked. “You must try my bed. Just lie on it. You will not believe the quality. It will be like sleeping on clouds.”
“My own chambers are at the other end of this storey. You can come see them, but we will need a ball of yarn to unwind, so you can find your way back.”
“Oh,” Sarah said, her enthusiasm dimming. “I hope they are as nice as this. If they are not, I will not be able to enjoy myself as much.”
“They are perfectly charming.” Lovely, actually. Airy and full of cool light.
“We will use this sitting room to gather,” Sarah said. “It will belong to all of us.”
“Thank you. That will prove convenient. Otherwise I might never see you. My apartment is quite out of the way.”
How kind of Gareth to have Mrs. Summers put Eva in a room with such lovely light.
How kind, and how convenient.