Chapter 12
Twelve
“What…?” Aurelia murmured, stretching as she awoke. There was a sudden rush through her as she almost fell off the bed.
Except it wasn’t a bed. It was that awful chaise longue. And Evander was beside her. She had woken up to a dull morning light and the smell of him. They were close to the window, and the drapes moved slightly back and forth in ripples.
His arm was over her. Likely not deliberately – she understood that at least. He was still asleep, and his arm must have arrived there in the night. His chest was against her back. His face was somewhere in her hair, pressing into her neck and making her body tingle.
She lay there and did not move, terrified about what would happen when she did. She thought about the night before and what he had said that she hadn’t really understood: “I know what could happen”.
All she knew for certain was that she had woken in the night and been cold, and he had been there, and she had thought: I want to be beside him and it is my choice to go to him.
Obviously, she realised she cared for him.
That was the plain fact of it. She had known it for some time, and had just filed it under later until later had arrived and was apparently now.
Then she moved by degrees, extracting herself from the blanket and his arm without disturbing him.
He shifted, and she froze. He settled back into sleep easily, and Aurelia breathed a sigh of relief.
She couldn’t explain why she was leaving.
Only that she didn’t want him to know that she had been next to him that night.
But if she was still there, she thought, it stood to reason he hadn’t woken in the night and seen her, or he would have surely done something about it.
So this would be her secret for now. She picked up her candle, burned down to nothing now, useless, and went out pulling the door behind her without a sound.
They arrived at two o'clock, which was when Aurelia had estimated they would arrive because she knew Lydia's strained relationship with punctuality.
She heard the carriage from the music room, where she had been composing something that was private. By the time she reached the entrance hall, the footman had the door open and Lydia was already through it.
“Oh,” Lydia said, stopping in the middle of the entrance hall and cupping her own face with her hands. “Oh, this is all so wonderful, Aurelia. And now you’re here!”
“Welcome,” Aurelia said, beaming at the sight of her friend.
Lydia crossed the entrance hall and embraced her fiercely while Aurelia held on.
“You look well,” Lydia said, into her shoulder.
“You say that every time we meet.”
“Every time it has been true. And we have never been apart for so long than right now.” She pulled back and examined Aurelia. “Actually well, I mean. I thought you would have been all freckled and haggard by now, but you’re lovely. You look so happy.”
“You’ll find Norfolk is good for the complexion,” Aurelia said, which was not an answer but did the trick.
“So I’ve heard…” Lydia fought a smile. “And where is Mr. Norfolk at present?”
Aurelia stammered a reply. At that same moment, Violet appeared in the doorway, and Aurelia went to meet her. Her aunt held her face in both hands the way she did when she was small, and then said something brisk about the drive and the state of the Norwich roads.
To her surprise, the Earl of Rosdale arrived twenty minutes behind them, having ridden rather than taken the carriage, which explained the state of his coat and hair.
He shook hands with the footman before the footman could correct the situation, which told Aurelia something about Patrick she had already suspected.
He took in Carrstone like he had lived here for ever, and then he took in Lydia, who had come with her and was telling one of the passing maids about her trunk.
“Miss Penrose,” Aurelia said, smiling. “You will remember Lord Rosdale.”
Lydia turned. Patrick inclined his head. Lydia looked at him and seemed to debate a curtsey before deciding against it. She held out her hand and he kissed it.
“How could I forget? You are the Duke of Sandacre’s friend from the wedding.”
“Guilty as charged, Miss Penrose,” Lord Rosdale said.
“They spoke of you earlier and said you might-be or might-not be arriving. You like to keep people on their toes, don’t you, My Lord?”
Lydia smiled. It was quick and genuine. Aurelia watched this with the feeling that she had just seen something begin – and tried not to think too hard about the whereabouts of her own husband.
Until Lord Rosdale asked, “Where is your husband, Your Grace? I have a thousand things to tell him and I’m only here for four days.”
“Your guess is as good as mine, My Lord,” Aurelia admitted, looking sideways at Lydia. “He left early this morning. I did not even see him at breakfast.”
“I’m sure he will turn up – perhaps with a calf in tow, who can say?
Now,” Lord Rosdale clapped his hands and moved toward the drawing room.
“I have heard your Aunt is coming too, and I must meet with her immediately. We did not get to end our conversation last time about how terribly funny this whole situation is.”
Hours later, they retired to change for dinner. Lydia followed Aurelia into her rooms, visibly bursting at the seams with questions she couldn’t ask in front of Aunt Violet – who had gone to rest before their meal.
Lydia sat on the bed while Aurelia closed the door and locked it. She looked around the room, stopping at the connecting door to the sitting room that separated Aurelia's rooms from Evander's.
“Well,” Lydia said, tapping her fingers against her mouth. “I wonder where that leads…”
“I dare you to find out,” Aurelia replied, moving to the dresses the maids had hung for her.
“You should know better than to challenge me like that Aurelia. I should very much like to walk into a handsome duke changing out of sweaty farm clothes. And that’s what I’d find there isn’t it?
” She hurried over to the door and pressed her ear against it.
“I bet he is in there now. I can hear him.”
“That’s a sitting room,” Aurelia corrected.
“You are likely only hearing the maids. Would you please come here, now? Up the stairs you were going to say something about my complexion and marriage and what benefits derive from one to the other – and that is much more tolerable to me at present than you threatening to be banished from Carrstone.”
Lydia laughed loudly and returned to the bed to lie down. “I was going to say you look like you have been sleeping properly for the first time in weeks, which I stand by, and which I attribute to the sea air and nothing else, obviously.”
“Funny, as we are nowhere near the sea. It’s at least thirty-five miles to the coast.”
“Well it’s still the general vicinity of the sea, isn’t it?” She looked at the ceiling, kicking her feet over the end of the bed. “In your letters you said he gave you a room. Honestly I thought that was a euphemism at first. But you mean some sort of salon, don’t you?”
“A music room, actually.”
“With all the things a woman like you could want.”
“I suppose,” Aurelia said tentatively.
Lydia went quiet, and Aurelia stopped pretending to select a dress for the night.
“What are you trying to say?” she asked.
Lydia turned her head on the bed and smiled. “Are you happy, Aurelia? You know that I’m maybe the only person in the world you can give a truthful answer to. So I would make the most of it and tell me now if something is wrong, if I were you.”
Aurelia suppressed a sigh and sat at her dressing table. “ What do you want me to say? It’s very different being here. Sometimes… it barely feels real. How can something that feels like a fantasy actually make you happy?”
“A fantasy? In a good way or a bad way.”
“I don’t know.”
“Well do you know anything?” Lydia stressed, rolling onto her elbows. “You must know whether you love him, for instance. Do you love him?”
Aurelia’s breath caught in her throat. “You can’t ask someone that. It’s not…” She looked at her reflection and tidied her hair to occupy her hands. “It’s not an easy question to answer for a start, and then… I don’t even know what love is.”
“Ah,” Lydia said. “I see.”
“Hm?”
“Maybe I should ask him instead.”
Aurelia turned so hard she almost gave herself whiplash.
“Or maybe I will be on my best behaviour,” Lydia said. “Only time will tell.”
Sufficiently dressed – and aggravated – Aurelia and Lydia descended an hour later.
It was almost six o’clock, and Aurelia couldn’t put off the thought any longer – he was late.
She found Aunt Violet looking weary in the drawing room with Lord Rosdale, who apparently could talk even Violet into silence.
He smiled widely when the two women entered and immediately complimented their appearances. “But why do you look so sad, Your Grace?” he asked Aurelia, clicking his fingers for a footman to prepare drinks for them. “On such a festive night as this.”
“I am not sad,” Aurelia assured him, smiling for Violet’s sake. “I am only concerned for the duke’s wellbeing. He is not here.”
“Well no, he is in Suffolk,” Lord Rosdale said.
“Suffolk?” Violet cried.
“What do you mean?” Aurelia asked, tilting her head in confusion.
“I thought…” Lord Rosdale looked well and truly stumped. “Surely he mentioned he was going south today with Mr. Poole. Something about a cow farm and…” He sighed and took another drink himself. “Well, it is not a topic of conversation for women. He did not mention it to you?”
Aurelia felt the colour drain from her face.
Yes, he had mentioned it to her. But in the rush and panic of the day she had forgotten all about it.
Why had none of the staff reminded her? She supposed they had been too busy with the guests.
But he hadn’t said he would be late. Aurelia picked at her nails through her gloves.
And at almost that exact same moment, the sound of a carriage arriving could be heard outdoors.
She couldn’t say who had rushed to the window first, but all four of them were there with their noses pressed to the glass, watching Evander climb out of his carriage and put on his hat with Poole walking behind him.
“They look to be in good spirits,” Aunt Violet commented.
“Finished business tends to have that effect on men,” Lord Rosdale replied.
“But there are no cows with them,” Lydia said.
Lord Rosdale scoffed. “Right, let’s come away now and greet him properly instead of like monkeys in a menagerie. Miss Penrose, you may stand beside me.”
Lydia gasped happily. “Oh, certainly.”
He had known he would be late before he left Suffolk.
The property meeting had produced an additional question for every one it resolved.
He had sent word ahead and told the driver to push the horses as much as he reasonably could on roads that the previous night's storm had treated badly. But from the look of the faces in the drawing room, word hadn’t arrived in time.
They were all there. Patrick, already comfortable and laughing, moving forward to shake his hand.
Miss Penrose smiled devilishly, making a face at Aurelia when she thought he couldn’t see.
And Mrs. Hartwell, Aunt Violet now, who rose from her chair when he entered and bowed slightly, smiling gracefully.
And of course, there was Aurelia. Who took his breath away and restored it. Who had slept beside him last night and disappeared – and all the questions that had issued.
“Sit down,” Aunt Violet stressed. “You must be exhausted, Your Grace. The roads today were dreadful when we were driving in and no better for you I’m sure.”
He avoided Aurelia’s gaze as he maneuvered over to Aunt Violet and sat down. Thankfully Patrick soon occupied the women with a very loud and very energetic conversation. But somehow Aurelia slipped the net and came over to stand beside her aunt instead.
“The roads were perfectly manageable, Aunt Violet,” Aurelia said. “I expect His Grace does not want to talk about the road after so many hours on it.”
“Oh, hush,” Violet said with mirth. “You were pacing the room when you thought he was late and likely just as worried as we were.”
“You were worried?” Evander asked. “I did try to send word to the house.”
“She had forgotten all about your meeting,” Violet said on her behalf, taking Aurelia’s hand and tapping it.
Her rings glittered in the firelight. She had the rings; Aurelia had the bracelets.
“One has to wonder how excited and busy she has been to forget such a thing… Perhaps we will learn all about your young marriage at dinner.”
Evander smiled, secretly thinking that he hoped to keep the bulk of it firmly to himself.