would all be over.
* * *
Her groom kept checking the time, five minutes and then ten. The food was tasty and the conversation around the table increasingly more congenial, but he did not join in the talk and neither did she, the minister and her father doing most of it.
Unexpectedly the older woman next to her leant over and squeezed her hand. ‘I am Julia McBeth and when I was married I wondered what I was doing, but my Henry was the sweetest man a bride could want. Daniel Wylde is like that too, underneath. He is kind and good.’
She spoke quietly, but in her eyes there was a genuine concern.
‘I was the Earl’s governess when he was young. His mother was not the sort of woman who took to children easily, you understand, so the two boys became like the sons I could never have myself. I am a distant cousin from a branch of the family that invested unwisely, so the position here was a godsend at the time, and the boys made everything bearable. I left Montcliffe Manor when Nigel and Daniel were sent up to school, but kept in good contact with the boys afterwards.’
‘You must miss Nigel, then?’
‘Oh, I do, but he always needed his younger brother to keep him...stable. When Daniel went off to the Peninsular Campaign with General Moore I think Nigel lost his direction and could not get it back.
‘So he died before my husband returned?’
‘Just a day or so after, actually.’ The frown across her forehead alluded to something more, but Amethyst did not wish to ask about it. ‘My husband passed away three years ago and although I had been away from Montcliffe for a very long time Lord Montcliffe asked me back to stay. A goodness, that, for I had nowhere else to go and I think he knew it.’
‘Do his mother and sisters ever come here?’
‘The Countess is a city woman. I doubt she has ever enjoyed the place and only a small handful of staff has been kept on which would not suit her at all. Certainly even as a young mother Lady Montcliffe left for London at the drop of a hat and for very long periods of time.’
‘Then it is most appropriate that you are here today, Mrs McBeth.’
‘Julia. Everyone calls me that and if you have need of an ear you know where to find me.’
‘Thank you.’ A slight happiness came through all the strange uncertainty as she was given a glimpse of the younger Daniel. A leader and kind with it. The sort of man that Gerald had never been.
* * *
When the meal finally came to an end the Earl of Montcliffe stood.
‘Might I have a word with you in private in the library, my lady?’ My lady? She was that to him now? So formal. So very polite.
‘Of course.’
She followed him down a dark corridor that opened up into a large and light room, a garden off to one side with double doors for access. Books lined each end, all leather-bound and well ordered.
Here was another thing then that she had discovered about him. He read.
‘Your lawyer gave me your handwritten note outlining the demands of this marriage. A marriage in name only, I am presuming, given your edict for separate lives.’
Did he want more? Looking up, she saw he did not.
‘For appearances’ sake would you be happy to inhabit the adjoining chamber to my own whilst here at Montcliffe Manor? It might stop any gossip that I would not wish to engender. The door between us would remain locked, the key on your side.’
She nodded.
‘Did your father read the conditions you wrote?’
‘He didn’t.’
‘His seemed to contradict your own.’
‘I think he hopes for much more than each of us would wish to give, my lord.’
‘Indeed?’
His hand reached out towards her and he tipped her chin up into the light, peering at her injured cheek. ‘That should not have happened.’ Colouring profusely, she felt the heat of his words roll across her face. ‘Did you love Gerald Whitely, Amethyst?’
‘No.’
For the only time in that whole day he smiled like he meant it, as he let her go. ‘We will stay here at Montcliffe until the day after tomorrow. Then we shall travel to Dunstan House. Your father will accompany us.’
‘You have spoken to him of it?’
‘Yes.’
He turned then to the cabinet behind him and, using a key, unlocked a safe that held a long leather box. She saw a profusion of small boxes within, but stayed quiet whilst he opened one container and then the next. Finally he found what he sought and came to stand beside her.
‘Give me your left hand.’ With trepidation she did so, watching as he carefully removed the ugly diamond ring and replaced it with a delicate deep purple amethyst set in ornately wrought rose gold.
‘The clasp on this one won’t hurt you.’
Smooth and beautiful, the underlying colours of red and blue glinted in the light of the room. No small worth.
‘It is my birthstone.’
‘I know.’
She was surprised at this. ‘What stone is yours?’
‘A diamond for April.’
Without meaning to she laughed and the humour was not lost on him.
‘The hardest substance on earth.’ He waited for a moment before carrying on. ‘Imbued in the folktale is the belief that diamonds promote eternal love.’
A new awareness filled the space around them.
‘We barely know each other, but the circumstances that have thrown us together require at least some effort of knowledge. Perhaps if we start here.’
‘Here?’
‘My parents loathed each other from the moment they married and I do not wish to be the same. Is politeness beyond us, do you think?’
She shook her head.
Her hand was still in his, the warmth of skin comforting and sensual, though after a quick shake he allowed her distance.
‘Would you come for a ride with me around the Montcliffe estate this afternoon?’
‘In your carriage?’
‘I thought after our last jaunt together that you might prefer horseback. The stables here are not quite empty yet.’
When she nodded he leant down to ring the bell and a servant she hadn’t seen before appeared immediately.
‘Could you show Lady Montcliffe back to her room?’ He consulted the same watch she had seen him glance at before. ‘Would an hour be enough time for you to be ready?’
‘Yes.’
‘Then I will see you at the stables at four.’
A slight gesture to his man had him turning. He did not look back as he opened a further door to one end of the library and disappeared from view.
* * *
He walked into his brother’s chamber after their conversation and sat in the chair before the desk in the untouched room. Nigel was everywhere, in the models of ships that might ply the Atlantic much like Cameron’s fleet and in the books of maps that he had treasured in a wayward pile next to his bed. He had barely been in here since his brother’s death, but this was a room he had often enjoyed as a youth.
Daniel could not decide which emotion he felt more, love or anger, but they were both closely aligned to the guilt he had never let go of.
He