by Abby Ayles
“Do you like what you see?” he asked her.
“I can’t remember the last time I was in a place so verdant,” Lady Noelle said to him in answer. “Everything looks and smells so fresh and alive here.”
He gazed at her affectionately. Like you, he thought, wishing he could say it without shocking her and injuring his reputation. A gentleman never remarked upon the scent of a lady, even as a compliment.
Soon, they were on the front porch of Westwood. Rodrick knocked on the door and they waited. He hoped that they’d be greeted by one of James’s friendlier butlers.
The door opened and they were invited inside. The butler – Giles – bowed low when he saw Lady Noelle and Lady Catherine among the group that waited there. “Welcome to Westwood, my ladies,” he said.
He led the party into the expansive drawing room and the ladies all took a seat on the couch while Rodrick stood in anticipation of greeting their host. Rodrick hoped that James would appear and they wouldn’t be forced to awkwardly meet with Uncle Alexander instead.
The butler left them there to go and find one of his lords. Rodrick cleared his throat softly and smiled at Lady Noelle, who was looking up at him curiously. She then looked around the room, admiring the decorations and furnishings.
“This is a beautiful house,” she complimented. “Sometimes I wonder if a home will be as pretty on the inside as it is on the outside, but this one certainly is.”
Rodrick nodded at her. “My uncle would love to hear that you said so,” he replied sincerely. “I personally find it a bit too cavernous for my taste.”
Lady Noelle giggled softly. His mother, meanwhile, looked shocked.
“Rodrick!” she said with a gasp. “You shouldn’t say that about your uncle’s home – your cousin’s home. It’s been in the family for years,” she added as an aside to the ladies beside her on the couch.
“I don’t mean to disrespect its owners or its history,” Rodrick said. “I merely mean that it is a bit like a museum rather than a place where people live.”
“That’s not such a bad thing,” Lady Noelle replied. “It’s a testament to the staff here, to be sure. They do a wonderful job of keeping things neat and lovely.”
Just then, two gentlemen appeared in the doorway of the drawing room. James smiled and bowed in greeting to his guests. Rodrick was surprised to see Alphonse standing there at his side.
The two men didn’t normally get along that well. They were cordial towards each other, of course, but it struck him as odd that they were apparently spending time together without him. What’s going on?
“Ladies, please allow me to introduce the Marquess of Fairfax,” James said, addressing Lady Noelle and Lady Catherine.
Rodrick noticed at once that Noelle’s expression became rather cool and uncomfortable at the sight of Alphonse. Her sister, on the other hand, lit up when she heard his name. She turned her head towards Lady Noelle and whispered something into her ear.
“It is an honor to finally make your acquaintance,” Alphonse said, primarily to Lady Noelle. He moved to the couch and offered his hand to her.
She rose from the couch and received his hand, watching curiously as he bowed low before her. “Lord Drake,” she said. “I was beginning to wonder if we should ever meet face-to-face.”
Lord Drake laughed at this, throwing his head back. Rodrick continued to watch him anxiously. “I know, I have been horrid when it comes to meeting with you and attending the requisite balls. But I assure you that it has been because of a good reason.”
Lady Noelle arched an eyebrow, clearly curious about what his reasons might be. But then Fairfax’s attention was drawn to Lady Catherine. He grinned at her.
“And who is this lovely young lady?”
Lady Catherine stood up.
“Lady Catherine Fletcher,” Rodrick formally introduced her.
Alphonse bowed a bit, not taking his eyes off her. Rodrick was uncomfortable. James, too, had a rather horrified look on his face that he was doing his best to mask. Rodrick knew his cousin too well to fall for any sort of mask he might employ.
“I thought that I ought to bring the ladies over to explore your estate,” Rodrick announced, letting his loud voice distract Lord Drake from his staring at Lady Catherine. “After all, my own house and land are nothing compared to Westwood.”
James blushed a little and smiled at the ladies now, keeping his attention on Lady Catherine. “My cousin is awfully modest, I assure you. But we do have quite a fine house here. It was built in the late sixteenth century.”
Lady Noelle’s eyes lit up and Rodrick couldn’t quite tell if she was truly interested in the history of the mansion or if she was interested in steering the subject away from the marquess and her sister…
“Shall we go for a bit of a tour?” Rodrick suggested. “It has been quite a while since I last explored the depths of this beautiful house. Is your father in today?”
The two men began to lead the ladies out of the room. “He is here, sir,” James replied. “But you know him – he’s out back with his dogs and his hunting rifle, hoping to catch some quails.”
“Ah.”
As they walked out of the room, Rodrick looked back and noticed that Lord Drake hadn’t left Lady Catherine’s side since he’d introduced himself to her.
Chapter 15
Noelle was quite taken aback when the Marquess of Fairfax decided to appear before her. She never imagined that he’d show up at Westwood of all places. Mr. Edwards hadn’t mentioned it, and he seemed quite familiar with everything else about the estate.
She got a rather unusual feeling when she was greeted by the marquess, and this feeling only grew when he greeted Kitty in an even more enthusiastic manner. Now that she was in the same room as him, she really could tell that she hadn’t been missing out on much.
Mr. Edwards seems to share my feelings, she thought as she watched his face. He appeared even more shocked than I was at the sight of the man.
As they strolled through the Earl of Montgomery’s home, Noelle found herself wondering more about the older man whom she had yet to meet. He was apparently an avid hunter, which explained his absence from the house thus far. I wonder if he is a very old and stern man.
“What brings you to Westwood, Lord Drake?” Catherine asked the gentleman at her side. Noelle had been wondering the same thing. She knew that he and Mr. Edwards were on friendly terms but based on the latter gentleman’s reaction to seeing him there, she believed that it wasn’t a usual occurrence.
“I was visiting my dear old friends Lord Edwards and Mr. Edwards and making some preliminary plans for the theatre,” Lord Drake explained. “Do you like the theatre, Lady Catherine?”
Kitty blushed and giggled. Noelle did her best not to roll her eyes. Her sister did carry on so much…
“We don’t often go to the theatre,” Noelle answered for her. “Our parents aren’t particularly fond of it. Especially not the actors.”
Roderick was looking at her with a curious sort of smile. She blushed under his gaze. “What do you think of the theatre, Lady Noelle?” he asked her.
“I like it,” Noelle said in answer to Mr. Edwards’ question. “From what I could tell, it is enjoyably imaginative. I think that’s what my mother most dislikes about it.”
He chuckled appreciatively at her, nodding his head a little. “No offense meant to your mother, but she does seem the serious sort.”
She laughed and nodded at him. “That’s a fair assessment. She is rather serious and constantly worried about things that I think are silly and not worth the energy.”
This seemed to amuse Mr. Edwards a great deal. Noelle thought that the Westwood mansion was lovely, but as soon as they were strolling along outside again, she really felt happy and at peace. The land on which the mansion rested was what she loved the most.
I really think I would love to live in a place like this, she thought. Our home in Essex is lovely as well, but of course we leave it every season
and don’t look back. If I ever marry a gentleman, I hope that he shall have a vibrant and verdant home such as this.
And she knew full well that Lord Edwards adored Catherine just as well.
Though, when she turned her head to look back at her sister, she noticed that Kitty was still chatting happily with the Marquess of Fairfax. He, on the other hand, was supposedly Noelle’s intended. However, by the look of things, he didn’t intend to be with her in the least.
Mother isn’t going to be very happy if she finds out that he was here and completely ignored me, she thought.
She quit Mr. Edwards’s side and walked back to be beside her sister. “What was the reason for your absence from our ball that evening, my lord? You never told us. Is all well with you?”
Lord Drake appeared a bit taken aback at this question. He looked from Catherine to Noelle and then he gave a reluctant smile. “My father is an old man, you see, and he is often ill these days.”
“Oh dear, what a poor man,” Catherine cried out at once, bringing one of her porcelain white gloves to her mouth.
“Yes,” Lord Drake agreed. “He often wishes for me to be at his side, keeping him company in his moments of malaise. And I do not wish to be neglectful, even if I do wish that I could come out and see you ladies more often.”
Kitty accepted this excuse with great showiness, but Noelle caught Rodrick’s eyes and smirked a little when he rolled his eyes. None of this was noticed by Lord Drake, who was still quite distracted by Noelle’s sister.
I wonder why he doesn’t believe him, Noelle thought curiously. He does know him far better than we do… Oh, I feel terrible for how little it displeases me that the marquess should choose Kitty over me.
Though, as she thought it, she realized why indeed it should be a problem. Kitty and Lord Edwards were supposed to be a match. Was the marquess trying to get in the way of that?
She had to wonder why on earth the other man had appeared on today of all days. Surely, he knew that Lord Edwards was going to be entertaining guests with his cousin. Could it be that he was trying to see the Fletcher ladies here at Westwood where there should be far less of a consequence for him?
Noelle didn’t like that. A man who didn’t wish to be seen at a ball with a lady was no man that she wanted to know, truly. As far as she was concerned, this Marquess of Fairfax was nothing more than an interloper.
“Lord Edwards,” she called up to the gentleman, making sure to make a show of it. “I love what you’ve done with your home. It is truly enchanting.”
He smiled at her and watched as Lady Noelle marched back up to take her place beside Mr. Edwards. If her sister wasn’t going to be friendly towards the viscount, she would. “Why, thank you, Lady Noelle,” he said appreciatively.
“Indeed, it has a great deal more to do with your staff and your father’s own tastes than you,” Mr. Edwards said, teasing his cousin. “I think that once this home is in your full possession, quite a few changes will be made to it.”
“Sir?” she asked him, smiling. She enjoyed being able to play along with them in their amusing banter instead of having to listen to another word from the marquess. Something about him continued to rub her the wrong way.
Mr. Edwards grinned from Lord Edwards to her. “For example, Lord Edwards here is much less severe than his father. There are a great many rooms in this home that are unoccupied and unused.”
“Yes, it would seem that dust is the third occupant of this house,” Lord Edwards agreed. “Dust and cobwebs. But really, Rodrick, that is only the upper floors where no one goes.”
Noelle’s eyes lit up a bit at this new information. It sounded as though Westwood was more or less an old haunted house. “Why do you suppose that the earl, your father, doesn’t use the rooms?”
The viscount shrugged his shoulders slightly. “It is quite a lot of space for two unmarried men such as us. It’s hoped, of course, that someday I shall marry, and then…”
“Then there will be children enough to scare away the spiders!” Mr. Edwards said, finishing his sentence though likely not in the way that Lord Edwards intended.
Noelle giggled a little, entertained by these two gentlemen. She was grateful that she’d been invited to spend further time with them, for she could see now that there was much more to them than fancy family names and titles… She appreciated how close they were, too.
They are very much like brothers, she thought. They’ve clearly grown up and spent their whole lives in each other’s company. She compared this to her own family and couldn’t help but smile.
Although they didn’t always get along, she and her sisters were quite close as well. Noelle hoped to be able to keep that strong family dynamic going once she was married… And she was beginning to realize how unlikely that could be if she married a nobleman like the Marquess of Fairfax.
She couldn’t wait to get her sister alone so she could reprimand her for being so flirtatious with the wrong man. She wasn’t jealous of her for receiving the man’s attention; quite the contrary. She just knew that Lord Edwards had expressed interest in Catherine and her sister was not taking much notice of him anymore.
“Ah yes, here’s the man of the hour,” Mr. Edwards suddenly said, waking Noelle from her daydream-like thoughts. An older gentleman came loping towards them in the grassy field beyond the mansion. He was holding a long rifle in one hand and three pheasants by their necks in the other hand.
He had thin gray hair yet was quite bald on the top of his head. He wore a dark-brown overcoat, which Noelle believed was primarily employed as camouflage, not as a means of keeping warm. This surely was the now-infamous Earl of Montgomery.
“Father,” Lord Edwards called to him, walking over so he could relieve the old man of his pheasants. A trio of hounds came rushing over from the direction of the woods, and they barked and bayed for several moments, running circles around the group. “Permit me to introduce you to Lady Noelle and Lady Catherine, the daughters of the Duke of Salisbury.”
Mr. Edwards carefully took the rifle from the man’s hand so that the earl was better able to greet the ladies. “I’m pleased to make your acquaintance,” the older gentleman said.
Noelle gladly smiled at him and watched as he bowed “It’s wonderful to meet you, Lord Edwards” she said to him sincerely. She didn’t know what she expected, but he seemed perfectly pleasant to her now that she’d actually met him. There was nothing very sinister or cold about the earl.
“Oh, how polite you are,” he replied with a smile. Then he looked around at the rest of them. “Who’s hungry for pheasant this evening?”
Everyone laughed a bit and nodded their heads in agreement that it would be a fine dinner. Then they all walked back to the mansion. Lord Edwards held his father by one arm, holding tight to the birds in his other hand. Noelle adored that the men of Westwood took care of each other.
She was further delighted to see that Kitty had gone back to speaking with Lord Edwards as they all walked, greeting the Earl of Montgomery as well. Lord Drake hung back and watched with more than mild resentment. Noelle was rather smug about that and she joined Mr. Edwards as they walked behind the earl and his son.
There had been a brief time when she thought that the addition of Lord Drake to their party was going to cause an upset, but she was pleased to see now that it wasn’t the case. The man was irksome, to be sure, but the rest of the party paid him no mind in the end.
As soon as they were inside the mansion again, he pleased her even further by taking his leave of the place.
Noelle and Catherine could continue their visit in peace.
Chapter 16
Lady Noelle and Lady Catherine left Rodrick’s Wildhill home after two wonderful days and nights. He was sad to see them go; they’d fit right in there and Lady Noelle, in particular, seemed to have a high regard for the little house. Rodrick was left feeling proud and quite honored to have lived in her presence if only for a short while.
However, it didn’t
take long for things to go back to business as usual. His mother did seem to notice the sluggishness in his step after several days of them being alone at home, just the two of them. “Such excitement is bound to cause a bit of sorrow when it’s over,” she commented sagely.
“I’m not feeling sorrow,” Rodrick tried to argue. “I don’t know what I’m feeling…”
His mother set her sewing into her lap. “You love that girl, don’t you? Lady Noelle.”
Blushing at the sound of her name, he shook his head and looked away from his mother, sighing softly. “I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve only spent a small amount of time with her.”
