"So glad to hear it," Thomas said with a smile. "Otherwise I would have to continually keep an eye on the wine cellars." He winked at her, and she could not resist smiling back.
"I say, is it too much to ask for a tour of the house?" her father asked.
Charlotte blushed, and hoped Thomas did not think they were both materialistic.
He nodded at once. "I would be delighted, so long as Jonathan doesn't mind waiting a little longer to begin the rehearsal."
Jonathan waved a chicken leg airily. "I have to speak to the musicians, but not until after I've done justice to the wonderful food. Go off and do the honors, old chap. It would be a sin to let this all go to waste, you know."
They all laughed good-naturedly at his quip, and putting down their glasses, followed Thomas out into the hall. He took Charlotte's arm, and began the tour.
"The original Eltham Castle was built by an ally of William the Conqueror when he first arrived on these shores. They knew the Welsh would be their biggest obstacle to conquest, so they adopted a policy of containment. You can still see the original castle on the grounds, but it fell into ruin about one hundred years ago, when this house was built.
"At that time, this was the fashion for the period, and the height of elegance, though I dare say you've seen many finer houses. The hall, I think, is its most unique feature, built in an oval, and with these elegant twin marble staircases leading to the upper floors. You have seen my little parlor, everyone, but I will just point it out to Mr. Castlemaine and James and Samuel again as the place where you will always be welcome to come sit with us when we are at home. We have quite a number of formal reception rooms here on the ground floor, but the parlor is just right for my tastes.
"There is also the yellow drawing room, the green, and the Wedgwood room," he said, pointing to each door in turn. "Wedgwood?" she echoed with interest. His warm emerald gaze met hers. "Yes, so called not only because of the blue coloring, but also the collection of objects there. My father was a great admirer and supporter of Josiah Wedgwood, and swore there was no pottery better in the world than that produced by our English potteries. He never could abide anything French, excepting wine, of course. Just as well, with all the embargoes, restrictions and blockades these days, eh?"
They all laughed at his entertaining remarks as he showed them from room to room.
At last he led Charlotte to the chamber furthest down that wing of the house. "Then we have my library, which as you can see is well-used. I do all of my accounts in here, and read and entertain. Charlotte shall have whatever room she likes for her use once we are married. Or she may share this with me."
They all admired the lofty two-storey room, with its vast floor to ceiling shelves filled end to end with books of every description. Each one they pulled down had had the pages cut, demonstrating that they were not just for show. Someone had actually read them. She longed to climb the wrought-iron stairs to the upper floor, but knew there would not be time that evening.
"This is an exceedingly fine collection. I would be most grateful if you would advise me on a course of study to improve my mind," Charlotte said to him quietly, awed by the array of titles.
"The novels are over here." He tried to turn her to the right.
She shook her head at once. "No, I did say study. I mean, I do appreciate the offer, and would love to see the poetry and novels some time, but I really do want to learn about the things that you find important."
He peered down at her and said in a low tone, "I thought you said today that you were happy exactly as you were."
She shrugged. "I'm willing to admit that there's no such thing as perfection. Even the most wonderful things can be capable of improvement."
He bent to kiss her hand. "So long as it's your choice, my dear."
"It is," she said, and it was no lie she told.
He beamed down at her with evident pride, making her feel like a queen. "Then after all the wedding festivities, I shall see what I can find."
"Thank you."
"Now, now, you two, no more of that until after you are wed!" her father said playfully.
"How unfashionable, a devoted couple. You will cause complete scandal in London if you're not careful," Clifford teased, his bright blue eyes sparkling.
"No worse than you and Vanessa. It is a wonder they don't bar you from the balls, you make such a show of dancing only with each other."
"I shall be glad to dance with you any time you like, Thomas," Clifford said with a laugh.
He grinned back. "Er, no, thanks all the same. We did enough of that during the war to help pass the time, and you always did insist on leading. Badly, I might add."
They all laughed.
"Or is it just that you're so used to leading, Tommy?" Clifford fired back.
"You could well be right, old friend," the Duke replied without a trace of embarrassment. "But I wouldn't mind a turn about the floor with your wife Vanessa should the occasion arise."
"Of course, any time. Though you will own it's awfully hard to get you away from the wall." Clifford turned to Charlotte now. "With all the political discussions of his, many people actually think the poor duke doesn't know how to dance." "Indeed, I have not had the good fortune to see much evidence of his abilities, save at my birthday ball the other evening," she admitted, gazing up at Thomas with renewed interest. "But I have it on good authority throughout at least five counties that he is an absolute king of the quadrille. No one holds a candle to him, and no one dares put a foot wrong in his set."
Charlotte smiled softly. It was no less than she had observed from the one dance they had ever shared. "Oh dear, then I'm afraid I'm a far too giddy a partner for him. Our last attempt was not exactly a great success."
He smiled down at her kindly. "As you have said my dear, you are eager for improvement. I shall be only too happy to teach you. And that brings us very nicely to our ballroom. If you will follow me, please."
The ballroom was evidently a later addition to the house, attached at the back through a vast row of double doors which she was sure had once been windows. The four huge chandeliers overhead required hundred of candles, and the marble floor below was a most intricate design rendered with white marble with rose and black inlay.
The ceiling had the finest moldings she had ever scene, reminding her of snowy white clouds on a bright summer's day. The room could easily hold over two hundred people, and was made to appear even larger by strategically placed mirrors around the room. The back wall contained two vast fireplaces, and three sets of glass-paneled doors which led onto the paved terrace.
She stepped out onto the terrace and into the deepening twilight. A full moon was just coming up over the horizon. She thought she had never seen any spot more romantic. She noted the box hedge maze, and the magnificent garden, the earthy aroma of which filled the night air.
"Do you like it?" he asked softly.
"It is more than I ever could have imagined," she said truthfully, and took his hand.
He stroked her cheek with his thumb for a moment, and would have pressed a kiss upon her lips had not the chatter inside the room drawing nearer called him to his senses.
"Come, we still have the first floor to view, and the rehearsal to carry out."
She nodded, tamping down the vague sense of disappointment she felt at not having been kissed. He had been so close. She should have just stood on tiptoe and...
She fluttered her fan to cool her suddenly heated cheeks, quashed the thought, and preceded him into the room, not taking his proffered arm this time, but rather joining her two cousins.
"Well, Samuel, what do you think so far?" she asked in a low tone.
"That you're a very lucky woman indeed. Just be thankful that the duke is a traditional sort of man, and willing to do the decent thing by you, even though you are no more than a commoner."
Her sharp intake of breath and the tears which filled her sapphire eyes alerted Thomas to her distress at once. He immediately came o
ver to her side and took her elbow.
"Come, Charlotte, we have yet to show you your room."
As soon as they were out of earshot, he whispered, "Ignore whatever it was Samuel just said to distress you."
"But he's right," she sniffed. "I am a commoner."
"So were Adam and Eve, were they not? And all of the other admirable figures of the Bible, including Jesus himself. I'm fortunate enough to have a title, true. But do you not think I would much rather have my father alive and well? That would be worth far more to me than an empty word and a great number of people who only want to know me because the appellation 'Duke' summons up all sorts of fustian nonsense in their imaginations."
She managed to suppress her tears with a brave smile. "Thank you for trying to make me feel better. But he's right, I'm going to be viewed as a commoner by many of your friends."
He stroked her shoulder and said in a gentle tone, "If that's true, then they aren't real friends, now are they?"
She smiled up at him bravely. "No, I suppose not."
"Besides, Clifford and Jonathan have no titles. Do you believe I think less of them for all that?"
"No, I know you don't," she admitted, slightly mollified. "You're as close as brothers."
"Therefore, you have nothing to fear. I promise I will never reproach you for not being a Duchess in your own right. In fact, quite the reverse. Most of the ones I have ever met would scare small children." He made a haughty face, then crossed his eyes.
She giggled and took his arm more securely. "I don't scare you, then?"
"You terrify me," he murmured quietly in her ear, "but not for the same reasons."
She raised her eyebrows, but did not have a chance to ask him if he were teasing or not.
He now took command of the group once more, and said, "I won't bore you with viewing all of the upstairs guest chambers, since no doubt in the course of you coming to stay with us, gentlemen, you shall see them all in the fullness of time. But I shall show Charlotte her room, part of the master suite."
He led them up one of the huge curved staircases to the first floor, and toward the east wing of the house. The chambers were at the end of the long corridor, and quite private and separate from the rest of the house.
Opening the double doors, she saw a spacious blue and cream sitting room with windows on either side, and a set of three doors on the far wall. On the left was a room decorated in masculine tones of deep red, blue and gold. On the right was a more light, airy room, with a huge four-poster hung with flouncy draperies from floor to canopy, all in buttercup yellow, white and pale green. In between the two rooms was a vast dressing room, and adjoining bathroom in white and black marble.
Noting that the feminine bedroom was smaller than the other, she looked again, and saw a smaller room off to one side, which was fitted out as a nursery. A door from there led out into a larger chamber designed for the same purpose, which led back to the corridor they had traveled down.
Charlotte noted inwardly that it was certainly an unconventional arrangement. Her nursery had been on a completely different floor from her parents' rooms, and her parents' rooms had certainly not been next to each other's.
Thomas saw her assessing and surprised looks, and said, "I'm afraid we had the most doting parents. Mother did everything for us, even fed us. She could not bear to let her out of her sight. She had actually been married before Papa. It was a difficult marriage, and ended badly. She never spoke of it, but I know that she lost several children before her first husband finally died.
"Once she married Papa, and we came along, I am afraid she was a bit too overprotective. But she was the best of women, and my sister Elizabeth certainly feels her loss. I hope that she and you will be great friends."
"Have you asked her yet about being the flower girl?"
He smiled, taking her breath away. "Yes. She's thrilled to be included in the party, of course. She wants you to go to her room when you have a spare moment in order to make sure you approve her dress choice."
Charlotte looked around now, and said in a low tone intended for the Duke's ears only, "Why has she not joined us this evening? I didn't like to ask, but, well, I hope she isn't angry about our marrying."
"No, not at all," he said truthfully. "I believe she is actually making some behind the scenes preparations with the housekeeper that she would like to surprise us both with. Whatever it is, no matter how awful, you will say you like it, won't you?"
She smiled up at him warmly. "Of course. I shall treasure it, no matter what."
He tore his gaze away from her dazzling smile and asked, "Do you like your room?"
"I most certainly do," she said, trailing back to the chamber to look at it again. "What a lovely desk."
It was rosewood, inlaid with carved roses in a subtly different red hue.
"My mother would rise early and study and read her Bible before she started her household duties for the day."
"She sounds like a wonderful woman," Charlotte remarked, stroking the fine furniture and again wishing she were more worthy of all that the Fates seemed to be bestowing upon her.
Thomas nodded and sighed. "She was. We miss both of our parents. You're fortunate to have a good and kind father."
"Perhaps too kind."
He looked at her in surprise. "Is there such a thing?"
She nodded. "There is, since he has never tried to discipline me or improve me the way you have."
He smiled down at her kindly, once again taking her breath away at the nearness of him. "Well, a child does not always take correction well. In any event, I certainly do not want to be in loco parentis for you, my dear. You are your own woman now, and I shall expect you to behave like an adult."
She looked up at him earnestly. "But you will help me when I go wrong, as I inevitably will?"
"So long as you'll do the same for me, my dear." He stooped to kiss her on the brow, which earned them a scathing remark from her cousin James about 'billing and cooing' like doves.
"Oh, you're just jealous because you haven't met the right person for you to settle down with," she taunted, earning her a surprised look from Thomas.
This was a complete shock after what she had said to him earlier that day. He smiled inwardly with both delight and relief. So there was hope for them after all. He had to hope that patience and persistence would pay off. She was a rare beauty, and a woman he enjoyed being with every moment he was permitted to spend at her side. His whole body ached for her, her touch, smile, laugh, in a way no other woman had ever affected him. This wasn't mere rowelling lust, he was sure of it, though her gorgeous gown was so breathtaking, the only thing he could think of was how much he wanted to get her out of it. He might be putting the wedding before the courtship, but they could be happy, he was sure of it. He just had to wait, let her come to him, and then his prize would be his at last.
Just how long it would take her until she was ready to love again, if ever, he had no idea. But she seemed to appreciate him as a man, and as a human being.
Thomas swore to himself as he took her hand that he would wait as long as it took to hear her tell him she loved him for himself alone. Then she need never know the horrible truth about Herbert Paxton and the dire fate she had narrowly escaped.
CHAPTER NINE
"If you've seen everything up here, I think Jonathan is waiting for us to begin the rehearsal," Thomas said to the assembled guests a short time later, when Charlotte had examined her room and the nursery once more.
Clifford and Vanessa proceeded downstairs first, followed by Sarah Deveril, and the Castlemaine family.
Only Charlotte lingered, looking at the luxurious suite she would be expected to share with him once they were married. It all seemed so intimate somehow. She had assumed that once they were wed, Thomas would take her money and simply ignore her. That they would live as near strangers on opposite ends of the house, not in this lovely suite of rooms complete with elegant bedroom, bathroom, and nursery.
; Despite herself, she found herself warming more and more to the man she was being forced to marry. The more time she spent with him, the more fascinated she became with the puzzle of how they had come to be engaged.
"Are you ready, my dear?" he asked softly.
"Yes. No." She looked up at him in confusion.
He caught her guarded look at once. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"I'm trying to understand all of this. What's happened to me."
He frowned slightly. "What has happened?"
"Us being affianced." She indicated the sumptuous apartments with a sweep of her hand. "All this. You have everything you could ever want. Why me? Why my fortune? There are others, and better ones, and the contents of this house alone and the jewels in your Mama's cases would most likely put it to shame."
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