Amberley Chronicles Boxset II (Amberley Chronicles Box Sets Book 2)

by May Burnett

  Anna had stiffened a little, and her eyes widened. Rook sent her a tiny, almost imperceptible smile, and was pleased to see her own lips curl upwards in immediate response. She was smart as a whip – the smallest cue was enough.

  “Yes, Papa, please take the time,” she said, also in English. “It may be important.”

  The Count was looking from his daughter to Rook and back again. He was no fool either, and had already drawn his conclusions, Rook would bet.

  “Of course, I am entirely at your service, Marquess.”

  The Grand Duke took his leave, after promising to pick up Gisela at eleven the next day. Anna led the Princess towards their quarters, leaving her father and Rook behind.

  The two men looked at each other in silence until they were quite private. Rook liked what he saw. The diplomat had the same blue eyes as his daughter. He was tall and straight and unless he was mistaken, highly astute.

  “Since you are intent on leaving so soon, I have no time to lose,” Rook began. “For some time now I have deeply regretted the previous engagement that prevented me from paying my addresses to your daughter Anna. She is the woman I would like to make my wife, if she agrees. I beg your permission for trying my luck with her.”

  “This is sudden,” the Count said sceptically. “Are you aware that your dowry demands have enraged my Prince? How do expect a mere Count to meet them?”

  “My dowry expectations?” Rook shook his head incredulously. “My father conducted the whole negotiations for this match behind my back. I only learned of the engagement once it was a fait accompli. I do not care a whit about Anna’s dowry, if she will have me.”

  “Do you mean that?” The Count was thawing a little. “I have no time for greedy young men. Anna was engaged to marry an officer until recently – technically she still is, as he won’t have got my letter yet, breaking it off. He not only was after her dowry, but flaunted his mistress in front of her friends. Can you assure me that you wouldn’t do anything similar?”

  “He must be an utter fool and cad. I do not plan to have a mistress if Anna marries me; much less to flaunt her. I love Anna, but even if not, I would never subject my wife to such humiliation.” He hesitated for a moment, but it had to be said. “While my father lives, we may have to live modestly. I am not willing to forgive him for what he did, and there has just been more news that may involve our family in a nasty scandal.”

  “So Anna said,” the Count replied. He was scrutinizing Rook’s face, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “I understand you are the heir, but financially dependent on your father for the time being?”

  “Unfortunately, but I am planning to find something else to do in the meantime. Something useful.”

  “I will have to see what Anna herself thinks and wants, since she knows you and the situation better. She is a sensible girl. Maybe too sensible; she put up with that Rudolf’s antics for too long.”

  “I would strive not to give her any cause to regret her choice.”

  “We’ll see, we’ll see… ah, here she comes now.” Anna slipped into the room and anxiously looked from her father to Rook.

  “This young man, hardly freed from one engagement, now wants to marry you,” the Count told her. Rook watched Anna’s smile break out like the sun coming up on a misty morning. He’d never get tired of seeing it.

  The Count went on, “I see from your face that the news is not unwelcome, Anna. You’d better talk to each other, but I’ll be right outside, within call. Ten minutes.”

  He left, drawing the door not quite shut behind him.

  Rook and Anna stared at each other.

  “I love you,” he said. “God, I thought I would never have the chance to tell you so. All those walks with the Princess, when it was really you I wanted to make love to – you whose company I craved – tell me I am not the only one to feel it.”

  “You must have realised that I was not indifferent,” Anna said in a low voice. “I tried to hide it, as honour and common sense demanded. Oh, Rook, is it really true? Out of all the females in the world, you want me? Are you quite certain?”

  “As certain as I’ve ever been of anything in my life,” he told her. “I love you, but I also need you. If you consent, I’d like us to marry as soon as possible, before some new complication arises, such as an unexpected engagement or another girl claiming she is my wife. The only wife I want is you.”

  “Of course I will marry you – but right now I’d really like to kiss you.”

  He grabbed her, not gently, and obliged her, uncaring of her delicate silk gown and elaborate hair arrangement. His heart felt like it was about to burst with relief and happiness. “Sweetheart,” he groaned, “don’t make me wait too long, will you?”

  “No, I don’t want to wait either,” she gasped when she finally came up for air. “You kiss wonderfully well, Rook. I knew you would.”

  “It’s not the only thing I do well,” he said, enjoying her blush. After a couple of seconds he went on, “There are riding and fencing and shooting, and singing, and learning new languages…”

  “Wretch,” Anna said, but took the sting away with a quick kiss on his chin, and rubbing her hand through his hair. She’d wanted to do that for weeks, and it felt just as lovely as she had imagined.

  “I cannot abandon the Princess,” she said reluctantly. “Since she has no other suitable companion. But perhaps we can find some substitute in London – a stranger, though, I don’t know…”

  “Don’t worry about it,” he told her. “I am going to accompany you, all the way to Russia if need be. We can be married there, in your father’s presence, and by the time we return to England I may be more willing to forgive my father. Right now I am so angry with him that I don’t know what I’ll do the next time I see him.”

  “And when we come back?”

  “Anthony – Lord Pell – has offered me employment,” he said, unsure how she would take to the notion. Their class tended to despise all remunerated work. “He wants to travel around the world, and I would be keeping an eye on his various estates and business concerns in the meantime. They are so extensive that it would keep me pretty busy for the two or three years he means to be gone.”

  “And good training for the time when you take over your own family’s holdings,” Anna said thoughtfully. “It sounds like an excellent notion. I will help to the best of my ability. Have I mentioned that I have an independent income from two estates I inherited from my mother?”

  “You were already perfect before you mentioned that,” Rook said, kissing her again. “But I’m glad. I would not want you to be deprived in any way because of the conflict with my father.”

  “I don’t want to live in the same house as he and his wife,” Anna warned.

  “God, no, of course not. Neither do I. We’ll keep far away from them. My brothers are all right, though, and we do have a large number of perfectly pleasant relations as well.”

  “I look forward to meeting them.”

  The Count came back in, and Anna immediately informed him of their engagement and plans.

  “Very well, you have my blessing.” He listened for a moment to the strains of music coming from the ballroom, just underneath the Salon. “We don’t have much time, as the Princess wants to leave tomorrow at eleven.”

  “I’ll be ready to come also,” Rook promised. As much as he liked the Amberleys and their beautiful place, this time he’d be most relieved to leave it behind. “But I would like to dance with you just once, Anna. We missed that waltz I was so looking forward to.”

  “I too,” Anna confessed. “Let me restore my hair a bit – I’ll meet you in the ballroom in half an hour. I can always sleep in the coach tomorrow.”

  “Good thinking.” Rook had to smile as we watched her hurry off. His love was so admirably pragmatic in most respects. It was wonderful that she was soft-headed around him. The effects of love, he could tell, as a fellow victim. And against all his expectations, happy and content to be so.

&nbs
p; “Let me find George and a room for you in the meantime,” he offered the Count.

  “Very well, and there is some more information that might be useful…”

  Chapter 33

  In the absence of the Princess, Rook was able to dance the supper dance with Anna, and to take her in to that elegant repast. They shared one of the small tables with James and Charlotte Ellsworthy. James had changed into evening wear and like Rook danced with his beloved, who looked happy to have him back at last. Hopefully Rook’s own marriage would be this solid. It would not be his fault, he resolved, if it wasn’t.

  Looking around, he could not see his father and stepmother, and was glad.

  “What happened to the Princess?” Charlotte Ellsworthy asked.

  “She retired early, as she is departing tomorrow morning,” Anna explained. “She has decided to marry a former suitor, who came here all the way from Russia to carry her off, and Rook is free from that engagement.”

  James and Charlotte Ellsworthy exchanged a wondering look. “It would be ungentlemanly to congratulate you,” James said to Rook, “but let me propose a toast to your freedom!”

  “No,” Rook demurred, “I only recovered it for a moment, and immediately offered it up to the Komtesse. Anna and I will be married as soon as may be; her father has already given his consent.”

  “And yours won’t be consulted, I imagine, after all that has happened,” James said, after a startled pause. “My best wishes to you both!”

  “Mine also,” his wife added. “I hope you’ll be very happy. I must say, I think you two are much better suited than you were to that Princess, Rook.”

  “I could not agree more.” He smiled across the table at his new – freely chosen – betrothed. “The prospect of a love match is wonderful, instead of an arranged marriage to a complete stranger.”

  “It certainly is preferable, from my experience.” James smiled. “I can only recommend it.” Charlotte nodded in emphatical agreement.

  “Although I missed most of the dances, and will have to send regrets to several gentlemen,” Anna said, “this is one ball I shall never forget.”

  “Nor I,” Rook assented, “I began it betrothed to one lady, and now, by the start of supper, I am engaged to another. I began it unhappy and hopeless, and now I feel like bursting into song.”

  “I love your singing voice,” Anna said, with a fond look at him. “Promise that you’ll sing with me regularly, when we are married.”

  “So often that our children will beg us to desist,” Rook said, liking the idea. “I wonder if they’ll also be fond of music and horses and languages?”

  “And dogs,” Anna added. ”I cannot wait to find out.”

  “This is getting downright embarrassing, sharing a table with two lovebirds,” James interjected. “Please remember that there are old married people present! Spare our blushes!”

  “We’ll wed privately, by special license,” Rook said, “as I believe you also did, in your time. I’ll put a notice in the paper once it’s all done. Will you two tell the others good-bye for us – of course I’ll talk to George and Marianne myself.” If possible he should have a word with young Colin too –who knew when he’d see his brother again. “I’ll take my dog, but leave my horse – will you make sure it gets safely back to the stud?” It gave him a pang to lose the stallion, and not to be in charge any longer of the racehorses he’d been training. There were the St. Leger stakes in Doncaster coming up in September, and they had a filly competing … no matter, he’d survive a few years’ separation from the horses. At least he had Anna now.

  They talked to George and Marianne, and Anthony, Minerva and Beecham; and danced two more dances together, as good as a declaration of their betrothed state; everyone was talking about it, as well as the scene earlier in the evening. The Duke and Duchess were still absent.

  “Will you release her to me for a farewell dance?” George asked Rook at one point. “We might as well dance the night away,” Anna said, as Rook looked at her questioningly, “I could not sleep a wink, after all this.”

  “No, indeed.” Rook looked around for Marianne, but she was already dancing, so he contented himself with watching Anna and George. How gracefully she moved … He could not wait for the day – and night – when he could take her for his own. From her supple movements in the dance, he had high hopes that Anna would also take delight in more private rhythms to which he’d introduce her with due care.

  ***

  The morning brought another surprise. Rook had not bothered to sleep, and was ready and packed in good time. He had said good-bye to his hosts and friends, and to Colin, still shut up in the nursery - but without his tutor, who had left precipitously the previous night, a development Colin did not mourn in the least. “I never liked him,” he confided to Rook. “He rapped me over the knuckles when I had not done anything to deserve it.”

  “I am not going to marry the Princess after all,” Rook explained to the boy, “and there is a chance that you won’t become an earl, as father wanted. I’m sorry, but there it is.”

  “It’s not your fault,” Colin said philosophically. “Jack seems perfectly happy without being an earl. I shall manage.”

  “You’ll still be rich, and I’ll make it up to you somehow when I can,” Rook went on, “but I don’t know when that will be, or how soon we can even meet again. I shall be keeping my distance from Father – but not from you, in time, I hope.

  Colin was a sensible boy, he now thought, and really should be at Eton like the rest of them, at his age. Once he was a few years older they could have a normal relationship again.

  Jarl had jumped inside the carriage at his command and his sleepy valet was just stowing the last of his valises when a groom brought Charger and tied him to the back of the vehicle.

  “He is not coming,” Rook explained regretfully.

  “Yes, Your Lordship, he is,” the groom replied with a respectful salute.

  “May I join you in your carriage?” a cheerful voice interrupted, just as he was about to interrogate the groom who had given the order. It was the Count, his future father-in-law. “I can explain all.”

  “By all means.” They might as well get better acquainted on the journey. Von Rosenfels and his daughter were close and alike in several respects, Rook had already concluded. He could learn more about his future wife from her father.

  “I did not go straight to bed last night, while you and Anna danced at the ball,” the Count said, once the carriage rumbled on its way. “Given your circumstances, it seemed imperative to come to some sensible solution with your father – an amicable divorce, as it were, that would allow you and Anna to live in independence and comfort for the indefinite future. Working for your friend, as you proposed, is all very well, but my Anna’s husband should not need to earn any outside income. At first your father was not inclined to be reasonable, but in the end I brought him around. Here is the result.” He drew a paper covered with neat handwriting from the pocket of his travelling cloak and handed it to Rook, who ran his eyes over the document incredulously.

  “You got him to agree to this?”

  “Certainly.” The Count’s smile was a trifle smug. “A good diplomat can deliver results even in difficult cases, you know. And as your future father-in-law I had a strong incentive.”

  “You must be a miracle-worker even among your fellow diplomats,” Rook said. According to what he read, the duke had agreed to transfer the control of their principal stud and one of their five estates to him absolutely, including all income.

  “Your sire is in a delicate position just now and does not need any additional scandal or criticism,” the Count explained. “You are so much more popular than your father, that it would outrage many to hear that he cut you off. That consideration weighed in the balance, and I had a number of other arguments, with which I will not bore you now. Between the income from Anna’s property at home, and your own estate, you should be able to get by handsomely.”

&nb
sp; “I should say so,” Rook agreed. “Thank you, Count.”

  “I did it for Anna. She deserves the best.”

  “So she does. I’ll do whatever I have to, to see that she always gets it.”

  “Excellent, my dear boy – do you play chess, by the way? I have a travel set somewhere in my bags.”

  “Sometimes,” Rook cautiously agreed. He suspected that the Count would outclass him, but he’d do his best to give him a good game.

  The Count beamed. “I have a feeling we’ll get along famously.”

  Epilogue

  The wedding night had surpassed Rook’s most fervid imaginings. He woke up in his own bed at home next to Anna – his wife of less than a day – with startling suddenness, and contemplated her sleeping form with a sense of deep contentment. The small wedding, a week after their arrival in London, had been the culmination of several extremely busy days. Anna and her father in action together was a sight to behold, and he had also been run ragged. They had located and packed up two noble ladies who would accompany the Princess to Russia, got his father to formalize the transfer of the estate and stud, and driven his solicitor near to distraction, to get the settlements for Anna signed in time for the wedding. Gisela had left right after the wedding with her Grand Duke and entourage, including the Count.

  There she was resting, his marchioness – and partner – for the next forty or fifty years, if all went well. As Rook had suspected, Anna was bold and adventurous, willing to follow him into the deepest pleasures. They had merely begun the lifelong feast; God willing, there would be many more nights, to try out all the delights he could imagine, and if he was not mistaken, she would be contributing her own suggestions soon. Rook had been incredibly lucky. Just a month ago this happiness had seemed forever out of reach.

  Anna stirred and sleepily sat up. She gave a tiny start when she saw him watching her, then remembering the night before, to his delight coloured rosily.