A Game of Chess With the Marquess

by Patricia Haverton

  Samuel looked up as Adrian came in and smiled, obviously pleased to see him. He finished serving the customer he was with and came over to Adrian, who was settling into a seat at the bar. “You’ve come for a drink!” he said.

  “I haven’t, actually,” Adrian said.

  “Well, you’re getting one anyway.” Samuel was already pouring. “Haven’t I been saying for years that you should come in and have a few? It’s on the house.”

  “Please don’t,” Adrian said. “I’m happy to pay.” It felt wrong to impose on his friend’s generosity, especially since Samuel was a commoner and had to work for every bit of money he put in his pockets. Adrian’s wealth, meanwhile, was both vast and inherited. He reached for his purse.

  But Samuel waved him off. “Don’t insult me,” he said. “You’re a guest in my pub and my friend to boot, and I will give you this drink. It’s not negotiable.”

  So Adrian accepted the drink and looked around the pub as Samuel went off to serve another customer. It was a small place, but charming. There were tables around the walls and in the center of the floor. The outer wall was made of brick, but inside everything was a dark-stained wood. There was a massive, glass-front cabinet behind the bar where Samuel kept bottles of wine. Adrian supposed they would be pulled out for special occasions, or for customers willing to pay top dollar.

  The pub’s customers were all young men, and Adrian could tell just by looking that he was the only noble in the place. They were dressed in dirty clothing, with stains on their faces, and he supposed they were here on a break from their jobs. They didn’t conduct themselves like nobles, either—they were loud and bawdy, laughing uproariously and stomping on the floor.

  For a moment, he actually wished he could go over and join them. No one ever pressured these men to marry women they didn’t care for, he knew. They could wed whom they liked, and when they liked. Sense returned quickly—the life of a commoner was more challenging than anything he had ever known, and it was foolish to feel jealous. But just for a moment, he hadn’t been able to help it.

  Samuel returned. “What brings you in today, Lord Galdhor?” he asked. “Just looking to get away from the Dowager Marchioness?”

  “She has been plaguing me,” Adrian sighed. “She wants me to marry.”

  “And what, you don’t want to?”

  “I’m not in any hurry.”

  “You ought to be,” Samuel said, sagely. “You’re not as young as you once were.”

  “What difference does that make?” Adrian had money. Women would always want to marry him.

  “You want to be able to spend as many good years as possible with your wife,” Samuel said.

  “No, I don’t,” Adrian objected. “I prefer my own company. I wish to spend as many good years as possible with myself. Taking a wife will put an end to that.”

  “My friend,” Samuel laughed. “I’m afraid you’ve no idea what you’re talking about. It could not be more clear that you’ve never known the touch of a woman.”

  “Watch your mouth,” Adrian said, feeling irritated. Samuel professed to know everything there was to know about the ways of love, simply because he had been married for a year now. His wife had recently given birth to their first child, a boy. Although Adrian still considered Samuel to be a great and trusted friend, he had changed since they had first known each other. He was a family man now, through and through.

  “Are you going to marry?” Samuel asked.

  “I might,” Adrian admitted, and told his friend the tale of the ball at Brackhill Manor. “Now Lady Katherine and her family have invited me back to spend a week or two,” he went on. “And I’m to discuss the possibility of a marriage contract with them.”

  Samuel shook his head, half admiring, half exasperated. “You lords and ladies,” he said. “You certainly do make a production out of what ought to be a very simple matter. Going to live with them! When I married Rita, I simply asked her father for her hand.”

  “That’s just what I’m doing,” Adrian said. “It’s just that it’s a little more complicated for me.”

  “Well, good luck to you,” Samuel said. He refilled Adrian’s glass and poured one for himself. Then he raised it in the air. “Here’s to you and your new bride.”

  “Maybe,” Adrian said.

  “She does sound like a lovely girl.”

  “Oh, she’s very fair.”

  “So what’s the problem?”

  “I don’t feel anything for her.”

  “That comes with time.”

  “Does it?”

  “Of course,” Samuel said. “You don’t love the girl the first time you lay eyes on her. You have to let it grow.” He took a long pull from his drink. “Go to the manor,” he insisted. “Meet the family. Spend the time there. And see what comes of it. Maybe you’ll come to care for her by the end of it all.”

  “Maybe.” Adrian suddenly felt much more hopeful. Of course that might happen. He and Lady Katherine had only exchanged a few sentences in the time they’d known each other; of course they weren’t yet close.

  Then he remembered the reason he’d come to see Samuel in the first place. “I wondered if you might be free to investigate something for me?”

  “Not the Duke’s family?” Samuel shook his head vehemently. “I’m not going near that sort of investigation.”

  “No, not them,” Adrian assured him. “It’s just one of the maids. She’s young, probably about your own wife’s age, and she wears an eyepatch over one eye.”

  “Why do you want to know about her?” Samuel asked. “Is she suspected of something?”

  “Not necessarily,” Adrian said. “I’m curious about her. That’s all.”

  Samuel regarded him for a long moment. “You ought to watch your step,” he said quietly.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’re meant to be discussing marriage to the Duke’s daughter, and you have an eye on one of his servants?”

  “I don’t have an eye on her. I’m just curious. Don’t be so dramatic.” But Adrian felt suddenly as though he’d missed a step going down. Samuel had seen through him so easily.

  “I’ll see what I can learn about her,” Samuel said. “But you mind what I said. Just be careful.”

  Chapter 5

  The following day, Adrian made the journey to Brackhill Manor, this time with a trunk full of his possessions in tow.

  He had pledged to himself that he would do his very best to take Samuel’s advice to heart. He would keep an open mind about Lady Katherine. Perhaps he would, in time, develop deeper feelings for her. Perhaps he would learn to love the things about her that he had once found annoying. Perhaps he would discover qualities that would charm him. It would be a mistake to go into this experience thinking, as he had, that it couldn’t possibly result in a successful union.

  He was welcomed at the door by the Duke himself. “Your Grace,” he said, affecting a slight bow.

  “Lord Galdhor,” the Duke replied. “We’re so pleased that you could join us.”

  “I’m very grateful to be invited.”

  “Henderson will show you to your room,” the Duke said, gesturing to an elderly butler. The man stepped forward and nodded smartly. “And then we would love it if you would join us for supper, which will be served in the dining room at seven.”

  “Thank you,” Adrian said, and followed the old butler up the stairs.

  The room they stopped at featured an old oak door, which Henderson the butler pushed open so that he could lead Adrian inside. Adrian’s trunk had already been brought up, he saw, and he was very impressed at how quickly and efficiently that had been managed.

  “I’ll leave you to unpack, My Lord,” Henderson said, bowing. “Unless there is anything I can get for you?”

  “Nothing, thank you.”

  Henderson nodded and retreated.

  Adrian set about exploring his new space. A vast window took up a significant portion of one wall, and Adrian stood before it and look
ed out over the manor grounds. From here, he could see the garden he’d walked through on the night of Lady Katherine’s ball. It felt very strange to be back in this place, so far above the path where he’d stood that night.

  A servant woman emerged from the house, dressed in drab clothes and with her hair pinned up under a bonnet. She went to the rosebush and began to clip several of the flowers, examining them carefully to make sure she was choosing the best ones.

  Adrian’s heart began to race. Was it her? The girl from the ball?

  She turned to go back inside.

  No. It wasn’t her. This woman was older than Adrian, probably in her late thirties or early forties, with greying hair escaping from beneath her bonnet and laugh lines. She was pretty enough, but not stunning, as the girl he’d seen at the party had been. And she wore no eyepatch—although that might not mean anything, he counseled himself. An eye injury might have healed by now. He would have to be careful not to dismiss any of the servants as possibilities simply because they weren’t wearing eyepatches.

  He didn’t think there was too much danger of that. He wouldn’t be able to mistake her if he saw her again. He had never seen her like. How could she possibly be so beautiful? It was as if she had come from another world.

  He shook himself. He was supposed to be unpacking, not daydreaming about the help! And he was expected at supper, where he would have to make conversation with Lady Katherine. He couldn’t very well do that if he was harboring thoughts about her maid.

  He put his clothes away quickly and dressed for supper, then went down to the dining room. He didn’t know whether it was customary at Brackhill to wait to be called to the table, but the last thing he wanted was to make a bad first impression by sitting indolently in his room and waiting for someone to come and get him when no one was coming. Better to linger in the foyer and await the arrival of the family than to make them wait on him.

  The dining room doors were still shut when he arrived, so he wandered about the foyer, examining the tapestries on the walls. One depicted a girl who might have been Lady Katherine, although he wasn’t certain. Another featured a group of hounds racing.

  “Lord Galdhor?”

  Adrian spun around, his heart accelerating again. A young woman stood behind him in servant’s garb, with dark hair—but it wasn’t the one he sought. He saw that almost immediately. Though her features were kind, they were not lovely.

  Had he come to supper early in hopes of encountering the serving girl? He really would have to get himself under control. He couldn’t allow the family to notice his preoccupation, or they would turn him out immediately and he would be forced to go home with his tail between his legs. He would never hear the end of it, and he would break his poor mother’s heart besides.

  “May I help you with anything?” the girl in the foyer asked him.

  “No,” he said. “No, thank you. I’m waiting until it’s time to go in for supper.”

  “Go ahead,” she invited. “I’ll open the doors. Everyone will be down shortly anyway. We’ll serve some wine.”

  “Oh, that really isn’t necessary—”

  “It’s the Duke’s instructions,” the girl insisted. “He said we were to show you right in when you came down, and not to keep you waiting. Begging your pardon, but there will be trouble for us all if you don’t go.”

  “Oh,” he didn’t want that. “Very well then. Thank you.”

  The girl marched past him and flung open the doors to the dining room. “Take a seat,” she offered gallantly.

  He did so. “Might I ask your name?”

  “It’s Helen, sir.”

  “Lovely to meet you, Helen.” He hesitated. Dare he ask her about the other girl? He was sure Helen would know who she was and where she might be found, but what if she told Lady Katherine what he’d asked?

  He would have to do his best to be subtle about it. “Did I meet you on the evening of Lady Katherine’s ball?” he asked. “Were you about the place that night?”

  “Of course.” She looked surprised, and he couldn’t blame her. Where else would she have been, after all? And especially on the evening of such a big party. He was sure it had been all hands on deck. “But I can’t say as to our having met,” she added. “So many fine lords were here that night, and mercy knows I was too busy running back and forth from the kitchen to learn any names!”

  He nodded, feeling guilty for having even posed the question. “Will the family be down soon?” he asked.

  “Very shortly. I’ll go and get the wine.” She disappeared.

  And indeed, by the time she had returned with the glasses and bottle, the Duke and his wife and daughter were making their way into the room. Lady Katherine settled herself demurely into a seat across the table from Adrian, then looked up and gave him a small smile.

  And if anything, that made him feel worse. She deserved his full attention. This was her courtship too. He pushed thoughts of the servant girl who had so bewitched him from his mind and smiled back at her.

  “Lord Galdhor,” His Grace said. “Welcome again to our home. I trust you’ve settled in?”

  “Yes, and I thank you,” Adrian said.

  “The room is to your satisfaction?”

  “It’s very pleasant,” he said. “I particularly enjoy the view of the gardens.”

  “Perhaps the four of us will take a walk through them tomorrow,” the Duke suggested.

  “That would be lovely.”

  They were interrupted by the entrance of servants carry platters, the covers of which were whisked away to reveal goose, hare, pheasant, and venison. The dinner seemed to Adrian to be even finer than the one that had been served at the ball, although he had to concede that he had arrived late to that meal and the dishes had been rather picked over by the time he had been seated.

  Lady Katherine was being served by her father, so Adrian turned his attention to the Duchess. “May I help you to some of the pheasant?”

  “Aren’t you considerate,” she said, flashing him a smile and offering her plate. Adrian cut a piece from the bird for her. He also served her hare and venison. She had a robust appetite, he could see. Lady Katherine, meanwhile, had accepted only a few slices of the hare and was now cutting them into even smaller bites on her plate.

  “Everything looks wonderful,” Adrian said to his hosts.

  “Well, we certainly hope you enjoy it,” the Duke said. “We like our meals here at Brackhill. Finest part of the day, in my opinion.”

  “I feel just the same,” Adrian admitted. Here, perhaps, was something he and Lady Katherine might have in common. It wasn’t much, but it was a start. A taste for fine foods and a love of cuisine. That would give them something to talk about.

  She took a single bite of meat, then set her fork down, tucked her hands into her lap, and gave him another coy little smile.

  Wasn’t she going to eat?

  It appeared not. She sat with her hands in her lap, smiling at the rest of them, and Adrian got a sick sort of feeling in his stomach. A sense of foreboding. He couldn’t have said exactly why, but he felt suddenly sure that this wasn’t going to work out well at all.

  But he had to make the effort. Otherwise, why was he here? “Lady Katherine,” he said, “I want to thank you again for the ball. I had a wonderful time.”

  “Of course, it was grand,” she agreed. “I had several more planned, naturally, but they’ve been called off now. To allow us to get to know each other.”

  “You’ve cancelled the other balls?”

  “Certainly,” she said, “there’s no need for them now.”

  He supposed he had expected that. Still, it came as a bit of a shock. She seemed to be really counting on things developing between the two of them. How ready was the family to discuss marriage? Adrian had thought it was only a possibility, conditional on how this visit went. Were they more certain than they had let on?

  He put the thought out of his mind. He couldn’t let himself get caught up in anxiety about
their expectations. He was here to get to know Lady Katherine, that was all. He would devote the next few days to learning more about her interests and her passions—food and dining had been a miss, and so had stargazing, but there must be something she loved. Seeing a person lit up with excitement about whatever interested them was the best way to learn to love and appreciate the finest things about them.