‘That’s what Clodagh thinks. ‘You don’t think that holding a party to celebrate my new marriage...’
‘...will cause all the rumours surrounding your first one to resurface? Frankly that’s much more likely if you keep this wife hidden away. Give them something different to talk about.’
‘Perhaps you’re right.’
Finn grinned. ‘I nearly always am.’
‘What about estate business? Anything I should be concerned about?’
‘Nothing urgent. You’re a good landlord and people know it. We’ve no shortage of available labour, there are lots of people migrating from the west. Times are awful harsh there, I hear.’
‘You’re managing to find them all gainful employment?’
‘Not all, but as many as I can.’
‘You’re a good man, Finn. I’m lucky to have you.’
‘You are. Now that’s enough of business. I’ve managed for the better part of a year, I can manage a few more days. You concentrate on making your wife feel at home. She’s very different from the first one, I’m thinking.’
‘She couldn’t be more different.’
His friend nodded thoughtfully. ‘A breath of fresh air, exactly what you deserve, though with hair that colour,’ he added, grinning, ‘I reckon there will be a few squalls too.’
Aidan laughed. ‘Your reckoning is quite out. I’ve never seen Estelle out of temper.’ Though he had seen the fire smouldering within her when she played music. And when they kissed. Estelle’s kisses were like the colour of her hair, fiery, flaming his blood...
‘I can see you’re itching to go and join her, and I don’t blame you.’ Finn slapped Aidan’s back. ‘It really is good to see you, and looking more like your old self to boot. Congratulations.’
* * *
Estelle opened the door and found herself in a large square room. Covered bookcases occupied one wall, a large oval gilt grille providing a window into the contents of each. The walls were dark green, the ceiling painted a lighter shade of the same colour, the cornicing gilded. Crimson velvet drapes covered the windows. Two wingback chairs upholstered in the same colour sat facing each other across a fire, and in the middle of the room, a small mahogany table was set for dinner.
Aidan, who had been peering out of the window, turned to greet her. ‘You found your way. I was starting to think about sending out a search party.’
‘Luckily I had a guide. I hope I’m not late. The journey from my bedchamber felt only marginally shorter than our journey from Florence to here. I must say this is a lovely room.’
‘All the more so now it is graced by your presence,’ he said, ushering her over to one of the wingback chairs. ‘I like your gown.’
‘Emerald green, for the Emerald Isle,’ Estelle said. ‘I thought it was appropriate.’
‘The colour suits you. I don’t think I’ve seen it before.’
‘It was too hot in Florence to wear it.’ Like her, Aidan had bathed and changed. Like hers, his smile was a little forced. ‘It was Niamh who showed me the way here. She is one of the chambermaids. She’s relatively new to Cashel Duairc, like me. If I must have a personal maid, then I would be happy if she were assigned the role, if you don’t mind.’
‘Why on earth would I mind? You must do as you see fit. Simply inform Mrs Aherne to make it so.’
‘I got the distinct impression Mrs Aherne disapproved of my forgoing a proper dresser.’
‘Mrs Aherne has rather entrenched views on what is right and proper.’
‘I suspect she doesn’t think that I am either right or proper, Aidan.’
There was a brief silence. ‘You know how it is with old-fashioned servants, they don’t like change. She’s a very good housekeeper.’
‘I’m sure she is.’ And very loyal to her previous mistress too, judging by the several pointed remarks she had made about how the first Mrs Malahide liked things to be done. She wouldn’t mention it though. Aidan, who couldn’t be anything other than aware of this fact, was obviously embarrassed by it. Mrs Aherne was simply the first of many people she’d have to win over.
‘I’m glad you asked for dinner to be served in here tonight. It’s cosy.’
‘You’ll have worked up quite an appetite if you’ve been wandering the corridors,’ Aidan said, visibly relaxing at this change of subject.
‘I shall need a map if I’m not going to get lost.’
‘I’ll have Finn draw one up. He for one will be delighted to be of service to you. He’s quite smitten.’
The emphasis was not lost on her. Estelle smiled. ‘I suspect Finn convinces every woman he meets that he is smitten by them.’
‘I see you have his measure already.’ A gust of wind rattled the window panes, followed by a sudden flurry of rain. Aidan pulled the curtains closed before indicating that they take the seats opposite each other by the fire. ‘Like me, Finn was born and raised here. He’s a good friend, and an excellent manager, as was his father before him.’
‘Estate management seems to run in families. Aunt Kate’s father managed my Uncle Daniel’s estates. Talking of families, can we expect a visit from your sister Clodagh?’
‘She’d have been camped out on the doorstep waiting to welcome us if I’d not had the good sense to pre-empt that. As you can imagine, she’s extremely eager to run the rule over you, in a protectively sisterly way.’ Aidan grinned. ‘You’ll be relieved to know that I put her off. I told her that I wanted you all to myself for a couple of weeks.’
‘Thank you! Though I’m looking forward to meeting her, I would rather not do so until I have had some time to settle in.’
‘Are your rooms comfortable? Do you have everything you need? There was no time to have them redecorated, and besides, I thought you’d want to choose your own colour scheme.’
‘My rooms are perfectly comfortable, thank you very much. I certainly can’t fault Mrs Aherne on her housekeeping.’
‘My bedchamber is located across the corridor.’
‘So Mrs Aherne informed me.’
‘No doubt she informed you that I moved out of the master suite some years ago.’
‘No, she didn’t, though I can understand why you would have done so after—’ Estelle broke off, shrugging helplessly. ‘In any case, I appreciate your thoughtfulness. I wouldn’t have been comfortable in the master suite, for obvious reasons.’
‘No more would I.’
‘We haven’t really discussed how we will set about being married, have we?’
‘I rather thought we’d learn as we go along.’
‘Yes, but oughtn’t we to think about how we present ourselves to the world? And to your family, come to that. When Eloise married Alexander, they pretended it was a love match.’
‘No. Categorically not.’
‘I wasn’t suggesting that’s what we should do,’ Estelle said, mildly insulted by his vehemence, ‘but I do think we ought to talk about it.’
A discreet tap at the door interrupted them. While Aidan took the tray, replete with a bottle of champagne on ice and two glasses, from the footman, she wandered over to the bookcases, pretending to peer through the lattice at the content. They were both on edge, she as much as he. Despite what he’d said, Aidan must be every bit as conscious as she was that this was the second time he’d brought a bride home. This was why she’d suggested a period of adjustment before they even considered adopting the first of their children. It wasn’t that Aidan had changed, it wasn’t that she didn’t know him, for goodness sake, it was simply an awkward situation that had to be managed.
‘Was it a mistake, ordering champagne?’ Aidan asked. ‘I thought we should mark the occasion.’
‘No, I think it’s an excellent idea. We certainly have something to celebrate. The first day of our new life together.’
‘Then why the frown?’ He set down the
glass he’d been filling. ‘Come here.’
‘Ah, I thought it wouldn’t be long before you started ordering me about. We’ve not been in this castle—’ She broke off, crossing the room to join him. ‘Sorry, I told you...’
‘That you are your most flippant when you are at your most serious. Or most apprehensive. Is our leap of faith starting to feel like too much of a leap in the dark?’
‘No, but it’s uncharted territory for me. I’ve never been married, Aidan, you have.’
‘But not to you. There will be a queue of people eager to draw comparisons with my first marriage. We must not fall into that trap.’ He touched her cheek lightly. ‘You asked me how we should present ourselves to the world? As we are. I don’t want us to pretend. I want the world to see us as exactly what we are, a newly married couple happy to be in each other’s company. And once we’re satisfied that’s exactly what we are, we’ll move on from being a happy couple to a happy family.’
‘Oh, yes.’ Estelle beamed. ‘Now that is something I’d gladly drink a toast to.’
Aidan’s smile warmed. ‘Just be true to yourself. You’ve already made one conquest in Finn. He thinks you’re a breath of fresh air. This is your home now, and I want you to be happy here, to make it your own. Throw out every stick of furniture, paint the walls cherry pink, I don’t give a damn. In fact I’d positively encourage you to change as much as you see fit.’
Giggling, she took the glass of champagne Aidan offered her. ‘I don’t see how we can either of us be comfortable if I’ve thrown out all the furniture, but I appreciate the sentiment.’
He chinked his glass to hers. ‘Here’s to the future.’
‘To the future.’ Estelle took a sip of the icy sparkling wine. ‘Do you remember the first time we drank champagne together?’
‘That snooty restaurant on the Arno. I should never have insisted on eating there. The food looked like a work of art, and unfortunately tasted like one too. And as for the champagne...’
‘Barely a bubble, and so sweet it made my teeth ache. We climbed all the way to the top of that bell tower afterwards, do you remember? I got dizzy.’
‘And I was terrified that you were going to tumble over the parapet.’
He had pulled her into his arms. She had clung to him, to steady herself at first and then simply for the pleasure of clinging to him. And they had kissed. The memory of that kiss hovered between them now, dispersed only when their lips met and clung, and they hesitated, but only for a moment, before they melted into the sweetest of kisses.
Long and lingering, tasting of champagne, the kiss soothed her doubts and roused her senses. Her eyes drifted closed, she raised her free hand to his face, relishing the smoothness of his cheek, the slight roughness of his beard, and his hand on the exposed skin at her nape. And when it ended, they stared at each other, smiling. Reassured, Estelle felt a renewed surge of excitement and confidence. Everything was going to be fine, how could it fail to be, with Aidan at her side.
* * *
‘Good heavens,’ Estelle exclaimed as Aidan ushered her into a huge salon, the furniture looking like strangely shaped lumps under its protective holland covers. ‘Is this another drawing room?’
‘A ballroom.’ He opened a set of shutters to reveal a set of tall French windows leading to a terrace with steps into the gardens to the rear of the castle. ‘There should be a piano in here somewhere. It was my mother’s.’
‘I’ve found it.’ Estelle excitedly pulled the cloth aside before lifting the lid, but her smile faded as she ran her fingers over the keys. ‘Oh, dear, it’s horribly out of tune.’
‘Not surprising when it hasn’t been played for many years. I’m sorry, it should have occurred to me when I wrote to Mrs Aherne from Florence, to ask her to have someone take a look at it. I’ll see what I can do.’
‘No, let me deal with it, I need to get on good terms with Mrs Aherne.’
Estelle wandered around the room, pretending to admire the cornicing and the twin fireplaces, though after two hours of admiring similar cornicing and fireplaces in a vast array of unused rooms, she was beginning to understand the housekeeper’s pointed remark about Cashel Duairc mourning the loss of its mistress. Aidan had closed up most of the formal rooms, presumably when the first Mrs Malahide died. As the morning had progressed, as he led her through the seemingly endless procession of rooms, he’d become increasingly morose. He’d prefer to be out and about in the fresh air checking on the health of his estates, she thought guiltily.
‘I can’t see us needing to use this room any time soon,’ she said, joining him at the window, ‘but I’m wondering if it would be prudent to have a room made ready to receive morning callers?’
‘The announcement in the press said we wouldn’t be at home to visitors for a couple of weeks, but I expect there will be cards left. As you’ve seen this morning, there’s a bit of work to be done to get the house fit to receive guests. I’ve been somewhat out of the habit of socialising.’
‘You told me as much, when we first met, though I must admit I hadn’t appreciated you’d cut yourself off quite so severely.’
Aidan kept his eyes fixed on the garden. ‘A hermit, Finn said I’d become.’
‘Mrs Aherne will be delighted to know that the rooms will be put to use again. I think she must have been bored, with so little to keep in regimented order.’
Her quip failed to raise a smile. Aidan leant his forehead against the glass. ‘Mrs Aherne is actually a distant relative of my first wife. I’m sorry, I should have told you before now.’
Estelle’s mouth fell open. ‘You most certainly should.’
‘My father left the previous housekeeper a pension in his will, and I had never replaced her. The castle was much as it is now, actually, when my first wife arrived here. It was she and Mrs Aherne between them who redecorated and repurposed many of the rooms.’
‘I see now why Mrs Aherne is so eager to have them restored to use.’
‘When she came here, I understand she had fallen on hard times. There was some scandal attached to her. I’ve never known what it entailed, though I do know there’s never been a Mr Aherne.’
‘She must have been very grateful to your wife for coming to her aid and offering her the post of housekeeper.’
‘Extremely. And slavishly loyal as a result, as you’ll have noticed yourself.’
‘You don’t like her, do you?’
‘The boot’s on the other foot. She’d much rather it was me who had died.’
‘I think she’s rather in awe of you, but I don’t think she dislikes you.’
Aidan snorted. ‘She can’t open her mouth without reminding me that things are not how they were.’
Estelle wrinkled her brow. ‘She is the same with me, but I don’t think it’s deliberate. In fact I’m sure it can’t be, for she blushes painfully at each gaffe. If she actually disliked you, she’d have left your employ by now.
‘I don’t know why she hasn’t.’
‘If she really had fallen on such hard times, she’ll be grateful to you as well as her former mistress, for rescuing her.’
Aidan smiled crookedly. ‘She’s a strange way of showing it.’ He pushed himself away from the window, rolling his shoulders. ‘Finn reckons we should throw a party. What do you think?’
‘What kind of party?’
‘Drinks, supper, meeting and greeting, you know the kind of thing.’
‘Not really,’ Estelle confessed. ‘Must we? I’m not particularly eager to be put on display like an artefact you collected on your Grand Tour.’
Aidan burst into laughter. ‘I can just picture you in a glass case. We can decide later about the party. It looks as if the rain might be going off.’ He opened the French window. ‘I’ll just take a look.’
‘What you mean is, you’ve had enough and you’re anxious to be outside
talking to Finn about the harvest.’
Smiling sheepishly, he stepped outside, and Estelle began to wander around the room again, peering under the covers of the objects which were strewn at random across the floor. A spectacularly ugly mahogany side-table with bowed legs topped with the carved head of a sabre-toothed hound, and talon-like feet made her shudder. Outside, Aidan was staring fixedly at the sky. She spotted something she had missed earlier leaning against the wall, hidden behind a big lump of a cabinet. Pulling the cover from it, Estelle gave a yelp of satisfaction. A harp. Running her fingers along the strings, she was pleased to hear that it needed only a little adjustment.
‘What the hell are you doing?’
‘Aidan! You frightened the life out of me.’
He was standing in the window, his face ashen. ‘Where did that come from?’
‘It was hidden behind that cabinet.’ She stared down at the instrument, realising with dawning horror who it must have belonged to. ‘I’m so sorry. I’ll put it back.’
‘Don’t touch it!’
She stared at him in astonishment. ‘For heaven’s sake, Aidan, it’s a harp, a harmless instrument.’
He was staring at the instrument as if it was the devil incarnate. ‘This was her doing! She deliberately left it there, knowing I’d eventually stumble upon it. She left it there to taunt me.’
‘Your dead wife?’
‘Mrs Aherne.’
‘That’s preposterous. You need to calm down, you’re being quite irrational.’
‘Really? If you know how attached my wife was to that harp, then you’d know it couldn’t have been anything other than deliberate, to leave it there. Get it out of here. I never want to see it again.’
* * *
He stormed off, leaving Estelle utterly at a loss but Mrs Aherne, when summoned, eyed the harp with almost as much horror as Aidan had.
The Truth Behind Their Practical Marriage (Penniless Brides 0f Convenience Book 3) Page 10