by Anna Gracie
between us again.
But she could not bring herself to say it. This Magnus was not her
beloved Magnus; this was Lord d'Arenville of d'Arenville Hall, very
cold and formal, and she did not yet know how to deal with him. Tallie
followed the housekeeper dolefully. She did not like the sound of your
room. She hoped she had misheard Magnus; she hoped she was being taken
to our room.
But she was not. It was clearly a woman's room, fussy and expensive
and elegant. The chairs were tiny, dainty, with delicate twisted
flutes for legs. They matched the dressing table. The window frames
and bed were painted white and draped with gold silk. Large gilt
looking-glasses were on every wall and Tallie could see herself
reflected no matter where she stood in the room. White fur rugs lay
scattered on the floor. Tallie hated the room on sight. It had an
atmosphere, a hardness she did not like. She could not feel
comfortable sleeping in here.
"Whose was this room?" she asked Mrs. Cobb tentatively.
"His lordship's mother's, my lady."
"Oh," said Tallie. Magnus had never spoken to her of his mother.
Perhaps he found it too painful to talk of her. It was hard, losing
someone you truly loved, and a mother was special.
"What was she like?"
Mrs. Cobb pursed her lips oddly, then shook her head.
"More'n my job's worth to say, my lady, begging your pardon."
Tallie stared at her, astonished.
"I didn't mean you to gossip about M--Lord d'Arenville's mother. Just
to tell me what sort of a person she was."
Mrs. Cobb shrugged.
"Can't do one without doing tother," she said.
"Best not enquire too closely about the past. Only one Lady
d'Arenville is important now--best you forget about what's gone and get
on with your life, begging your pardon, my lady." She eyed Tallie's
waist shrewdly.
"I hope you don't think me impertinent, my lady, but would you be
expecting an interesting event in the not too distant future?"
Tallie blushed and laid her hand on her belly.
"You mean the baby?"
Mrs. Cobb beamed and nodded.
"Thought as much. Good news for d'Arenville, my lady. His lordship's
pleased, I expect. May I tell the other servants?"
Tallie nodded.
"I do not see why not. They will all be able to see for themselves
before too long. I am getting so fat!"
"Fat? What nonsense! Bloom about you. A joy to behold." Mrs. Cobb
nodded again.
"Good news you bring us, to be sure. Tis too long since there was a
child at d'Arenville."
"Were you here when Magn--his lordship was a boy?" Tallie asked
eagerly.
"Not really," Mrs. Cobb said.
"I've been here just over a score of years, come Michaelmas."
Tallie frowned in puzzlement.
"Twenty years? But my husband is only nine and twenty. You must have
known him as a boy."
Mrs. Cobb looked at her a moment, then shook her head.
"He were off at school years before I started here."
Sent to school at the age of six or seven, poor little boy, Tallie
thought. She touched her stomach protectively. If this child was a
boy he wasn't going to be parcelled off to school at a young age like
his father.
"But in the holidays--' Mrs. Cobb shook her head sorrowfully.
"He weren't often asked home in the holidays."
Asked home? As if he were a guesfl "Not asked home in the holidays?" repeated Tallie, appalled.
"But why not?"
Mrs. Cobb pursed her lips, shook her head, opened her mouth then
closed it. After a moment she said, "You never heard this from me,
mind, but word was in servants' hall his ma couldn't abide him. And
his ma's word was law to his old lordship. Despite her immoral ways."
Tallie could hardly believe her ears. His mother hadn't been able to
abide him? And so Magnus hadn't often been asked home in the holidays?
She had never heard of anything so shockingly selfish and callous in
her life. Oh, to be sure Tallie had spent her own childhood in a
school, but that had been because her parents had been forever
travelling, not because they hadn't been able to abide her. She had a
packet of letters from her mother, tied with a ribbon, to prove it.
But poor Magnus. Poor little boy. What sort of a woman would do that
to her own child?
A horrid, cruel woman, and Tallie knew she would sleep not a wink under
her vile gold silk canopies.
"I won't sleep here," she said decisively.
"Please find me another bedchamber."
"But his lordship said--' " You may inform his lordship that I did not
wish to sleep in his mother's old room and that I chose another. "
"But--' " That will be all, Mrs. Cobb," said Tallie firmly, feeling
bold and autocratic. She had learned a thing or two since she was
insignificant Tallie Robinson, and one was how to avoid an
argument--with servants, at any rate. Her husband was a different
matter.
Chapter Sixteen
Tallie looked around the breakfast room in surprise. She turned to the
butler.
"Has his lordship not yet come down?"
"Yes, m'lady, he broke his fast early." Harris pulled a chair back and
waited.
Tallie sat, feeling quite despondent. It was her own fault-she had
stayed awake late last night, hoping he would come to her, and then
overslept this morning.
"I suppose I shall see him later, then."
Harris, in the process of serving her with scrambled eggs, hesitated.
"He had urgent business to attend to, m'lady."
Tallie ate her eggs slowly. She had no idea what to do with herself.
The previous day Magnus had made it plain that he wished her to take up
the reins as mistress of this establishment. Thanks to Laetitia's
habit of delegation, Tallie was not without some experience in running
a household. But this house was at once bigger and much grander than
anything she had ever seen before. At Manningham she'd been her
cousin's dogs body, an errand-runner rather than mistress. Here she'd
be expected to know everything.
Tallie glanced around the breakfast room with a critical eye. The room
had a pleasant prospect, facing east, receiving morning sunlight. And
the windows would have let in plenty of sunlight, had not they, like
every other window here, been shrouded in heavy drapery. It was all so
gloomy.
She wondered how Magnus would respond if she asked his permission to
make a few changes. In her admittedly limited experience, men didn't
like changes to their homes. Her cousin's husband George had
complained incessantly when Laetitia redecorated their country home.
He hadn't minded her turning the London house upside down with
'fancified nonsense', but his boyhood home had been another matter. On
the other hand, according to Mrs. Cobb, Magnus had not spent much of
his boyhood here at all, so. No, Tallie decided, she'd speak to him
about it at dinner. And in the meantime she'd ask Mrs. Cobb for a
tour of the Hall.
By the end of the day Tallie was tired and dusty
, but faintly
satisfied. She'd been through the pantries, the linen presses and the
storerooms, and examined the house from attic to basement. Many of her
tentatively offered suggestions had been roundly approved by Mrs. Cobb,
and she now felt more confident about discussing changes to the house
with Magnus. It was barely half an hour until dinner, so she hurried
upstairs to bathe and to change her gown. Magnus had seen her rumpled
and untidy enough times, and hadn't seemed to mind, but that had been
when they were travelling. This was different. Tonight they dined at
home together for the first time in their married life and she wanted
to look her best. She had a quarrel to mend.
She hurried through her preparations and sat impatiently in front of
the looking-glass while Monique did her hair, scanning her reflection
intently, hoping her looks would please Magnus.
The gown she had finally chosen was one he'd bought her in Vienna. It
had become a little limp during their travels, but now, in a big house
with skilled laundrywomen, it looked almost as good as new. The fabric
was fine and delicate. It clung to her breasts and swirled around her
hips. It looked a lot like her golden Paris tea gown that Magnus had
ruined so dramatically.
Her eyes misted reminiscently as she recalled how he'd swept her into
his arms and ascended the stairs two by two. Could this gown, too,
cause a wondrous, utterly splendid night of passion? And put an end to
a distressing period of coldness.
Tallie gazed at the gown in the looking-glass. She was counting on
that reaction tonight. It was the only way she could think of to break
down the icy barrier that had arisen between them. Talking would do no
good, for she was determined not to give in to him and she could not
imagine him giving in to her. No, this was the only way. And maybe
then he would be able to forgive her intransigence.
She fastened a string of pearls around her neck. Her breasts, slightly
enlarged with pregnancy, swelled above the low-cut gown most
satisfactorily. Her skin, with a light dusting of rice- powder to
disguise the dozen or so freckles, looked pale and smooth. Tallie
frowned critically at her image, then tugged the neckline a little
lower. She had no intention of being sent to her room tonight, alone
with a supper tray, like a naughty child to contemplate her sins. No,
her husband might be displeased with her defiance on the matter of her
brother, but she had every intention of seducing him back into her bed.
Tonight.
His urgent business, whatever it was, had kept him away from the house
all day. She had imagined her first day at d'Arenville Hall--Magnus
would show her around, telling her tales of this and that as he
introduced her to her new home, her arm on his, or, better still, his
arm around her. Today Mrs. Cobb had shown her the house, not Magnus,
but Tallie was determined Magnus would show her the rest. And then,
perhaps, she would come to understand the man she loved--to discover
the boy and learn what had made him the man he was.
Urgent business or not. She could wait for urgent business, but she
would wait with him, not for him. And when it was finished, she had
urgent business of her own. Tugging her gown a little lower, Tallie
stood up, took a deep breath and left her chamber.
The pale young princess descended the curving marble stairway slowly.
Her enchanted silken gown clung to her figure whispering softly with
every movement. Below her, a statue of a handsome, dark-haired prince
awaited her, his marble features cold and unmoving, his eyes blind and
unforgiving, trapped in a spell by an evil Ice-Witch. Candlelight
gleamed on his frozen features.
The princess came closer. With each whisper of the magic gown, each
flicker of golden candle-flame the statue seemed to warm. The eyes
flickered and darkened from a pale ice- grey to a stormy sea-dark
colour. The blindness lifted from him and marble melted into flesh.
Slowly he moved towards her, first one step then another, then he was
leaping up the stairs towards her, two, three steps at a time. He
swept the princess into his arms.
"Tallie, my dearest love, forgive me my coldness. I need your warmth,
your love." And his mouth descended on hers and the evil spell was
broken. But there was no Magnus waiting for her at the foot of the
stairs.
There was only Harris, the butler. Magnus must already be in the
dining room. She was a little late from fussing about her
appearance.
He must have become impatient.
"Good evening, Harris." Tallie smiled.
"I am looking forward to dinner. The aromas coming from the kitchen
earlier were delicious, and I must confess I am extremely hungry." She
hurried towards the dining room.
But when she entered, she came to a sudden, shocked halt. The long,
gleaming table was set for only one person. He could not, surely,
still be attending to his business?
"M'lady," murmured Harris. Hiding her anxiety, Tallie allowed him to
seat her.
"Is my husband not joining me?"
A footman entered with soup, and Harris waited until she had been
served and the footman had gone before answering.
"I told you this morning, m'lady. He left on urgent business."
"But his business surely cannot last all night," she said. "Lord d'Arenville must eat, must he not?"
Harris looked awkward.
"M'lord left d'Arenville this morning. He did not say when he would
return."
Left d'Arenville? Tallie stared at the butler in confusion, a cold
thread of dread winding around her heart.
"I assumed you meant he'd left the house."
"No, m'lady. He left." The butler looked at her in concern.
Left? Left for where? Tallie tried to keep her features even.
"Did you not know about it, m'lady?"
Tallie attempted a smile.
"Yes... yes, of course I did, but I did not realise he meant to leave
today. I thought he was going to... to..."
She felt her lips quivering and hastily touched a starched linen napkin
to them to hide her distress.
"A foolish misunderstanding, that is all," she mumbled, and lowered her
head as if to say a silent grace.
Where had he gone? And for how long? All day and night, obviously.
But without a word to her? She spooned up some steaming substance and
conveyed it to her mouth. Her hands were shaking. She laid the spoon
down with a clatter, hoping the butler hadn't noticed.
There was a short silence. She wondered whether Harris could hear her
heart pounding. It sounded terribly loud to her.
After a time he cleared his throat and said, "Lord d'Arenville left a
letter for you, m'lady. Did you not receive it?"
Tallie stared.
"A letter?"
"Yes, m'lady. I shall fetch it immediately, " said Harris, sweeping
from the room. He returned in a moment, bearing a sealed letter on a
silver salver. He placed it beside her, hesitated, then bowed and left
the room.
Heart pou
nding, Tallie watched him leave. Her first letter from
Magnus. She broke open the wafer and began to read.
My dear Lady d'Arenville, Lady d'Arenville. Not Tallie. Her heart
sank.
You were sound asleep when I came to your room and I did not wish to
disturb your rest. I know how much you need it.
Not as much as she needed him. Why could he not have woken her?
I have important business to transact and must leave for London first
thing this morning. I am unsure of when I shall return, but be assured
I will do so as soon as my business allows it.
London? The letter dropped from Tallie's nerveless fingers and
fluttered onto the table. Gone to London? He had just gone off to
London? Without explaining or saying goodbye? With shaking fingers
she picked up the letter and continued to read, her numb brain hardly
able to take it in.
You will have plenty to occupy you in settling in to the Hall and
making preparations for the nursery. I noticed you did not sleep in
the chamber allotted you. You have my full permission to make any