by Aria Norton
“My heart might give way from all this stress before we reach home. I shan’t sleep a wink tonight.”
He would have to make up for it in the carriage during the next leg of their journey. It’s going to be a long trip.
Carlos regretted his decision to have a second plate of food. He had never overindulged in his life, but this evening he couldn’t seem to help himself. Keeping an eye on Aurora was a full-time job, not just to prevent her from running away but also keeping men away from her.
“I clearly underestimated her beauty. If another young man approaches her again, I’ll make him regret it.”
At least she was safely tucked away in her room now, away from the appreciative stares of the other visitors. Was it just him, or did there seem to be more men than when they had first entered the inn? Even Peter had flirted a little with Aurora, although she had paid him no mind. She had answered where necessary and pushed her food around until she asked to be excused. Carlos had followed after her, pleading a headache, or he might have been forced to play cards.
“Aurora cannot think that she is alone, or she might get ideas into her head.”
He hadn’t bothered changing into his nightclothes in anticipation of needing to run out of the room at a moment’s notice. Pulling an armchair closer to their shared door, he sat down with a sigh, adjusting the waist of his breeches to accommodate his distended belly.
“Never again will I eat out of stress. ’Tis not worth it.”
Settling into the chair, he leaned his head back. I might as well get comfortable as it’s going to be a long night.
Sometime later, Carlos came awake with a jolt, hearing a loud noise. “What was that?”
And when had he dozed off? He glanced at the clock above his head, surprised to see that it was midnight. It had been ten o’clock not so long ago; how had two hours passed without him knowing? The same banging noise that had woken him up sounded again. It was definitely coming from Aurora’s room, but what was she doing up at this time of the night?
“Only witches tend to be active at this time, and although I’ve often wondered if she were a witch, she couldn’t be a practising one.”
Not that he believed that witches were real, but Lydia seemed to believe they were.
“She’s not a witch, but she’s still banging around at midnight. What can she be moving?”
Worst case scenario, she was trying to kill herself. Kill herself?! Carlos rushed to the door, his hands slipping away from the key.
“Darn it to hell!”
He managed to get the key in the door, turning it just before he flung it open. There, in the middle of the room, was Aurora on the floor with a trunk opened. She scowled up at him before resuming her digging, obviously searching for something in particular.
“What do you need to do so late at night?” he asked.
She didn’t respond but continued to push through the items in the trunk. After some time, she fished out an embroidered handkerchief and held it to her chest. Carlos noticed the initials AS on the bottom left corner. AS? Is it hers? No, I don’t think so. Why would she hold it to her chest if it were hers? He could have slapped his forehead when the answer came to him. Oh, Anna Stafford, her mother! The handkerchief clearly belonged to her. A wave of compassion filled him, prompting him to share a little about himself. It was totally out of character to do so, but he felt the moment called for it.
“I, too, lost my mother at birth,” he began. “The woman I call mother today is not my blood mother, but my biological mother’s handmaiden. She raised me as her son as a fulfilment to a promise she made to my mother.”
She kept quiet for a little while, and then – “I don’t know what it feels like to have a mother. The servants loved me as best they could, and I loved them back, but I always yearned for a mother’s love. Did you ever wish that you could be with your own mother?”
The fact that she was talking to him at all was astounding, and about such a personal topic.
“I have often wondered how my life might have turned out if my mother had not died, but I can truthfully say that Lydia has showered me with all the love I could have possibly wanted or needed.”
Aurora nodded, kissing the handkerchief before folding it and placing it back into the trunk.
“I had two mothers, but the world will not allow me to acknowledge them as such. You are fortunate to have been able to call Lydia your mother. Nanny and Millie took care of me after my father ordered me away from him. I reminded him of my mother, and he couldn’t handle that. I learnt to stay away from him, always keeping out of sight until I grew old enough to realise that my mother’s death was not my fault. Then, I didn’t care if he saw me. One day, he seemed to notice me for the very first time, but he didn’t see me.”
“He saw your mother?”
“Yes. He called me Anna, but unfortunately, I do not share her sweet temperament. I sometimes wonder if he would have been so determined to see me married if he had never seen me that day?”
Carlos couldn’t answer that. How would it feel to look up one day and think that his wife had returned to life, only to find out that it was the daughter he had rejected? He felt pity for the baron, but sadness for his wife.
Closing the lid of the trunk, she stood up, flipping her long, thick braid to her other shoulder. Carlos quickly averted his eyes, mortified. Aurora was in her nightclothes, and although she was sufficiently covered up, there was something inappropriate about seeing her in them. It didn’t matter that she was his wife, only that he needed to leave the room as soon as possible.
“Uh, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. I bid you goodnight.”
He backed out of the room, still looking away, only able to look ahead once he had shut the door between them. Bypassing the chair, he went straight to bed, getting under the covers. That had probably been one of the most awkward moments of his life, and yet it shouldn’t have been.
Aurora had not seemed to care that she was wearing a nightdress in his company, so why had he? He had only looked at her for a few seconds, but still, her appearance had been branded into his mind with a searing iron. She had looked beautiful and innocent standing before him, the soft glow of the flickering candles making her seem ethereal.
“That is my wife,” he whispered to the room.
He didn’t feel like her husband, but he did feel like a young man blushing at the sight of a beautiful woman. Carlos hadn’t felt like this in years! Usually, women were the ones who would blush around him whenever he smiled at them with a butter-melting grin. Perhaps he just needed to give himself time to wrap his head around the idea of being married. It had been such a spur of the moment decision that he hadn’t allowed himself to fully comprehend what he had agreed to.
Linking his hands behind his head, he thought about the path he had hastily chosen for himself and Aurora.
“I wanted to do whatever I could to draw close to my father, but I failed to see that marriage is not something to be taken lightly. Have I made a mistake in marrying her?”
Only time would tell.
Chapter 14
Aurora snuck a few glances at the man she had yet to accept as her husband. Yes, she was married to him, but until she referred to him as her husband, then he wasn’t. He found it easy to call me his wife yesterday. Surprisingly, I didn’t take much offence to it.
Silence had filled the first leg of her journey, but today she found she didn’t want to keep quiet anymore. She was usually a talker and enjoyed conversing with all people. No, not quite everyone. Her father and brothers were on her list of people to ignore, and Carlos would have been there as well if he wasn’t the only other person in the carriage. I will go crazy if I do not say something. What if he thought she was speaking to him because of what they had shared at midnight? He would be wrong.
We might have had an understanding of sorts, but he is still the reason why I am married and miles away from my home. However, her curiosity was getting the best of her. Auror
a wanted to know precisely where they were going and what his reasons were for marrying her. He doesn’t strike me as a social climber, although I initially believed that. I’m certainly not everyone’s cup of tea either. There has to be a reason why he endured all I put him through just to marry me.
“I can hear you thinking,” he said.
She pursed her lips, drumming her fingers on her chin as she looked outside. I could ignore him, but I want to know what’s in store for me. She turned her body to face him, gnawing on her bottom lip.
“Are you ready to talk to me?”
Rather than answer him, she asked a question of her own. “Where are we going?”
“My mother’s house.”
“I know that much, but I want to know where.”
He named a town she had vaguely heard about but knew nothing of. “How much further until we reach it?”
“We’re taking a slow journey home, so a few days. Usually, it takes me two days if I ride through the night.”
“Will we live with your mother?”
He shook his head. “As I explained yesterday, we’ll stay there for a little while until we decide which part of England you prefer to live in.”
“Do you not have a house of your own?”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Did you not hear a word of what I said to you yesterday?”
Aurora had been in her own thoughts for most of the trip to the inn, so she might have missed some things.
She shrugged. “I am asking you now.”
He looked heavenward for a second, his lips moving before meeting her eyes. I imagine he is praying for patience. ’Tis his own fault for marrying me. Had he left me alone, we would not be in this situation today.
“I have four houses around England and one townhouse in London,” he said finally. “I also have several homes dotted about in other countries. You are free to choose wherever you want to live, as long as it’s in England. I promised your father that I would not take you out of your country.”
I cannot understand why he is suddenly concerned about my welfare. I have been without a father for seventeen years, and I can do without one now.
“Perhaps ’tis time for you to forgive your father for the past and look towards your future. He no longer has any say over your life.”
Her father was fortunate that she didn’t hate him, but that didn’t mean that she had to forgive him.
“He might not have a say, but you do. He simply relinquished his control to you.”
Carlos laughed. “Control? I do not think anyone has ever successfully controlled you, Aurora. Your father admitted that he was useless in that area and seemed to make peace with it. In fact, I think he admired your stubbornness to some extent.”
She snorted. “My father admires me? I can hardly believe that.”
“That is what I think. You are likely too prejudiced even to consider such a possibility, but I know what I heard and saw.”
Aurora didn’t want to know what he thought he had seen and heard. For all she knew, her father could have been pretending to paint himself in a good light.
“Why do you have so many houses? Is one not enough?”
“I travel frequently, and sometimes staying in so many different accommodations is tiring. If I have my own house, I have my own space.”
It seemed like a waste to her. She was well aware of how expensive it was to run a household and keep everything in good condition. Every month, Aurora went through her father’s accounting books without his knowledge, wanting to see what the expenses were. It helped to understand if they were spending too much in one area and not doing enough in another. The baron had no idea that she had played such a pivotal role in making sure that the estate ran smoothly, but he soon would. I give him a week before he realises how important I was.
“Having several homes is costly. Do you keep servants in all your homes?”
He nodded. “Two for the upkeep of the garden, and three inside the house. The housekeepers tend to hire temporary servants during my stay.”
“You said you have four houses in England, one townhouse in London, and several homes in other countries?”
“Yes.”
“And you keep servants in all of them?”
“That is correct. Why?”
Aurora stared at him, incredulously. Perhaps he thought it was normal, but it wasn’t to her. He must be far richer than I imagined. How is it possible for him to maintain all his houses? If he was such a wealthy man, then why on earth did he marry her? Surely he could have married someone who would have suited him better?
“You appear perplexed.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
“I cannot make heads or tails of your thinking. You’re clearly a wealthy merchant with the world at his feet. You’re none too bad to look at, but what I cannot understand is why you chose to marry me? ’Tis abundantly clear that I did not wish to marry you, and did everything I could to deter you from making me your wife. Still, you remained firm and finally got what you wanted. Why go to all this trouble to wed a woman who wants nothing to do with you?”
Her words may have sounded a tad harsh, but she meant it. There was a reason behind every action, but she couldn’t decipher what this man’s motives were.
“Do you truly wish to know?”
“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t.”
“Simply put, most men of your class would never allow their daughters to marry a commoner. They prefer to keep their blood pure.”
That was true, but Aurora knew of some men who had married their daughters to commoners with sizeable coffers. Hadn’t the Viscount of Wesley married his youngest daughter to a physician? Of course, the man had come from a good family, but the fact remained that he had had no title to boast of. She had heard that it was a love match, but if it hadn’t been for his financial status, her father would never have allowed the marriage. I suppose my initial belief of him was right – he does wish to climb the social ladder through marriage. She was nothing but a means to an end. I wish he had chosen someone else to meet his objectives!
“You are right by saying most men, but there are still some who would give their daughters away for the right price. You clearly did not look hard enough.”
“Perhaps.”
“Why choose me?” she pressed.
“Your father was the only desperate man I could find who would allow his daughter married to a merchant. I must say that I took advantage of the situation as he was more than a little tipsy when he declared he would get you married to a commoner, but all is fair in love and war.”
Ha! Love couldn’t have been any further from this situation than the sun was from the earth.
“So, this is about war? Do you have an agenda against nobility?”
“Not at all. Why are you so intent upon knowing my reasons?”
He observed her curiously, his eyebrows bunched together to meet in the middle. Is it odd that this matter amuses me? Perhaps her father had tricked him into marrying her. Father is not much of a trickster, but he is persuasive. Many a time, she had witnessed him seal a business deal more heavily in his favour than that of his partner.