Garrett eyed him with suspicion. “And say what?” he responded with a growl. “I’ve gone off and fallen head over Hessians for a chit in the city?” He bit his lip, not adding that she might be enceinte. He had spied Jane holding a hand protectively against her belly as she turned in front of a cheval mirror and regarded her naked reflection. Was she with child? he wondered, remembering how full her breasts felt in his hands, how her skin glowed in the candlelight after their gentle lovemaking, how she clung to him the last few nights as they slept. And he could not forget her murmured promise that he was the only man with whom she had given her body … and her heart. He believed her, and not just because he knew he’d taken her virtue. She had insisted back then, after their first night together, that she was his and that he was entitled to the gift of her maidenhead. He hadn’t understood the importance of what had happened – not then. But now … now …
“So, what’s stopping you?” Joshua asked as he stood up from the deep leather sofa and moved to the sideboard. He poured a generous dollop of brandy into a snifter and held it out to Garrett. The man took it but did not immediately take a sip.
“Almost nothing,” Garrett stated with a shake of his head, a smirk appearing. “But I would be more inclined to marry if I knew there was some kind of income in my future.” It was true he had Jane’s dowry – the two of them could live on that for some time, even if he had to rent a house for them in Kirdford – but he wanted some assurance that he would have an income on which they could live for the rest of their lives. Her dowry should be set aside as a settlement for her and their children should he die before the children reached their majority.
Joshua poured himself a brandy. “Hmm,” he hedged for a moment. “Given how successful you’ve made this duchy in the short time you’ve been its manager, I would say it’s about time I compensated you,” Joshua announced, a hand on one hip. “I believe you should receive,” he paused to think a moment. “Five-hundred pounds for your work so far. What say you?”
Garrett’s eyebrows shot up. “Five hundred pounds?” he repeated, astonished. The estate might not make five thousand pounds this year, he considered. And he’d never cleared more than a hundred pounds in his best month of gambling in a gaming hell. “You’re serious?” he questioned, leaning his elbows on his knees and absently scrubbing his face with an open hand.
Wondering if perhaps he had underestimated what an estate manager should receive in pay, Joshua regarded Garrett. “Are you … insulted?” he wondered, not sure how to broach the subject of appropriate pay.
Garrett lifted his gaze to take in his friend’s worried look. “No,” he replied with a shake of his head. “It’s a very generous sum, I am sure,” he added, thinking that his recompense for looking after the property in Chiswick for over three months had barely amounted to a hundred pounds, and that property, with all its employees and tenants and high maintenance gardens and lawns, had been much harder to oversee than all of the Chichester duchy properties combined.
Joshua nodded. “I’ll draft a note that you can take with you to London when you go to claim your bride,” he stated firmly, holding his snifter out as if to toast the decision. “Then you’ll bring her back here and attend my wedding on Saturday morning,” he finished with a salute of his glass.
But Garrett, barely able to suppress his grin, did not offer his glass in return. “There is still the matter of a place for us to live,” he murmured. He had known he couldn’t very well house Jane in his bedchamber at Wisborough Oaks. Although Jane and he had shared her bed whilst he was in London, he did not think it proper that he not have a room of his own in which to conduct business. Moving her into the dowager house seemed the best plan for the time being, but he found himself wanting to be there with her.
“You’ll use the dower house, of course,” Joshua answered, as if he was stating the obvious. “It’s not as if there will be a dowager duchess to use it anytime in the near or distant future,” he added, hoping that was truly the case. Hopefully, it would be a long time before he died, before his duchess would require the dowager cottage. Years, he assured himself. “And you’ll continue to use the study as an office. Better yet, we can have Charlotte create an office for you from one of the rooms she is decorating.”
Garrett’s eyebrow cocked in surprised. “Can we now?” he repeated, glad to hear Joshua’s confidence in Charlotte’s abilities.
“Yes,” Joshua replied, his demeanor suddenly very serious. “In fact, you can pick the room,” he stated, knowing his offer sounded rather like a bribe. “And if the cottage is too small, say, when you’re ready to start your nursery, the west wing will be complete, and you can take rooms there,” he reasoned.
Garrett took a deep breath. “Very good, then. I accept your offer of the dower house for the time being.” Placing his empty glass on the table before him, Garrett stood up. “However, I won’t be going back to London anytime soon,” he said as he straightened his coat, a smirk just appearing at the corner of his mouth.
Joshua regarded the taller man. “Why … Why ever not?” he wondered, his one visible brow furrowing.
“I brought Jane with me. Along with a special license. We’ve decided we’d like to get married. This Saturday.”
Joshua stared at Garrett for several seconds before a smile split his face. “You dog!” He rushed over and embraced Garrett, his friend startled by the gesture as Joshua pounded on his back. “We’ll make it a double. I am sure Lady Charlotte will not mind,” he offered, pulling away suddenly, his eye alight with joy. “Oh, we’ll have to tell Mrs. Gates. She’s been planning this wedding for months,” he said offhandedly as he moved to the servant bell.
Garrett stared at Joshua for a moment, one eyebrow cocked. “Months?” he repeated in disbelief.
“Mm,” Joshua replied with a nod. “Hopeless romantic, that one. She’s been keeping track of Lady Charlotte’s age and figured we’d have the ceremony on her twenty-first birthday.” He pulled the bell and returned his attention to his estate manager. “I had to ride off to Chichester to get a marriage license.”
His mouth suddenly hanging open, Garrett regarded Joshua, his disbelief still evident. “All this time … you knew you were going to marry Lady Charlotte?” He’d given his assurances to several people in London that a wedding would take place soon, but over the course of his stay in London, he had about given up on Joshua being the groom.
Joshua started to respond and then closed his mouth. He thought for a moment. Although he had fantasized that Lady Charlotte might one day be his wife, back when his brother was still alive, he spent the time since the fire convincing himself he could not hold her to a betrothal. It was not fair to a woman of her beauty to be married to a man who looked like he did, especially if she did so out of a sense of duty. But the events of the past week, including the jealousy he’d felt when he’d thought the Earl of Gisborn would end up with her, and Charlotte’s overt insistence that he marry her, had finally convinced him to ask for her hand. He would have to work on wooing Charlotte after the wedding and hope that one day she would feel affection for him. “I’ve only known for certain since yesterday afternoon,” Joshua finally answered, realizing it was as true an answer as he could make to the question. “Others have been conspiring for far longer to see that this marriage happens, though,” he added with a hint of amusement. He returned to his seat opposite Garrett.
“Did you inform Grandby?” Garrett wondered then. The Earl of Torrington would be expecting the information, given what Garrett had told him. “And has Charlotte sent word to her parents?” His brief visit at hospital had been a relief when he found Edward Bingham, his doting wife at his side, alive and doing quite well. The Earl of Ellsworth was conscious and fully aware of what had occurred during his coma. Hopping mad at his nephew, he was attempting to arrange Nicholas’ arrest from his hospital bed and insisting his solicitor see him as soon as possible so he could rearrange his accounts and disinherit his nephew. As
Garrett had moved to leave the room, Bingham was telling his wife that he couldn’t die until Lady Charlotte’s son was old enough to inherit. When Lady Bingham reminded her husband that Lady Charlotte wasn’t even yet married, the earl ordered Garrett to see to it that Lady Charlotte was married before the end of the week!
Of course, Garrett had no way of knowing that a proposal was being made that very moment.
“I wrote him an invitation yesterday, as well as one to Charlotte’s parents,” Joshua replied with a nod. “They were to be hand-delivered this morning.”
Three-day notice of a wedding, Garrett thought with a grimace. Well, Grandby shouldn’t be too surprised. And neither should the Binghams. He was ordered to see to it, after all. The ton would have their gossip for the early Season balls, despite Lady Charlotte’s insistence to everyone she met that she would be wedding Joshua Wainwright when he was recovered enough from his burns.
Joshua sighed. “Did you … invite … anyone to your wedding?” he wondered, curious if Jane or Garrett would want any family present.
“No,” Garrett answered with a shake of his head. “Frank O’Laughlin has a new faro dealer to oversee at The Jack of Spades, and my letter to my parents won’t make it to Edinburgh for several days. You’ll have to stand with me.”
“And you’ll have to do the same for me,” Joshua countered with a nod.
Garrett regarded him for a moment. “Are you sure you want a double wedding? It doesn’t seem appropriate for two commoners to be marrying at the same time as a duke and his duchess.” He had imagined his own wedding to be a small affair, with just the two of them and their witnesses before a vicar.
Joshua shook his head. “You’re going to make me stand up there first, aren’t you?” he asked, his head still shaking from side to side.
“Nope,” Garrett replied soberly. “I’m going first. Besides, I’m older.”
Joshua sighed but allowed a big smile. “It’ll keep my mind off of mine, then,” he agreed with a nod.
Mrs. Gates hurried into the library, having been present in the servants wing when the bell hung. “You rang, Your Grace?” she asked with a pleasant smile.
Suddenly at a loss of words, Joshua regarded the servant for several seconds as he wondered how to tell her that she must amend her plans for the wedding feast on Saturday.
Garrett straightened. “Mrs. Gates, His Grace wanted to inform you that my fiancée and I will be marrying Saturday morning, directly before his ceremony,” he stated formally. “I wanted to assure you that I do not expect you to change any of the plans you’re making on His Grace’s behalf, but I thought you should know.”
Mrs. Gates stared at the estate manager for a bit, her eyes widening. “Well, I’ll be. I wondered when I would hear such news. We go for fifteen years without a momentous occasion in this household, and then we have two in one day!” she complained, her arms suddenly spreading wide and then coming to rest on the sides of her head.
“I don’t expect extra guests for my wedding,” Garrett said with a shake of his head. “And we can have our wedding breakfast at the same time as his,” he nodded toward Joshua, “Seeing as how I’ll be his best man and he’ll be mine.”
The housekeeper’s arms dropped to her sides. “Oh, well, when you put it like that, I suppose we’ll be able to accommodate you just fine, Mr. McElliott,” she said, a bit of sarcasm in her voice. She turned to regard the duke. “And how long have you known this confirmed bachelor was getting married?” she asked in an accusing tone.
Joshua’s mouth dropped open before he could defend himself. “The moment I rung the bell, Mrs. Gates, was the first moment I knew anything about him getting married,” he claimed with a shake of his head.
The housekeeper’s face broke into a huge grin. “Oh, Mr. McElliott, best wishes to you and yours. Where is the lucky girl, by the way?”
Garrett bit his lip, knowing he would get a scolding for having left Jane with Lady Charlotte. “Uh, she’ll be along shortly,” he said lightly. “She’s on a tour of the house,” he added when Mrs. Gates’ eyebrow shot up.
“And does she have a name?” Mrs. Gates countered, wondering if the estate manager was marrying someone she might know.
“Jane. Jane Wethersby,” he answered with a nod. “Although she was born very near to my home in Scotland, I just met her in London a couple of years ago.”
Mrs. Gates clapped her hands together. “Oh! That would be Frank O’Laughlin’s adopted daughter,” she said happily. “Such a pretty girl, too, even if she is a bit long in the tooth. Beautiful fingers, so deft. It’s so good to hear she’ll have a respectable husband. It cannot be easy for a woman to meet good men when they live in a gaming establishment like Mr. O’Laughlin’s,” she added with a shake of her head. “I hear tell he has a brothel on the top floor of that place,” she went on, a hint of scandal in her voice. “Well, if you’ll excuse me, I need to let Cook know we’ll need another cake.” She started to hurry off to the door as Joshua and Garrett both stared at the housekeeper, their open mouths a testament to their surprise at learning Mrs. Gates knew Jane.
“Mrs. Gates,” Joshua called after her. The housekeeper paused at the door, giving him a curtsy. “How is it you know Frank O’Laughlin?” he wondered, his brow furrowing. When would she have had the occasion to meet Frank? Let alone know his establishment included a brothel on the third floor?
Blushing, the older woman clasped her hands in front of her and lowered her head. “I play faro whenever I’m in London, Your Grace,” she answered. Then she bobbed a curtsy and left the two men staring after her in disbelief.
“I suppose you’ll want to take a wedding trip,” Joshua stated once the housekeeper had left the room, not having realized he should probably consider one for himself.
“I have had quite enough of travel to suit me for a bit, and I daresay, Jane probably feels the same way,” the estate manager answered. Although he had paid several men to do the packing, loading and unloading of Jane’s belongings, he and a footman had moved his trunk of clothes and toiletries from the main house. Having spent most of the day on the road, and despite the comfort of the duke’s coach, he felt as if every bone in his body had been jostled out of place. He was tired, and he could only imagine how Jane was feeling. No wonder she fell asleep after tea.
Garrett sat silent for several moments, the first chance he’d had since leaving for London to do so. He was moving into a dowager house, he was about to be leg shackled, and perhaps become a father, and he wasn’t feeling the least bit … regretful. In fact, he found himself rather happy just then. “I believe I will take my leave of you now,” he stated as he moved to get up from the overstuffed couch in which he had planted himself an hour ago.
Joshua regarded him for a moment, surprise evident in the part of his face not covered by the mask. “And go where?” he wondered, rising to his feet and groaning from the stiffness in his left side.
Smiling, Garrett said, “To collect Jane and take her to the dowager house.”
“Already?” Joshua’s astonishment was growing. “Tonight?”
“Mm. If my choice is to spend time with you or with Jane, I find myself choosing Jane,” he said, his tone not the least bit apologetic. “And, if I were you, I’d see to spending some time with Lady Charlotte.” And with that, he left the room, walked the hall toward the west wing and disappeared.
Joshua stared after his friend. He really is in love, damn him. And after a moment, he added, Damn me!
The duke set off to find Charlotte. With Garrett spending the night at the dowager house, he and Charlotte would have the east wing to themselves.
Chapter 28
The Merits of an Apartment
The following morning, Jane and Garrett were in the study with Charlotte poring over the architectural plans for the west wing. They’d had a late breakfast, the three of them, and spent the morning discussing the rooms that should be created in the newly constructed wing. The duke had left
word with Gates that he was taking a ride around the property and wouldn’t be returning until later that afternoon.
Surprised at the news, Charlotte wondered when Joshua had decided on taking the ride. They had spent the night in her bedchamber, much as they had the nights before, speaking softly whilst they held each other. But the duke had seemed pensive, a bit preoccupied perhaps, she thought. Never once had they kissed, nor had he made a move to take her maidenhead. Charlotte wondered if Joshua was being honorable or if he still had reservations about making her his duchess. The ride will do him good, she decided, wishing she could be with him.
She forced herself to concentrate on the floor plan spread out before her. “Perhaps these rooms at the end of the hall should be configured into an apartment,” Charlotte suggested, pointing out the space at the end of the west wing hall. “I’m not sure how many bedchambers there were in the original house …”
“And neither am I,” Garrett interjected, studying the floor plan. Although the west wing had been reconstructed to have the same footprint as before, none of the interior spaces, except for a parlor at the front of the house, had been framed out yet. Any rooms that were to be created from the space could be configured as they saw fit, otherwise, the carpenters would simply start framing a series of room on either side of a central hall as the plans currently showed. “Although I know the duke and duchess had their rooms down there, as did their daughter.”
Charlotte stole a glance at Garrett, noting how his hand had found Jane’s. Their fingers were intertwined, his large and broad while hers were long and slender.
She wondered if Joshua would ever hold her hand like that. “If you’ll allow it, Jane and I can work out the best configuration for the apartment. We’ll want it to be as comfortable as possible, and we’ll be sure to give you a nursery and sitting room, and we’ll need a school room along the corridor …”
“What?” Garrett interrupted, straightening to his full six-foot, two-inch height. Stunned at the tone of his voice, Jane straightened as well as she regarded the future duchess with widened eyes.
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