‘Because they are not—I have ordinary brownish hair and trust Mama to inform me I am too thin and look older than my years the moment she arrived here.’
‘I do not think Lord Stratford agrees with her,’ Viola said with a sidelong glance that dared Marianne to retaliate and mention Sir Harry Marbeck.
‘Lord Stratford has beautiful manners and even his worst enemy could not accuse him of being above his company.’
‘Does he now?’
‘Yes, and he treats all his staff with respect and consideration.’
‘I am sure he does,’ Viola murmured and her eyes were full of mischief and too much understanding. It felt wonderful to be teased by her sister again, but Marianne wished Viola would choose someone else to tease her about. ‘Have you ever wondered if loving so deeply once would help you cope with that passionate nature of yours even better if you ever do it again?’ Viola asked almost innocently.
‘There is very little chance of it as far as I can see.’
‘Never say never,’ Viola told her in a crisp parody of their mother in Mrs Yelverton’s days as the busy wife of a country vicar.
Marianne had to laugh, as her sister intended, but there was more than a pinch of sadness under it as they went arm in arm to join a half-hearted supper left over from the wedding feast. Owlet Manor was still lovely and mellow and looked like a proper gentleman’s house as it basked in the evening sun, but it felt as if the glow and energy had gone out of the place for her now Alaric was no longer here.
She would be living under his roof soon so it was impossible to put the man to the back of her mind and forget she had ever met him even if she wanted to. Impossible anyway, she realised as she moved through the knot of family and friends staying the night. This should be a completely joyful occasion. Yet she had this odd sense that something crucial was missing as soon as Lord Stratford’s finely sprung carriage disappeared around the first of the bends in the road.
Chapter Fourteen
As Alaric made himself climb into the carriage he told himself he had to leave Owlet Manor and the world out of time that he felt he had been living in for nigh on a month. He had meant to bring Juno with him so they would be ready to travel back to Stratford Park in the morning, but Marianne’s acceptance of his offer of employment changed all that. Juno was so delighted she persuaded him to let her stay where she was for a few more days while Mrs Turner packed and said her goodbyes to her family and they had insisted they would love to have her there. Juno and the new Mrs Yelverton were close and she had a good excuse to stay, but he did not. His presence disrupted the family gathering and Mrs Yelverton Senior was on pins all the time with a real live viscount under her son’s roof and her husband was embarrassed when she assumed airs to impress him.
Alaric might have dismissed her as a social climber if he had not met her children first, but now he had learnt to look beyond surface appearances and a fussy manner he rather liked the lady under the fluster and chatter. No doubt she was interfering and had been tactless with her elder daughter, but she obviously loved her children and he could see where Marianne and Darius got their energy and determination. Given the choice between his own mother and Marianne’s, he knew which one he would rescue from a burning building.
He stared out of the carriage window at the darkly green trees of late summer and the fields of ripening grain they were passing at the leisurely pace country roads dictated. His life had changed so radically since he had set out from Paris to find out what was amiss with his niece, but he was not quite sure what came next. Juno would do much better now he had found her a companion instead of a heartless grandmother to keep her company, but what about Alaric Defford?
For so many years his life had been set. He had thought he would carry on being isolated from the real world by a title and possessions until he finally bit the bullet and married for the sake of an heir and even then it would be a polite sort of marriage to a well-bred and dignified lady who would not expect grand emotions from her noble husband.
Yet Stratford Park had never felt like a true home as poor rundown Owlet Manor did even before Marianne and his staff made it shine again for the wedding. But it was his family seat and he supposed it was the place he had to go to when he thought about home. Juno was familiar with it as well, even though she had been living across the park in the Dower House for most of her young life. Thank heavens Marianne had agreed to go with them when they went back—her vital presence would scout some of the ghosts from the vast house he had lived in virtually alone since George died.
Now he had solved Juno’s and Marianne’s lonely dilemmas in one go he should be feeling a lot better about the future. Except he ached for so much more from Mrs Marianne Turner than he had any right to expect from her. He reminded himself about his words to her this afternoon about a true gentleman not taking advantage of a lady in his employment. ‘You have been too clever for your own good this time, Stratford,’ he muttered at the late summer twilight outside the window.
There was Broadley on the horizon once again now and it was still
