Page 31 of His Darling Duchess
“Have you ordered the carriage? Despite the comforts here, I’m eager to travel on.”
“It will be brought around shortly.”
Mrs. Bretton came in then with a plate for him, loaded with toast, sausages and eggs; Rhys had half-thought about skipping breakfast, if the carriage was ready, but the expression on the housekeeper’s face and the delicious scent of the food made him change his mind. Accepting the plate, he sat down beside Aurelia and dove in.
“Tea?” Aurelia asked, and he nodded, watching as she carefully prepared the beverage just as he liked it.
Rhys was just finishing the last bites of his breakfast when the clatter of hooves and wheels outside let them know the carriagewas ready. Aurelia smiled and rose gracefully to her feet; he jumped up too and offered his arm to escort her out.
Mrs. Bretton was waiting in the hall with Aurelia’s cloak and bonnet in her hands, and within moments Rhys and Aurelia were settling back down in the carriage for another long day of travel. This time, Rhys was taking no chances with Aurelia’s comfort; he was pleased to note at least half a dozen thick blankets piled on the seats, and lost no time tucking one of them over her legs and another around her shoulders.
“I shall swelter like this,” she laughed, giving him a look he might almost describe as affectionate.
“Better that than freezing,” he insisted.
“Well, I do appreciate your concern for my comfort.” Her lashes drifted down, lips curving in a mysterious little smile. “As a husband, I cannot fault you.”
“I’m sure you will discover my myriad deficiencies soon enough, but I’m pleased I have managed to fool you thus far.” His face felt strange, muscles long unused pulling at his cheeks. Catching a glimpse of his own reflection in the window, Rhys realised to his shock that he was smiling.
“So you do know how to smile,” Aurelia said softly, and he glanced back at her.
“I am learning how - from you.”
Her expression was soft, and she leaned forward, freeing a hand from her blankets and reaching out to place it over his own where it rested on his knee. “You’re very handsome when you smile. I hope you see you do so often.”
He didn’t know how to respond to the compliment, so looked away, a flush rising slowly up his neck.
Stowe’s expression was awkward, his stiff posture making it evident he did not welcome her touch. Aurelia took her hand back quickly, inwardly cursing the impetuous action; her family were demonstrative, often hugging or patting each other in affection. It had seemed so natural to reach out and touch Stowe in that moment, but he had almost flinched away and now would not look her in the eye.
Turning her head to look out so he would not catch her staring at him if he happened to glance in her direction, Aurelia tried not to feel crushed.
She had chosen to marry Stowe not because it was her only option, but because everything she knew of him proclaimed him to be a genuinely good man. Since that night in the library at his townhouse, every action, every word out of his mouth only confirmed her initial opinion.
They were married, for better or worse, and in every way she could imagine, Stowe had thus far been the best husband she could possibly have asked for. For a man who claimed he had little understanding of how to behave in polite society, he had in the last few days showed her more consideration and respect than she had ever received from Grantleigh, despite her former suitor’s pretty manners.
The silence stretched uncomfortably, until Aurelia could bear it no longer. Stowe had talked to her willingly yesterday when she asked about the duchy and its dependents; surely she could find a topic on which they could converse today.
“Have you ever been to Cornwall?” she asked a little desperately. “Lymsey House is on the moors, looking down towards the sea at Paignton. My sisters and I often rode our horses down to walk at the shoreline.”
“I have not visited Cornwall, no.” Stowe shook his head. “I never saw the sea until I joined the army and took ship for Spain,which was a miserable experience. Storms in the Bay of Biscay had even seasoned sailors feeling unwell.”
“I’ve never been on a boat larger than a rowboat.” She tried to find something in common in their experiences, and failed. “Perhaps with the war over, it will be possible to travel to the Continent again for leisure soon.”
“Would you like to?” He met her eyes directly again.
“Very much. Did you know that my mother and father met in Rome?”
Stowe blinked. “I didn’t, no.”
“My father was there on a Grand Tour and my mother was accompanying her parents on a visit to her uncle, who was the Ambassador to Italy at the time. They met at a party at the Embassy and my father claimed it was love at first sight. He left his friends to continue on their Tour and stayed in Rome to woo her until she accepted him.”
“That is a very romantic story, but I must say your parents seem well-suited to each other.” He paused before continuing. “So Rome is somewhere you would like to visit? I have not been there, but I did visit Genoa, which is in the north-west of Italy, and found it lovely.”
“Will you tell me of it?” Aurelia asked hopefully, and he nodded, willing enough to oblige her, it seemed. He was a good storyteller, she thought as he painted pictures with words, weaving an amusing tale of a squad of English soldiers entirely out of their element in the Italian countryside as they attempted to track down an elusive contact and stay one step ahead of the French soldiers tracking them in their turn.
Once again, a long day of travel passed by quickly, and in as much comfort as could be managed. They made only very short stops to change horses, and as a consequence made excellent time. The carriage rolled in through the gates of Stowe Parka little after three in the afternoon, still a good hour before darkness would fall even on one of the shortest days of the year.
Aurelia caught a glimpse of two men at the tall iron gates, a lodge-house just beyond, but the carriage did not slow.
