Page 88 of Storm of Bells
Instinctively, I looked down at mycurtain/engagement-ring.
Darn!
‘Oh, look! Look, Miss!’ Excitedly, Vinniejabbed her finger out of the window, pointing at another sign.‘Only three miles left!’
‘Really? How…fabulous.’
And, Miss, we have the lovely chapel whereyou’ll be married, built in the neo-gothic rotting-ruin style. Webrought in tree trunks to serve as pews, and here’s a large log forthe altar. Isn’t it beautiful? So open and airy, especially eversince the roof collapsed. It really adds to the atmosphere.
‘There!’ Vinnie shouted. ‘There, I can see itthrough the trees! Any moment now—oh.’
I clapped my hands over my eyes.
‘I can’t look!’ With my free hand, I grabbedAdaira’s arm. ‘Is it as bad as I think it is? Please! Please tellme!’
‘Err…’ Adaira’s voice sounded strangled.‘Well…’
Her voice died away.
‘What is it?’
No answer.
‘What is it, darn you?’
Still no answer. My heart pounding, I forcedthe fingers over my eyes to part and, raising my head, gazed out ofthe window to take my first look at Mr Rikkard Ambrose’s manor, andmy future home.
At once, I knew what Vinnie’s ‘oh’ hadmeant.
This wasn’t as bad as I had expected.
It was far, far worse.
The Home of Mr RikkardAmbrose
It was beautiful.Bloody beautiful! No, beautiful wasn’t a strong enough word. It wasamazing. Awe-inspiring. Probably larger than Battlewood andBuckingham Palace put together, and certainly more magnificent.Battlewood was a manor house. This…this was a palace among palaces.A bloody marvel! And I had thought…I had…
And the son of a bachelor had let me thinkthat!
Eyes on fire, I turned to Mr Rikkard Ambrose.‘Why didn’t you tell me that it was likethis?’
‘Like what?’ Cocking his head, he gave me acalm look. ‘Different from a crumbling ruin in which noself-respecting gentleman would marry the woman he plans to spendthe rest of his life with?’
‘Well…um…err…’
Damn him! He had a point.
Fuming, I gestured out of the window. ‘Youmight at least have warned me that you have a bloody fountain inyour front yard! And a golden sundial! And a statue garden! Abloody statue garden, for heaven’s sake!’
‘My apologies, Miss Linton. Next time, Ishall take into account your aversion to sculpturaldecorations.’
‘I…I don’t…I mean…Arg! You are so…!’
Not knowing what to say, I exchanged a lookwith Adaira. But she just sat there, staring open-mouthed at thepalatial mansion in front of us, obviously feeling the same urge asme to grab the nearest calendar and check whether it was April 1.Even Lady Samantha looked as if she couldn’t quite believe hereyes, although she really, really wanted to.
As we rolled up the driveway, the front doorsopened and the butler, who, to my intense relief, was not asemi-transparent ghost, stepped out into the sunlight. A butler! MrRikkard Ambrose employed an actual butler? Someone pinch me!
Slowly, the coaches rolled up the drivewayand came to a stop. It took me a few moments to realize that Karimhad jumped down from the box and was holding the door open for me.Overlooking Karim? That feat alone should tell you something aboutmy level of shock.
