Page 21 of Sleepless in Saunton
If Tatiana needed a new mother, he would need to look elsewhere than the lovely Jane Davis.
CHAPTER6
After dinner, Barclay discreetly signaled Jane from across the parlor where the guests gathered for games. Making her excuses, she rose and followed him out of the room to find him waiting for her in the hall. He held out his arm, and she accepted. A warm, roiling feeling of awareness unraveled from her fingertips, through her forearm, and up to her shoulder to ignite a flame of yearning in her heart as her fingers grazed over his powerful forearm. She could not deny her fascination for the gentleman, no matter how unattainable he might be.
He walked along, solemn while they made their way down the connecting corridor to the family wing. Jane soaked up every moment of their silent journey, wishing it could last longer but, alas, they reached the door of his mother’s room. Barclay raised his hand to knock while Jane wistfully imagined what it might be like to be his wife. To tuck Tatiana into bed each night. To travel to towns across the realm, as Tatiana had reminisced about.
It was lowering to be envious of a dead woman, but she could not deny that the late Mrs. Thompson had lived her ideal life.
Tatiana’s grandmother answered the door and smiled warmly. “Miss Davis, this is so generous of you. Tatiana is so excited!”
“Please, Miss Thompson, you must call me Jane.”
The older woman smiled in delight. “I would love to! You must do me the pleasure of calling me by my own name. Aurora.”
“Aurora? That is lovely.”
“My mother was Italian,” explained Barclay’s mother.
Barclay, Aurora, and Jane discussed the bedtime story she was to read to Tatiana. It was decided that Aurora would return to the guests in the main house, and Barclay accompanied Jane into the room, where Tatiana sat in her cot. The little girl clapped her hands with such excitement, settling down as Jane came over to sit beside her. The book had been delivered earlier that night, so she picked upAladdinand began to read out loud.
With four younger brothers and sisters, Jane was confident of her storytelling abilities. Oliver and Max, the rambunctious twins, were not shy to criticize, so she had long since learned how children preferred their stories read to them.
Tatiana was in raptures, listening with an intent expression on her sweet little face, while her father sat in an armchair across the room, observing but not reacting in any way as Jane told the little girl about the treasures in the cave. Soon the little girl’s eyes drooped, and when she finally let out a gentle snore to inform them she slept, Jane gently closed the book and placed it back on the table.
Nodding to Barclay, they both rose and quietly left the room. Closing the door behind him, Barclay turned to look down at her. “Thank you … Jane. It is a long time since I have seen Tatiana so content. What you did tonight was exceedingly kind.”
Jane looked up at his solemn face, noting the faint lines at the corners of his eyes and the close-cropped beard that made him seem more guarded than the other men in the manor, and smiled wistfully. “It was my great honor, Barclay.”
He escorted her back to the main house, and Jane rejoined the countess on a sofa, musing to herself that it had been a surreal way to have spent the past hour. A moment in time, she suspected, she would always cherish.
Bringing succor to both the child and, hopefully, her father had been immensely fulfilling, which highlighted that it was high time she sought a suitable match so she might start her own family and know the joy of tucking her child in with a bedtime story.
Since Emma had left to embark on her new life as a married woman, Jane was feeling the pangs of loneliness quite desperately. She had no wish to return home to Rose Ash Manor. She needed to secure a husband and start the next chapter of her life, as her sister had done.
You are all grown up, and you need to find yourself a match!
* * *
Barclay saton his window ledge, watching the fog roll in over the park. Eventually, it blocked out the stars and moon and he was left staring into the abyss of midnight. It was … unpleasant.
He could no longer summon Natalya to his side as he had done the first night at Saunton Park, and he supposed he must have made a decision to move forward after the revelation that Tatiana wanted a new mother in her life.
It was what Natalya had wanted, and her continued absence suggested that it was too late to turn back.
He considered the widow, Mrs. Gordon, who seemed to be quite taken with him. She was pleasant company and clearly did not mind his family situation. Barclay shifted to lean his back on the chilly window, inspecting the ceiling with an expert eye, and wondered how he was going to sleep. Or what he was to do if he remained awake now that his recollection of Natalya obstinately refused to join him in this quiet hour as she had always done before.
Eventually, he rose and left the room to roam the halls. The manor was quiet, all guests and family having retired for the evening. It was surreal to walk the corridors of this grand home his grandfather had built. So much history there. Tsar had made his reputation with the design. Aurora had been seduced. Barclay had been conceived. And now, whimsically, it was the place where memories of Natalya had finally been released from the living, so she might pursue her own journey while Barclay attempted to plan for a new future without her at his side.
Contemplating all these issues in the middle of the night did nothing to settle his mind. He needed to find a distraction until he could finally relax enough to fall asleep.
Entering the main block of the manor, he walked along a corridor until he noticed that the library was still lit. Who would make use of the room so late in the evening? Deciding he could do with some company, he headed in that direction to learn whom his fellow insomniac might be.
Entering the library, he came to a panicked halt. Jane was bent over a library table, scratching over a page with a quill. He should leave. Turn around and return to his room.
But the hour was late and his soul was weary and he could not command his feet to walk away. He wanted to enjoy this quiet hour alone with her. In the morning, he would do the right thing. The honorable thing. He would stay away from her then, but tonight … tonight he was so damned lonely, and this captivating creature was the only solace he had found in two long years.
“What are you writing?” He moved to take a seat by the fireplace.
