Page 17 of Bedding the Marquess
“You are not an intrusion or an interruption at all. Please do not ever feel that you are! And you must call me Caroline—is it alright if I call you Emily? We are family, are we not?” Emily nodded, her smile broadening. “I fear our wedding was a small affair; I feel terribly that an invitation was not extended to you and your husband.”
“Do not dwell on it. This…relationship is so new, and it likely would have introduced more questions than our husbands are yet ready to answer. It is a very delicate time.”
That was the first time Caroline heard Gideon addressed as such, and her stomach did a little flipping motion. In the eyes of Society, that was who he was to her.
“I can understand that.”
“They look so alike that it would have been impossible to pretend otherwise,” Emily added with a chuckle.
“Are they truly that similar in appearance?” Caroline asked.
“Truly,” she replied before detailing the very unconventional circumstances of their first encounter. Caroline found the entire thing utterly hilarious, and she took Emily’s laughter as permission to show her amusement. “It was far from amusing at the time, but I can see the humor in it now.”
“And this occurred at a brothel?” Caroline asked as she wiped away a tear.
Emily nodded and caught her lower lips between her teeth. “My mother spent years of hard work building her business, and I am proud that it is known as one of the finest houses for women and men to work, but I understand the stigma that comes from a connection with such an enterprise. I have always handled the bookkeeping and deliveries, and I still do now and then. My husband helps out when needed. We have no plans to cut ties with Lady Night’s, but we do understand that sucha connection might be detrimental to your reputations. It is not something we have yet discussed with the marquess—” Her words died when Caroline grabbed her hands.
“Believe me when I say I am certain that Gideon having family is far more important to both of us than anyone’s background or reputation.” She leaned in conspiratorially and added, “Besides, he and I are quite notorious ourselves. I am sure it would surprise very few if we were connected to Lady Night’s. There are far less polished establishments—at least you come from the very best!” This seemed to comfort Emily somewhat, and she squeezed Caroline’s hands in return. “Now, might I have your address so I may call upon you when we return to town? We are just leaving for our honeymoon trip.”
“I would like that a great deal.”
Caroline took her directions, a tidy little area not all that far from where Caroline’s own townhouse had been, and they exited into the hallway, nearly colliding with a distracted Gideon.
“There you are, Caro,” he greeted her with a smile so warm that she felt her muscles begin to melt. His eyes flicked to their guest. “And Mrs. Black! What an unexpected pleasure.” He handed the papers he held to his solicitor, muttered a few words about being in touch, and the man took his leave with a polite nod to the ladies.
“Emily stopped by to pass along their congratulations on our wedding,” Caroline explained. Her husband’s immediate warmth and pleasure at seeing Emily were not lost on Caroline. As she suspected, he was desperate for a relationship there; she only hoped Emily and her husband felt the same. The last thing she wanted was for Gideon to place his hope in people who might let him down—he had experienced it enough in his life. If this small interaction with Emily was any indication, however, Caroline chose to take it as a positive sign…even if her husband hadn’t accompanied her.
“How kind of you,” Gideon said with a grin. “And your husband? How is he?” Caroline recognized something cautious and hopeful in his tone, though his pleasant expression did not waver.
There was a flicker in Emily’s blue eyes before she replied. “I hope you understand that his absence is no reflection on his opinion of you, Lord Swanleigh. He is coming to terms with a great deal of new information, and, by nature, he is not a very open man.”
Gideon nodded in understanding, though Caroline did not miss the momentary sadness in his eyes, the color of a dreary day. It made her heart ache.
Together, Caroline and Gideon saw Emily to the doorway and bade her farewell. They watched in silence as she descended the steps and turned down the street.
The butler handed over their hats and gloves. “The carriage is prepared, my lord.”
“Very good,” Gideon replied, all traces of his earlier melancholy evaporated as he turned to Caroline with a blindingly handsome smile and held out his arm to her. “Shall we?”
Castle Bray, theancient country seat of Gideon’s ancestors, was a remarkably well-kept structure whose foundations dated back nearly two centuries. Constructed of gray and brown stone, it was sturdy and made up in width what it lacked in height. The main wings were three stories tall, ending in red slate roofs and neat clusters of spiraled chimneys similar to those Caroline had seen in drawings of Hampton Court Palace. The grand entrance was the oldest part of the building, Gideon explained. It was crafted in the old fortress style, square with arrow slit windows and square turrets built into every corner. It reached nearly two stories higher than the rest of the building. With its enormousarched gateway and working portcullis, it wasn’t difficult to imagine the Bray men guarding England’s shores from this very place. In fact, it was precisely why the Swanleigh marquessate had been granted to his family; they and their land had played quite a role in English history.
And she was now one of them.
Caroline found it all more than charming. She was in utter awe of her new surroundings, the fairytale-esque nature of her new life. Despite its age, the most well-used rooms of the castle were beautifully appointed and more modern than she would have expected.
“Not every one of our homes is this well-kept, mind you,” Gideon cautioned her during the tour. “For all their faults, this property happened to be my grandfather and father’s favorite. I have merely kept up the tradition. There is something enchanting about it, isn’t there?”
“I think it’s just remarkable.” This was a place she could see herself relaxing. It was peaceful and secluded, but not too far from the excitement of London or the thrill of the coast. She might even picture herself entering confinement here.
To be sure, it was leaps and bounds better than anything she might have been able to coordinate on her own, and she knew she had Gideon to thank for that. She didn’t doubt that she would have figured something out, had he decided to allow her to retreat to the country and give birth on her own, but it most certainly would not have been anything like this! She was instantly, wholly in love with Bray Castle and, judging from Gideon’s knowing smile, he was quite pleased about it.
While the grounds were stunning and there were seemingly endless corners and corridors for her to explore, she guessed Gideon would be bored to tears in a few months. Before her pregnancy, she probably would have felt the same, but so much had changed. She did not know when it began, but she wassuddenly viewing everything differently. While she might miss the long, hard rides on the mare Gideon kept for her use, she was becoming just as excited about the thoughts of quiet picnics where she and her child could doze in the dappled sunlight. Spending her evenings laughing so loudly with her friends that they drew disapproving looks was being replaced by imagining what her child’s laughter would sound like.
She wondered how and if Gideon would change, too—not that she really wished for him to change; she was simply curious about how he would adapt to fatherhood. However, there was plenty of time for that yet. She’d once heard it said that a woman became a mother when she learned of her pregnancy, but a man became a father when he finally held his babe.
The image of Gideon cradling an infant in his strong arms was enough to make Caroline’s knees weak. She knew how gentle and tender he could be, and also how much power his body possessed. He knew precisely when to employ both.
She was lost in just that thought when Gideon entered the library and discovered her gathering wool. “I’ve always found that particular bit of wainscoting extremely interesting as well,” he remarked, mirth bubbling in his tone.
