“Don’t be late for dinner!” Matthew called out as they walked away.
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Jasmine weaved her arm into Cassandra’s when they reached the top of the stone stairs. With an appreciative and dreamy exhale, she hummed. “The food here is divine. Everything is fresh. Most of the food is grown in the glasshouse or hunted in the forest. And the chef! Mama has already threatened to poach him and the rest of the kitchen staff.”
“Do you think she could afford them?” The grit on Cassandra’s shoe grated against polished marble flooring as Jasmine tugged her into the foyer and onto crimson carpets that led to a winding grand staircase with mahogany banisters.
Jasmine shuddered. “She would need to sell half of her reserve.”
There was nothing more that Aunt Valentine loved than a strong amontillado and never held herself back from indulging.“You don’t say ‘no, thank you’ to wine, darling. The correct answer is always ‘yes, please.’”The rumor throughout thetonwas that the Marchioness had a private reserve of Spanish wine that could have drowned half of London, but Cassandra had seen it for herself and knew it to be untrue. Aunt Valentine’s reserve could have drownedallof London, twice over.
“Perish the thought.” Cassandra looked around, expecting to see the matron in the hall. “Where is she?”
“In a card room, forming opinions. She is primed for matchmaking.” Jasmine groaned. “She’s most displeased that I haven’t found a husband. It’s unbearable. It isn’t through lack of trying! I’ve hadfivemarriage proposals, but they were all so tedious. Would it be too much to ask to have a meaningful conversation from time to time? Lord Hereford was dreadfully dull. During one conversation, Iactuallyfell asleep!”
The walls displayed oil paintings of generations of Hollingsworth men in military uniforms, each with the same black hair, blue eyes, and square features. Stout and authoritative, they scowled down atthem as they walked. Between the portraits, artistic renditions depicted men on horseback with raised rifles and snarling dogs, frozen in time, the object of their pursuit forever outside of their golden frames.
Around her, light slashed against the walls in jagged lines from the chandelier above. Barbed and clawed antlers melded together in a tangle, as if dozens of stags had come together to battle to the death and all of them had lost.
Jasmine continued chatting as she led them up the stairs and onto the second floor. “Mama tells me that I’m too particular. As if that’s a bad thing! Why shouldn’t I be particular with the man that I’ll be spending the rest of my life with? Not someone so old that I’ll be a widow before I’m thirty. And Lord Ipswich smelled of stewed cabbage. That isn’t something I’m willing to tolerate, nor should anyone. What’s worse is that she’s considering gentlemen in Spain.Spain! She may as well ship me off to the moon!”
Cassandra crinkled her nose. Would she be able to live with a man that smelled of cabbage? The thought of being an early widow didn’t appeal to her either. No, she would need a husband young enough that they could raise their children together, at least until school age. And Spain? Could she move to another country? She created a list ofstandardsas Matthew had so eloquently put it and addedEnglishandno man who smells like stewed vegetablesto the list underpeer,wealthy, reasonably good health and temperament, between the ages of twenty-one and fifty.
“That’s another reason that I’m happy that you’re here,” Jasmine sang. “She will have to split her attentions between us, and I’ll finally be able to breathe.”
“I will happily take all of her attentions. I’ll keep her so busy that she won’t have time to fuss over you,” Cassandra vowed. “This is the year for me. It has to be.”
“You’re a loyal friend, Cassandra Cooper, and I like thedetermination.” Jasmine nudged her side with her elbow. “You know Mama will be up to the challenge. Tomorrow morning she’ll have a list and a battle plan, you wait and see. Oh! I was supposed to be giving you a tour!” She gave her a sheepish expression and waved her hand in the air. “Tomorrow, after breakfast, I promise.”
Cassandra rolled her eyes, but smiled.
“We have been taking tea in the main sitting room downstairs. There are four on each floor, though I would not recommend the one closest to your bedchamber. Not only is it a canary yellow so overwhelming that you’ll want to pluck your eyes out, but Lady Samantha has been frequenting it all day with her gaggle of geese.”
“Lady Samantha always makes me want to pluck my eyes out, it doesn’t matter what the room looks like.”
The blonde-haired, blue-eyed debutante never failed to have a cutting remark, followed by a chorus of catty giggles from her cronies. “I adore your dress, Miss Cooper.Was it your grandmother’s? You’re so brave to have worn it twice. We could all take a page from your book. Isn’t that right, ladies?”
“We’re going to walk by and not look into the room,” Jasmine whispered, ducking her head, eyes twinkling. “In case Medusa rears her ugly head and petrifies us both.”
Jasmine was right. The room truly was the most horrid shade of yellow that her eyes hurt. Cassandra wondered how painful it would be in full daylight, but had no intentions of finding out. As luck would have it, Lady Samantha wasn’t in the room, but Cassandra couldn’t spend the next week avoiding her. She would have to face her, eventually.
But not yet.
Moving down the hall, Jasmine stopped next to a set of double doors.
“I almost don’t want to show you this, because I’ll have a hard timepulling you from it,” Jasmine said before opening the door. The musty scent of old parchment and book dust greeted Cassandra. A fiery orange glow from the sunset illuminated floor-to-ceiling bookshelves on either side of the vaulted room. Stepping inside the library, she trailed her fingers along a row of leather-backed books, reading titles as she went.15th Century Philosophers, Advanced Calculus Vol 5., The Misadventures of Miss Moffet and Muffins.A children’s book? She couldn’t imagine children roaming these particular halls. Her fingernail snagged onPractical Botany: The Natural Cures Around You.
“You’re right.” Cassandra pulled it from the shelf and opened the cover tenderly. “I already don’t want to leave.”
Jasmine shifted her weight to one foot and placed a hand on her hip. “Put it back, before you ruin it. Opening ceremonies will begin in a few hours, and there will be a ball tonight. You’ll need a bath before dinner.” Jasmine looked her over, taking in her travel-worn appearance. “It’ll take every minute of that to get you presentable.”
Jasmine stopped only one door away from the servants’ staircase at the end of the hall.
“Your brother’s bedchamber should be the one next door. I’ll give you some time to yourself, meet me near the staircase at a quarter to eight, and Mama and I will escort you to dinner.”
Cassandra opened the door and stepped into the most spacious bedchamber she had ever seen. A large canopy bed pressed against the wall, draped in luxurious black silk, with carvings of trees and bears adorning the mahogany support beams. The room housed a large mirror vanity,twoarmoires, and a marble washstand on the opposite side of the room. She marveled at her living quarters in disbelief.
Was she truly to spend the next week in such opulence?
“Cassandra?”
