He sighed, his disappointment obvious, and turned back to Patrick. “My father and I have never gotten along very well. He never had much use for me, after my mother died.”
Patrick shared a swift pained look with his mother, and then placed his broad hand on Dylan’s shoulder. “Don’t fash yerself, lad. Come along. I’ll show you some of the changes I’ve made these past twenty years. There’s much I’d like your opinion of.”
Dylan glanced over his shoulder at Natalia. “Will you be all right with Mrs. Macpherson? Perhaps she can give you a tour of the old place.”
Natalia nodded. “I’ll be fine.” In truth, she was grateful to have a few moments to collect her thoughts. She hadn’t forgotten the promise she’d made to him on their wedding night. He obviously hadn’t forgotten it either.
The two men departed through the open door and walked back to the coach side by side. Once again, their similarity struck her. They were the same height and had the same muscular build. Amazingly beautiful men, she thought with a sigh.
Mrs. Macpherson seemed to be thinking similarly; as she watched, her face shimmered with wistful yearning. She finally turned to Natalia. “Come with me, lass. I’ll show you the rest of the house.”
“That would be lovely.” Natalia hoped the bedchambers were as charming as the great hall. She followed the old woman through the dining area and into a large, surprisingly modern kitchen, which was also on the first floor. She didn’t know much about kitchens, having rarely even entered one, but it looked well equipped and sparkled with cleanliness.
“You’ve been taking care of this great big house all by yourself?” she asked, as they ascended a set of wide spiral stone steps toward the upper levels.
Mrs. Macpherson scurried up the stairs with the speed of a woman half her age. “My Patrick helps, of course. When he’s not taking care of the gardens and the tenants.”
“The tenants?” Natalia grew more impressed with Dylan’s caretakers by the moment.
“Our dear Dylan owns all the land hereabouts. There’s a small settlement over the ridge. Good people, mostly. We haven’t had a bit of trouble with them paying their rents. Patrick goes to Edinburgh once a year to deposit the sums.”
With Dylan having been such an absentee landlord, the Macphersons could have easily let the place go and skimmed the profits for themselves. But they seemed to care for Dylan and were strangely eager to please him.
“We’ll have to see about getting you some help, perhaps a cook or a maid,” Natalia mused, as she hurried to keep up.
Mrs. Macpherson cast her a grateful glance. “I am gettin’ up in years. A little help would be greatly appreciated. I can think of several village lasses who would do just fine.”Lasses.They were certainly informal around Aldabaran. Even Natalia had been addressed as lass. Still, she couldn’t work up the energy to be insulted. In fact, she rather preferred the informal atmosphere. At the duke’s home, no servant would even dream of meeting an aristocrat’s eyes, let alone addressing one with such familiarity.
Mrs. Macpherson led her up yet another flight of stairs. A large library, which doubled as an office, and a cozy sitting room comprised the second floor, while four large bedchambers and two antiquated bathrooms were on the third.
They briefly visited the servants’ quarters on the fourth floor. The Macphersons already occupied several rooms, but plenty of space remained for any others she might hire.
Huge, barren, and sunlit, the tower solar was the only part of the keep that hadn’t been renovated. Natalia strolled across the dusty wood floor and wondered how she could use it.
The tour complete, Mrs. Macpherson led her back down to the third floor for a closer inspection of the bedchambers.
Natalia wandered through the four rooms, amazed by their simple beauty. Two were decidedly feminine, one decorated in various shades of green, the other pale peach. There was also a master suite, which she assumed had belonged to Dylan’s grandfather.
The last room had obviously belonged to a little boy, Natalia stared at the fanciful paintings of jungle creatures on the walls and felt the strangest ache. One day very soon, her own child might fall asleep with lions and elephants watching over him.
“I’ll have the master bedchamber made up for you and your husband in no time, lass.” Mrs. Macpherson had let Natalia explore the rooms at her leisure, but now the old woman seemed anxious to get to work.
Despite the extra work it would cause the old woman, Natalia wasn’t brave enough to share a room with Dylan. She and her husband had come to a fragile truce, but in order to maintain it, she needed to keep him at a distance.
She would share her bed with him tonight, because she couldn’t think of any way out of the promise she’d made. But after she’d done her marital duty, she needed at least the illusion of privacy.
“I’d prefer to have my own bedchamber.” Seeing the old woman’s crestfallen face, she explained hurriedly, “I’ll air out the green bedchamber myself. You need only worry about the master suite.”
Mrs. Macpherson seemed a little mollified by the offer, but she continued to frown. “I’m grateful for the help, lass. And it’s a good choice. Dylan’s mother used that room when she was a girl, and then later, when she’d return for the summers, after she married that dreadful man.”
Only half listening, Natalia turned back to the green bedchamber, wondering where on earth she should start. She’d never cleaned her own room in her life.
Mrs. Macpherson stepped in front of her, shaking her head as she peered up into Natalia’s face. “Are you sure you don’t want stay in the master suite, lass? Dinna young Dylan say the two of you were newlyweds? Surely, you want to spend some extra time with the lad?”
“I’m afraid our marriage is one of convenience,” she told a woman in order to quash any romantic fantasy the woman might have.
“Ah. Highborn, are you, lass?”
“My father is a duke.” Natalia felt uncomfortable with the old woman’s curiosity but couldn’t see the harm in answering her questions.
