AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Marissa could well believe it had not occurred to Marcus to write from Bristol. In her experience men rarely considered the problems of domestic arrangements and all that was involved in making a great house ready for its master. ‘What a delightful surprise for Nicole,’ she said.
Marcus turned in the saddle, blue eyes creased in amusement. ‘That is a very polite way of telling me I should have sent word from Bristol and that I have caused the household a great deal of work,’ he remarked. ‘I have no doubt that I will be due a severe scold from Miss Venables. Tell me, how should I best make my apologies?’ His smile was broad and white and quite shameless.
‘Southwood Hall stands ready for your lordship whenever you choose to arrive. But I can only apologise that the London house was so unprepared. As you will recall, Matthews is here at the Hall, and there is only a skeleton staff left in Town.’
‘No matter. I had no intention of setting everyone in a bustle for one night. I stayed at Fenton’s Hotel and was perfectly comfortable.’
Marissa was taken aback by such consideration for the servants. Her late husband would have expected to be able to walk into any of his establishments at any hour of the day and night and find all in perfect readiness and order.
‘And how is my sister? Has she led you a merry dance this past year? From her letters I have lived in daily expectation of a communication from you demanding that I remove her from your household immediately.’
Beside her the groom repressed a snort, bending over the reins to hide what she suspected was a broad grin. Nicci was a favourite with the servants who appeared to be enchanted by her friendly ways. They do not have to try and turn her into a young lady, Marissa thought ruefully.
‘It has been a pleasure to have her with us,’ she said repressively. What had Nicci been writing? ‘We have been living very quietly, of course. I can only hope Nicole has not been intolerably bored.’
Marcus did not reply, merely smiled. Nicci’s early letters had shown all the frustration to be expected from a lively young woman suddenly placed with strangers in a cold, new world of formality, but his sister had soon stopped bemoaning her life and gradually a picture of a happy trio of ladies had emerged. It had intrigued him to see Marissa through his sister’s innocent eyes. Nicci had written a few months ago:
I love her very much. She is kind and funny, but there is a great sadness at the heart of her which I do not understand. She never speaks of his late lordship, but it cannot be that she is missing him, surely, for he was very old…
Marcus had smiled wryly at the thought that a man of forty-five could be considered very old and could only assume his sister saw him, seventeen years younger than the Earl, as middle-aged.
‘There’s Lady Nicole now, ma’am,’ the groom said, pointing to the coast road where a small carriage had just turned out of the Vicarage drive.
‘My lord, please ride to meet your sister. I will join you at the Hall.’
Marcus urged the horse into a brisk canter and intercepted the carriage. Nicci’s shrieks of delight as she came tumbling out of the gig in a flurry of petticoats and flung herself at his horse were probably audible in the next parish, he thought.
He had dismounted by the time Marissa’s gig came up with them, and he was laughingly attempting to disentangle Nicci’s arms from around his neck before she throttled him.
They formed quite a procession on the way back to the Hall, Nicci leaning over the side of the gig bombarding her brother with questions as he rode alongside. Marissa shook her head in despair at the her behaviour but there was no hope of curbing it in her present state of excitement.
The baggage coach and the travelling carriage were pulling away from the front of the Hall as they drew up but the great doors stood open and the scene glimpsed through them resembled nothing so much as a disturbed anthill.
Jane, flanked by Matthews, stood in the centre of activity directing footmen and maidservants as they scurried to disperse the piles of baggage which stood heaped around. Marissa, following Marcus and Nicci up the steps, became aware of Whiting who was regarding two male strangers with an expression as near to horror on his well-schooled countenance as she had ever seen.
A dapper individual guarding a dressing case was doubtless his lordship’s valet but it was his companion who seemed to be causing Whiting’s discomfiture.
Marissa was not surprised. Judging by his immaculate clothing the man was an upper servant of some sort but the correctness of his dress was in shocking contrast to his appearance. Built like a prize-fighter, he was standing with folded arms, the upper muscles straining the cloth. His face, tanned like leather, was crossed by a wicked scar which bisected his eyebrow from temple to cheekbone leaving a slash as white in his cropped hair. Standing in the hallway surrounded by Classical perfection and the scurrying English servants he appeared foreign, dangerous and utterly out of place. In fact the only place where Marissa could envisage him looking at home was on the deck of a pirate ship.
Nicci, saw him, released her brother’s arm and with a shriek of ‘Jackson!’ threw herself into his arms to be enveloped in a bear-like hug. Jane’s eyebrows rose almost to her hairline at this behaviour, but before she could intervene Nicci was set firmly back on her feet and the man was admonishing her in a surprisingly cultured voice. ‘Lady Nicci, please conduct yourself with deco
rum. What will Miss Venables be thinking of you?’
To almost universal amazement Nicci lowered her eyes and said meekly, ‘Yes, Jackson, but I am so very pleased to see you, you know.’
‘Well, you can best show that by helping Miss Venables,’ the man said repressively, but there was a twinkle in his grey eyes.
Jane crossed the chequerboard tiles to Marcus. ‘My lord, welcome home to Southwood. It is a great pleasure to have you back amongst us.’
‘Thank you, Miss Venables.’ He smiled down at her over their clasped hands. ‘I must apologise for my lack of forethought in advising you of my arrival, but I see that the usual high standards here have not slipped.’ He nodded pleasantly at Matthews and Mr and Mrs Whiting. ‘Matthews, I would like a word with you this evening after dinner about the future domestic arrangements, meanwhile Jackson and Laurent will accompany me to my suite.’
‘Very good, my lord.’ Matthews bowed. ‘A cold collation is set out in the small dining room if you and the ladies would care to partake.’
‘Lady Longminster, if you would excuse me for half an hour to remove the dust of the road, I will join you shortly.’ Marcus was gone, his two servants at his heels.
Alone in the dining room, with the hubbub of the hall shut out, Nicci burst out, ‘Oh, I am so pleased that Marcus brought Jackson with him. I was so afraid he would leave him to look after the Jamaica estates.’
Jane fixed her with a gimlet stare from her position in one of the window seats. ‘And just who is this Jackson, if I might enquire?’
