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Chapter 18
Two days later, they were rounding the drive to Winchester manor. Gabriel fidgeted in his seat. He hadn’t been on these premises for over a decade, and he’d spend another decade, or ten, without visiting it if he could help it. He peered out the window to see the dark brown exterior, the sun illuminating statues on the pediments of the main hall, and sighed. He remembered the place just as it was. Nothing seemed to have changed, and he was willing to wager his father hadn’t changed either.
Something else caught his attention, and he almost fell out of his seat.Carriages. Not one, not two, but several carriages were lined up in front of the main entrance. People were filing out of them and entering the mansion.
“That bastard,” he muttered.
Evie turned her attention from the window overlooking the hills and regarded him curiously. She hadn’t spoken for the past several hours. She nibbled on her ginger root from time to time and looked out the window. Somehow, he remembered their previous trip to be full of adventure and excitement. He’d completely forgotten how subdued she’d been inside the carriage.
Now she studied him across the carriage, a slight frown marring her brow. “Is something amiss?”
“Amiss?” He scoffed. “I should say so. That scheming son of a whore has organized a party in our honor, it seems. It’s another of his schemes to keep me longer on his estates, no doubt. I’ll be damned if it works.”
Evie’s face turned troubled, and he wished he hadn’t said what he did. “Would it be so very bad then if we spent a little more time here?”
Gabriel heaved a long-suffering sigh. “I suppose not,” he grumbled at last. “I just really would rather avoid my father’s company as much as possible.”
“Oh, no!” Evie exclaimed, looking out the same window as he. “So many people!”
Finally, she was getting the predicament they were in.
“I didn’t bring my ball gowns.” She looked so forlorn he wanted to laugh.
Gowns,of course. The diamond of thetoncould not be caught dead wearing the same thing twice among polite society, could she? And he supposed by her light valise that she hadn’t brought more than four. “I wish I would have known about it beforehand. I would have packed accordingly. Why didn’t your father tell you that there were going to be guests and perhaps a ball?”
“Because, my pet, he knew that I wouldn’t have come if I’d known this to be the case.”
“Why not?”
Gabriel grimaced. “I am not on the best terms with my sire, I am afraid. I haven’t spent much time here since I was a child, and I am not looking forward to it either.”
“We can’t leave early now that the entiretonhas arrived at the house party, which I assume is in our honor.”
“No, we can’t,” he agreed.Cunning bastard.
Gabriel alighted from the carriage as it stopped and helped Evie descend before turning toward the house. Gabriel was about to knock when the door opened and his father’s butler, Wilson, appeared on the doorstep.
“Master Gabriel.” He bowed low. “Pardon, I meant Lord St. Clare. And Lady St. Clare.” He bowed again before Evie.
“It’s the Duchess of Somerset, actually,” Gabriel corrected, took his wife’s arm, and led her up the steps. “I assume our chambers are prepared, Wilson?”
“Certainly, my lord.” Wilson bowed again, then snapped his fingers, and two strapping footmen appeared at his side. “Please show Lord St. Clare and Her Grace, the Duchess of Somerset, to their chambers. And bring their trunks in.”
They followed one of the servants up the stairs while another hurried to their carriage to get their valises. Evie was looking around in wide-eyed awe. The Winchester house was much more impressive than his townhouse lodgings, he had to agree. His father was an art collector, and one couldn’t make a step without seeing an exquisite painting or a marble statue of some sort. The walls were tall and gilded with gold, the ceilings painted with angels and cherubs in the Garden of Eden. Evie stumbled on the steps as she was staring at the ceiling, and Gabriel caught her swiftly, pressing her closer to him.
Evie giggled as she looked into his eyes. “This place is gorgeous. I wonder why you wouldn’t want to come here,” she said in a dreamy voice.
“The house itself has nothing to do with my reasons. I am glad you like it,” he said, looking ahead. “This will be your home one day.”
He felt her hand tense on his arm at his last words and wondered if she liked the idea of living here with him or if she would rather stay at her Peacehaven estate. He didn’t like this mansion. And he didn’t lie; it had nothing to do with the house itself, although he would rather avoid it. But if it made her happy, he’d move here in a heartbeat.
As they climbed to the second floor, they turned left into a wide corridor decorated with more paintings, plush ottomans, and benches placed at the walls, as if for people to sit there. Gabriel wondered if they had ever been used. He stopped at the door to his wife’s chambers and turned to Evie.
“These are your quarters, my lady,” he said with a slight bow. “If you need me, I shall be in the next room; it’s adjoined with yours.” He smirked at her raised brows, sketched a bow, and walked away. Sleeping in the room next to her would prove a trial to him, he knew.
* * *
Evie came downstairs on the arm of her husband an hour later, all freshened up and wearing a clean gown. None of the gowns she’d brought with her were fancy enough to entertain. Only one was fit for the supper table, but even that one was just serviceable and simple. She wore it in lieu of anything else and wondered how she would manage during the rest of the days of the party. She grimaced at the thought of wearing the same evening gown over and over again. No, she, who was known as the most fashionable lady of theton, couldn’t do that. Especially not at the party in her honor. She would die of embarrassment.
