Fourteen.

T he morning Jared took his intended and her retinue to Broderick Abbey pa.s.sed quickly-they wereonly a half hour away from his home when Jared realized it, he'd been so lost in thought.

He glanced at Ava and her sister, both of whom had slipped into naps when their idle chatter could no longer sustain the three of them, being the strangers they really were. It had occurred to him, on the long ride home, that he did hold some affection for Ava-but the thought of marrying her still shocked him. It seemed quite unreal to him that he was on the verge of committing himself for all time, and moreover, to a woman he scarcely knew. In spite of being attracted to her, in spite of the way she appealed to him in some primal way, he could not help feeling trapped. He was about to be chained forever to a life he did not want and had never sought until his father had forced it on him.

The carriage turned up a familiar, tree-lined road that led to the abbey entrance. This was the point in the journey Jared normally felt a sense of peace wash over him. His estate was the one place on earth he was free of his father's criticism, the one place he was free to live as he pleased. Today, however, he felt nothing but a sense of dread, almost as if his father had somehow managed to invade Broderick Abbey.

Another mile and the road widened beneath tall, towering oak trees, meticulously manicured, which provided a dramatic entrance to the abbey grounds. What was left of the medieval abbey had been

swallowed up by Georgian architecture; his home stretched long on either side of what had been the abbey, four stories high and U-shaped around lawns and gardens that were the envy of many a n.o.bleman.

Jared nudged Ava; her eyes fluttered open and she smiled sleepily, pushed herself up, and yawned as she stretched her back like a cat.

"We are home," he said, surrept.i.tiously admiring her slender form as she stretched.

"Home," she repeated dreamily-but then her eyes sparked. "Broderick Abbey?" she asked excitedly, and leaned across her sister to see out the window.

The forest was thick along the road. It was a fact that Broderick Abbey had some of the finest hunting in all of England, and it was precisely because Jared had kept the forests as pristine as possible. The coach rounded a corner, and the lake came into view, stocked with trout and pike. On the far end of the lake, he could see a part of the herd of cattle he raised at Broderick Abbey. It was ironic, really, for the Broderick fortune had been made on sheep trading in Europe centuries ago.

His father still raised sheep on his estate; Jared raised cattle.

"What's that?" Ava asked as Phoebe roused from her nap and joined Ava in looking out the window. She was pointing at the old Bridget Castle ruins that still marked a hill on his estate.

"That was once the home of my mother's ancestors. They were ousted by the Yorks." He glanced at the ruins and saw a young boy atop a mound of rocks, waving as the coach sped by, and felt his heart skip a beat.

Ava laughed with the enthusiasm of a young girl at a circus as they rolled past fields where workers were cutting hay, stone cisterns used to store rainwater, more cattle, a few sheep, and stacks of hay. "Perhaps I should have asked after your family history, sir, for my father's family ancestors were on the side of the Lancasters," she said, referring to the medieval Wars of the Roses. "I hadn'

t-oh!" she exclaimed, losing her train of thought as the stone gates marking the entrance to the grounds of Broderick Abbey came into view.

He supposed that there were any number of things they should have asked one another before coming here.

"Oh, Ava," Phoebe said reverently. "It's beautiful." A few moments later, they sailed through the gates and around a stand of trees, pulling to a halt in front of the ivy-covered arched entry that led into a small garden courtyard before the main entry.

The carriage rumbled to a halt, then listed slightly as the footmen clambered down. Jared leaned forward to see through to the courtyard and the double oak doors of the entry as they swung open. As the footmen put a bench down and opened the door of the coach, a string of servants came running out of the house, the women in the familiar gray gowns and white ap.r.o.ns, the men in standard Broderick livery of black and gold. And of course, his butler, Dawson, who was quickly lining up the staff by rank to greet the marquis and the woman who would be his wife and their mistress.

A footman from the house stepped in front of one covered by the grime of the road and held up his hand to Ava. She hesitated slightly, glanced at Jared as Phoebe helped her on with her coat, then shifted her gaze to the a.s.sembled servants, who were all peering around one another to see her. With a noticeable draw of breath, she gave her hand to the footman and stepped down. And she proceeded to shake out the skirts of her traveling gown, avoiding the curious gazes of the staff as she waited for Jared.

He followed Phoebe out and offered Ava his arm. She glanced up, to his neckcloth, before lifting her gaze to his, where he could see the consternation in her eyes. He understood her uneasiness-it was a big house with a big staff, much larger than what he a.s.sumed she was accustomed to. He gave her what he hoped was a rea.s.suring smile. "I have long admired your courage. Do not let it desert you now," he urged her, and dipped his head to see her better, nodding almost indiscernibly to the staff. "They will certainly respect you more if you show them no fear."

Lady Ava pressed her lips firmly together. "Right you are," she muttered, then gave him a resolute nod and put a hand on his arm. He led her into the courtyard, where he began the introductions to her new staff by introducing her to his butler. "Lady Ava Fairchild," he said, "please allow me to introduce you to my butler, Mr. Dawson."

Dawson instantly bowed at the waist, and Ava extended her hand. "I've heard quite a lot of good things about you, and it is my great pleasure to make your acquaintance."

b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l if old Dawson didn't look a bit surprised. He was accustomed to people like Miranda, who had a bad habit of sweeping past him as if he did not exist. The butler smiled at Ava and inclined his head. "The pleasure, my lady, is most a.s.suredly mine."

"You'll show me about, will you, Mr. Dawson? The abbey is overwhelmingly enormous, and I am certain I shall be lost."

"It shall be an honor," Dawson said, clearly pleased to be asked.

Jared next turned to Miss Hillier, his erstwhile housekeeper, and once, a long time ago, his nursemaid. Miss Hillier smiled warmly, as if she wanted to take him in her arms like a mother. In truth, she had been the only mother he'd known for the first ten years of his life. Unfortunately, Miss Hillier still had a tendency to be too motherly.

Jared put his hand on the small of Ava's back. "Lady Ava, my fiancee," he said, and to Ava, "Allow me to introduce Miss Hillier, our housekeeper."

Miss Hillier turned a beaming smile to her new mistress. "Oh my, how lovely you are, my lady."

Ava blushed self-consciously. "I am very pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss Hillier. I shall need your expert a.s.sistance to guide me through my duties as mistress of such a very grand house."

And on down the line they went, meeting the staff that kept Broderick Abbey functioning. The footmen, the housemaids. The cook and scullery maids. The groundsmen, including the gardener and his men, and the stable hands, the game manager. There were three dozen of them, a veritable army.

And Ava greeted each and every one with a word and what seemed like an honest expression of interest in what they did. Moreover, Jared noticed, she touched their hands, their elbows, their shoulders, looked them squarely in the eye and smiled. It was no wonder that the staff members were all gazing rather approvingly at his intended bride, for which, Jared realized, he was relieved and pleased. Broderick Abbey was his treasure; the staff and their satisfaction with their employment were important to him. He had not realized how important until this moment.

They proceeded inside, with several of the staff running ahead to open rooms for his inspection. Dawson instructed two footmen to have their trunks brought in, and the cook to have the tea readied.

"Miss Hillier, if you will please show the ladies to their suite of rooms," Jared said as they entered the foyer and he helped Ava remove her pelisse. "When they are ready, I shall meet them for luncheon in the west dining room."

"Very good, my lord." Miss Hillier gestured for Ava and Phoebe to come along.

With another anxious glance at Jared over her shoulder, Ava, in the company of her sister, who had yet to take her eyes from the walls and ceiling, dutifully followed Miss Hillier, taking in the surroundings as they went.

Jared handed his hat to Dawson.

"If I may, my lord?" Dawson asked.

"Yes?"

"Felicitations on your upcoming nuptials. She's bonny, if you don't mind me saying."

A small smile crept across Jared's mouth. "She is indeed. Thank you, Dawson. Have a mount saddled, will you?"

"At once, my lord," Dawson said, and with a glance to a footman, sent the man running.

Jared followed the footman out and down the drive, walking slowly to the stables. While he waited, he leaned heavily against a post and put his hand to his forehead. He was feeling this sea change in his life more acutely now that they were here, in his home. His decision was beginning to feel truly unalterable.

Perhaps he was only exhausted-the Lord knew he hadn't slept at all this week, his mind racing around his whirlwind marriage, those disturbing feelings of being trapped. But he was also feeling wildly empty, as if all his normal thoughts and emotions had deserted him, leaving a void for new, wild thoughts and unfamiliar emotions to fill.

What he wanted was for nothing to change with the singular exception of siring a legitimate son.

Everything else he wished to remain the same. That was, he realized with sickening dread, an impossibility given the vows he would take in a matter of days.

A stableman appeared with a young mare. "I beg your pardon my lord, but she's not your usual-"

"She'll do," he said, reaching for the bridle.

"She's a bit green, sir," the stableman tried again.

Jared looked the young mare in the eye. The horse stared back at him with a wildness that mirrored what he felt deep inside himself. "Excellent," he said, and fit his foot in the stirrup and swung up. The horse reacted skittishly, pushing and pulling, trying to get out from beneath him. Jared squeezed his thighs against her. "Steady, old girl," he said soothingly, "steady."

The mare was in no mood to steady herself and bolted for the paddock gate, trying yet to dislodge him. It took all the strength Jared had to hold her, but the moment they cleared the paddock gate, he let her go and held on, every muscle tensed with the effort to keep his seat.

The horse was green, but she couldn't possibly be half as wild as he felt inside. As she raced along, he began to feel that perhaps he could outrun the invisible beast that was pursuing him. But as they approached a stone fence, Jared knew a moment of fear. He didn't know her, didn't know if she would clear the fence or balk. But it was too late to pull up, so he leaned low over her neck, gripped the reins, and closed his eyes.

She stumbled, and his heart dropped...but then he felt the horse rise up, and felt the two of them soar.

Miss Hillier gave Ava and Phoebe a quick tour of the main living area of the house before taking them up to what would be Ava's suite. "The ladies' rooms are just here," she said, moving through a grand sitting room and into a suite of rooms that consisted of a bedroom the size of the Downey salon, a sitting room full of silk-covered chaise longues and cherrywood furnishings, a dressing room, and a bathing room with porcelain fixtures. The walls in the suite were painted pale green and the elaborate crown moldings and paper friezes that adorned the ceilings were painted in creamy white.

Ava put aside her reticule and took in her grand surroundings as Miss Hillier walked around, pointing out various features. The bellpull. The brazier, should the fireplace not provide enough warmth. The linens storage, the vanity.

When two footmen appeared with their trunks, Miss Hillier chattered away, directing them left and right, and Ava wandered to one set of expansive windows overlooking a lush green lawn and a very large fountain. She'd never lived in anything so grand. Not even Bingley Hall, for all its splendor, could be counted in the cla.s.s of Broderick Abbey, and that fact intimidated her on some level. When she'd set out to improve her family's station in life, she'd not imagined this sort of wealth.

As she stood there, gazing absently at the beautiful landscape, she noticed a movement-a lone rider.

"His lordship doesn't have a set time for supper. Would you care to set one, madam?" Miss Hillier asked.

"I don't know-I should speak with him, I suppose," Ava responded, distracted, as the rider rode full-bore for a stone fence.

"He's rather unconventional in that regard," Miss Hillier said with an airy laugh. "Always has been."

Ava didn't respond-her pulse quickened as she realized it was Middleton who rode so recklessly for the fence.

"Never been one to stand on custom, not since he was a wee lad."

"You've known him that long?" Phoebe asked as Middleton came to the fence. Ava felt his recklessness in her veins, felt the split second during which the horse might have balked, killing him. The horse stumbled; she closed her eyes, then quickly opened them in time to see the horse come down on the other side of the fence and crash into the forest, Middleton's riding coat waving out behind him.

"Oh yes, indeed. I was his nursemaid."Ava drew a steadying breath. And another. From what, or to what, do you run?"Very well, then, it looks as if all is in order. Is there something else I might do for you, Lady Ava?"Hire a chaise, send me back to London. Ava turned and smiled at the housekeeper. "No...no, thank you."Miss Hillier nodded and began to move."There is one thing," Ava said, stopping Miss Hillier's march."Yes, madam?""Where might the master's suite be?""Just in there," she said, nodding to her right. "His dressing room adjoins yours." Ava and Phoebe exchanged a look to which Miss Hillier clucked her tongue. "You needn't fret at the impropriety of it, mylady. His lordship will reside in another part of the house until you are wed.""Ah," Ava said, surprisingly relieved. "Thank you.""Will that be all?"

"Yes, thank you."

Miss Hillier gave them a happy smile and bustled out, pausing only to straighten some linen towels on an etagere before sailing through the door and closing it soundly behind her.

When she left, Phoebe turned around and fell on the bed with a squeal. "My G.o.d!" she exclaimed. "

Have you ever seen a place so grand?"Ava looked around the room and shook her head. "No. Never." She felt almost triumphant. She'd doneit-she'd hunted and bagged one of the most sought after bachelors in all of England. Good Lord, she'deven be a d.u.c.h.ess one day.

So why, then, did she feel so vulnerable? Was it because he rode so recklessly away from the house?

Was it because she was on the verge of being wife to a man she knew so little about? And one day mother to his child? Ava longed for her mother-she would have laughed at Ava's fears and pushed her out the door with a reminder that after her wifely duties were all said and done, she might have any bauble she wished, and to certainly ask for an expensive one.

Ava lifted her head. She could almost hear her mother. "You've made your bed, young lady. Now you

shall lie in it. But what a scrumptious bed it is, darling."

There was nothing to be done for it-Ava had made her bed, had connived and schemed to make it. So now it would seem she most definitely would lie in it.

It was a rather delicious bed.

"Come on," she said, playfully slapping Phoebe's knee. "Let us prepare ourselves for 'luncheon,' " she said, mimicking Miss Hillier.

Fifteen.

O ver the next two days, so many people arrived at Broderick Abbey that Ava rarely saw her betrothed, save at mealtime, and even then, they were surrounded by family and friends. After supper, the ladies would retire to a sitting room so that Lady Purnam might regale them with tales of what was to be expected of a good bride (deference at all times seemed to be the sum of it), and the men would retire all the way to the village of Broderick, from which they would return in the wee hours of the morning, well into their cups.

Ava knew this because Middleton and his two good friends, Stanhope and Harrison, were possessed of a desire to sing a song to her beneath her window, so loudly and so poorly that they woke the entire house.

Nevertheless, Ava was happy-Broderick Abbey was so elegant, and the grounds so beautiful. She would very much enjoy being mistress here, and more than once, she had to pinch herself to make sure it was real. What had once been fantasy was alarmingly real, and she was absolutely giddy about her accomplishment.

On the day before her wedding, Lucille Pennebacker arrived, and she and Lady Purnam immediately began to compete with one another in instructing Ava on the proper direction of her large household staff, much to Miss Hillier's considerable and obvious chagrin.

That did not dampen Ava's spirits. She and Phoebe privately laughed at the battle of three strong wills.Even the duke's arrival on the eve of her wedding, which cast a pall over the festive atmosphere, didnothing to sober her. In fact, nothing sobered her until the moment she was to take her vows.

The wedding ceremony took place promptly at nine o'clock Friday morning. Ava wore a gown of pale rose satin. It pleased her enormously that the man who would be her husband seemed suitably impressed with her appearance; as they gathered outside the chapel, one brow arched high above the other as he took her in, head to toe. He took her hand, kissed her lips to the delight of the servants and grounds people gathered, and said, "You are indeed the loveliest bride I've ever had the pleasure to see."

The compliment sent a shiver down Ava's back and made her feel a little flush with pride.

"Are you quite ready?" he asked.

She laughed. "Are you?"

He seemed to consider the question for a moment. "I suppose I am," he said, and smiled at her. "Shall we carry on, Lady Ava?"