Chapter 2

The carriage passed over a bridge that seemed to span a deep moat, rattled over wet cobblestones under a mossy stone arch, then crossed a courtyard and pulled up smartly at the foot of a flight of weathered stone steps. The ladies were handed ceremoniously down from the carriage by a pair of impressive footmen in black and silver livery, and looked about them curiously at the ancient ivy-covered buildings that surrounded them. As she set one elegantly shod foot on the cobbles, Lady Louisa staggered slightly, finding herself enveloped in a warm embrace by a whirlwind in human form: Lady Blanche, tall, plump and flushed, dark hair touched with grey, come out in flattering haste to greet her. ‘My dear Lou!' her hostess cried. ‘I am so happy to see you at long last! You have not altered one jot!'

Lou?mouthed her companions to each other, but then it was their turn to be welcomed. Their hostess drew them inside to take off their bonnets and pelisses, and pressed them to sit and take tea by the huge and welcome fire in the Castle's cavernous great hall. A regiment of servants bore away their outer clothing, and they were left alone with Lady Blanche. ‘I am sorry my brother and the rest of the family are not here to greet you,' she said, ‘but we could not be entirely sure of the hour of your arrival, and they have taken advantage of a break in the incessant rain to go out riding. My children are still quite new to the estate, and Gabriel is showing them around. He is ridiculously proud of the place, though I am sure one would not think it of him when he affects to care for nothing and nobody.'

While her aunt and her old schoolfriend exchanged reminiscences of people and events that meant little to her, Georgie looked about her in quick interest. She had grown up in a castle with medieval origins, and this was another such. But her home had been tamed, she thought now, by centuries of peace, and was set, besides, in the gentle countryside of Hampshire. Surrounding its towers and battlements were rolling landscaped acres, a man-made lake created by Capability Brown, a Grecian temple; not, as here, jagged cliffs, lonely beaches, and the wild North Sea. And the Pendleburys, her own people, were an old family by most people's standards, but the Mauleverers, the feudal lords and now Dukes of Northriding, were, she understood, older still, and had ruled this starkly beautiful country with a mailed fist since the Norman Conquest.

The difference was reflected inside the ancient building. This great room contained little that told an observer she was in the nineteenth century; massive oak furniture, faded hanging tapestries, burnished armour and weapons, smoke-blackened beams, all were perfectly and deliciously medieval. Even the pair of enormous grey wolfhounds slumbering by the mighty fireplace were in keeping, and might have stepped out of a poem by Mr Scott. It was undeniably impressive, even a little intimidating. The room's current inhabitants, thought Georgie, idly weaving a fantasy as the three older ladies chatted, were the interlopers here – not just her party, southerners as they were, but Lady Blanche too. Their modern dress was at odds with their surroundings – they should have been wearing fur-trimmed velvet gowns with long sweeping sleeves, and elaborate pointed hennin headdresses over shaved brows. But then, she mused, it would be foolish to forget that such times were harsh as well as romantic, and at the advanced age of nineteen she would presumably already have been a mother several times over. Or dead in childbirth.

She took herself mentally to task for wool-gathering, and returned her attention to the conversation around her. Lady Blanche was describing the other guests, who were, she explained, most of them currently taking tea in one of the sitting rooms in the more modern part of the Castle. ‘I am sure they are all excellent people in their way, and full of every accomplishment, but I do not find them uniformly sympathetic, Louisa, and I am excessively glad that you are all here to bear me company in my time of trial. For you must know,' she said, leaning forward a little and including Miss Spry and Georgiana in her confidences, ‘that my exasperating brother has at last been brought to see that he must marry, and I have therefore assembled the cream of feminine society – or so they plainly consider themselves to be, and I have no particular reason to disbelieve them – so that he may look at them, and they may look at him. Of course, you might with justice wonder why such an awkward exercise was not performed in London, during the season, rather than dragging half the ton up to the wilds of Yorkshire.'

‘I believe I can understand why. You had not until recently put off black gloves, had you, Blanche?' said Louisa softly.

Her friend sighed. ‘It is true, alas.' She turned to Georgie and said, with a sad little smile, ‘I had two brothers, but the younger, Ashby, was killed at Waterloo, and the next in line for the dukedom after him, our cousin John, who grew up here and was like another little brother to us, also took injuries there that he later died of. So after such heavy losses, Gabriel must reconcile himself to marriage, however much he has always said that he dislikes the idea, and I am returned from Ireland to help him. It is an onerous enough task, I do assure you.'

The ladies all murmured their condolences, and their hostess said in a brighter tone, as if deliberately shaking off lowering thoughts, ‘It must also be admitted that Northriding Castle and its surroundings will not appeal to everyone, even if we think it the finest place in the world. Therefore it is by no means a bad idea that any woman who fancies herself as Duchess should see what sort of bargain she is taking on. For Gabriel, as I have said, is excessively attached to the place, and will wish his children to be reared here, as we were.'

Georgiana found herself more than a little surprised that Lady Blanche should be so frank, and this must have been reflected on her face, for that lady said, ‘My dear Lady Georgiana, I would not speak so plainly to everyone, but you must know that I do not include you as one of the marriage party, as I term it. You and Miss Spry, and dear Louisa, are my guests, invited expressly by me, and you may be pleased to consider yourselves above the fray. My son Bram is a little older than you, I think, and my daughter Eleanor a little younger, and I hope you will grow to be fast friends and contrive to amuse each other. Please do not think that I have brought you here as one of the aspirants for my brother's hand; I am sure Louisa would never consent to such a cold-blooded plan, even if I had contemplated it for a second. Apart from any other considerations, I know the Pendleburys generally marry for love, and this can be no love match.'

‘Thank you for restoring my character, Blanche,' said Louisa drily. ‘I was saying as much in the carriage not half an hour since. I have no taste for matchmaking, but I have not the least objection to watching others' exertions in the field. Tell me, have you made any progress? Is any one of the horses in the race favoured over the others?'

Georgie did not doubt that Lady Blanche was about to answer this question with what appeared to be her habitual devastating frankness, but she was not to have the opportunity to do so. The dogs, which had been snoozing peacefully all the while, so that she had almost forgotten their presence, suddenly twitched, as at a sound only they could hear, and as suddenly were both fully alert, springing to their feet and rushing lithely to the great oak door that led to the courtyard, where they milled impatiently, letting out the odd excited bark. The massive portal opened, and several people in riding dress entered, in a great gust of cold air that made the fire waver and smoke billow into the hall for a moment. The dogs jumped about in ecstatic welcome, but were quelled by a firm word. The newcomers were a young man, pale and fine-featured, with dark auburn hair, a young lady of an appearance so similar that she must surely be his sister, and an older gentleman. He was perhaps in his early thirties, tall, well-built and coldly handsome, his long black locks streaked liberally with silver and his eyes of a similar unusual, striking shade. There could be no possible mistake. It was him. The Silver Duke.