Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

“ D euced awkward this morning!” Herbert said loudly, flinging himself into the chair in Stephen’s office without a further word of explanation and tilting his head back to look at the ceiling. “I say, are you going to be encouraging the lady Rapunzel to join us for breakfast or will she continue to cloister herself away from our dirty Wilkins eyes?”

It took Stephen a moment to catch up with what his brother was saying. This was not unusual. Herbert was an impetuous young man, always rushing into things head first, including conversations. It could be quite difficult to follow what he was saying. “I beg your pardon?”

“Your wife,” Herbert said, tipping forwards with a frown on his brow. “You must have noted she was not at the breakfasting table? We had a place set for her special or Diana would have been sat at your right like she usually is.”

Stephen raised an eyebrow at Herbert. He had been aware of Elizabeth’s absence like it burned him. Throughout breakfast he had been able to think of little else, of the fire in her eyes the last time they had spoken and the way they had left things. He had spent his night thinking on the feeling of her warm soft breasts under his hands and the way she had sounded when he kissed her - that soft breathless moan that had seemed to be torn from her lips.

However he did not see what business it was of his little brother.

God willing this would not become a habit. His business with his wife was not to become debated by his siblings at every turn. He would not stand for it.

“Perhaps she has no appetite in the morning,” he suggested calmly, frowning a little as Herbert spun to his feet and started to pace the room.

“That’s no excuse, Stephen, and you must know it. It’s a time for the family to gather together and make friendly, to talk through our day ahead and if my new lady sister will not be friendly with us then what are we to do with the matter?”

“I hardly think that one missed breakfast is proof that my wife intends no civility towards you -” Stephen was cut off as Selina swept into the room and sat in the chair that Herbert had just vacated.

“What are we talking about?” she asked briskly. “Elizabeth’s absence at breakfast? Good. I feel there is a lot to say about it.”

“See? Selina agrees with me!”

Herbert said this as if the two of them did not frequently agree with each other in ways that Stephen felt were intentionally engineered to bring him grey hairs and grief.

“If you are saying that we must do something about our new sister avoiding us, then yes I do!”

“Exactly, how are we to keep an eye on her and ensure that she is not plotting against the family if she’s always hiding in her room?”

“It is plain good manners to join the family at mealtimes,” Selina huffed, ignoring Herbert’s dramatics as Diana slipped into the room and patted him on the arm.

“I don’t know if a Barnes can manage good manners,” Herbert added. “I haven’t seen any evidence of them in the rest of the family.”

“I think the Duchess might be made of nothing but good manners,” Diana said thoughtfully, her soft gentle voice making the statement less sharp and more amusing.

Selina smiled a little. “That’s certainly true. However the rest of them are as bad as each other. I am sure I am going to have to box young Lord Barnes around the ears one of these days, he is always talking such incredible rubbish.”

“Quite,” Herbert said. “And now we don’t just have to deal with it outside of the home but within it as well!”

Stephen wondered if his wife was indeed avoiding the family or if she were simply tired after their exciting evening the previous day.

He had thought that maybe the moment might have been soured by what happened afterwards, but in the light of day he was surprised to find that he held nothing in his heart but respect for Elizabeth. Whatever had happened that she had not been pleased by, she had been bold and brave enough to defend herself. He liked that.

He would be happy to wait until she wanted him to touch her again and he had a suspicion that it might not take too long for that to happen.

“Well, Stephen? What are you going to do about it? Or shall I do something?” Selina made a movement as if to get up and Diana looked alarmed while Herbert looked delighted.

“I think not,” Stephen said quickly. He loved Selina dearly, she was an intelligent young woman who had long held that the feud between the families was foolishness. It was a position that Stephen suspected was used to cover up how deathly afraid she was for their safety. She was fierce and strong and loyal but she was not tactful and anything she said to Elizabeth would become a war. “I do not see why you are both so concerned over one missed breakfast. If it were to become a pattern then maybe there would be cause to worry, but as it is I believe there is no harm in a lady lying abed on the day after her wedding.”

Selina frowned, unconvinced and Herbert folded his arms. Only Diana looked open to his words.

“We have her under our roof here, Stephen,” Herbert said earnestly. “We don’t know anything about her, no one has ever even heard of her and she’s a Barnes! She hates us just like her family does. I don’t like having her here, especially if she’s not going to even pretend at friendship.”

“I feel the same,” Selina said firmly. “I will not forget the harm her family has done to ours. There’s a peace, and I respect that. But all that history is not simply washed away because she has changed her name.”

“Enough of this,” Stephen said severely, his tone stern. “I will not have you speaking like this about my wife. Elizabeth is the Duchess of Westall now, she is my spouse and you must all remember this and respect it. I will listen to reasonable concerns and objections but this speculation and gossip has no place in our home. Do you understand me?”

When Stephen had been barely seven and ten, just finished with university and full of all the passion of youth he had been forced to return home in a rush to a dead father and dying mother. Since then he had raised his siblings, run his estate and built a reputation that protected them all.

When he spoke, they listened. Now was no different. Herbert nodded mulishly and Selina frowned but didn’t argue which was as good as he was going to achieve with her.

“Now,” he said. “Go about your days. I have a great deal to work on. I will see you at luncheon.”

It was a little later in the morning when Stephen laid down his quill and massaged at his temples. No matter how much he needed to concentrate on the expenses and profits report from his solicitors he was struggling to focus.

No matter how much he might have stood against his siblings on the matter, he could not deny that having them and his wife stay estranged would do no good to the hard fought for and barely won truce that the wedding had been intended to create.

If she continued to avoid his brother and sisters it would only breed suspicion and resentment in them. On the happenstance that she was not intending to cause insult their changing manner towards her would in turn cause her own feelings of resentment to breed like a terrible endless cycle and one that he must be responsible for ending.

He rubbed at his eyes and wished, not for the first time, that he could ask his father’s advice. The previous Duke of Westall had been a quiet serious man who had seemed to manage everything about the estate with a deftness that Stephen both envied and desired. Perhaps it was how young they had all been when their father had been stolen from them by Albert Barnes, but it had truly felt as though he were infallible.

Stephen wondered what he might say if he knew how his eldest son had gone about ending the age-old feud.

Perhaps he would be proud, perhaps not. Either way Stephen would not and could not regret his actions. He would see no more duels, no more death, no more disaster. The truce would last, the peace would live even if he had to shut up his siblings and his wife in a room until they were friends!

With that in mind he stood briskly from his desk and strode from the room. It was pointless to pursue his work further until he had taken steps to suit action to plan.

As he walked briskly through the halls he caught a glimpse of a woman’s figure in the distance and knew immediately it must be Elizabeth. She was walking with her young maid, their heads bent together - the golden hair of his wife contrasted against the dark locks of the maid.

They were so caught up in conversation that they did not see him approaching until he was nearly upon them and he was able to see them laughing and hear their light conversation.

“Ah Your Grace, but you cannot be surprised by it. All such places have them - and you will get used to them soon enough.”

“I cannot countenance that, Sally. They are such loud creatures. I shall be hearing that unsettling cry in my sleep, I am sure of it!”

“There’s no doubt that you shall, Your Grace, but more likely because they will be calling to each other on the grounds and not because of any nightmares. I hear that His Grace, the Duke of Rosenburg, was intending on getting some peacocks soon, but I doubt that they will be able to out-scream your sisters of a morning.”

Elizabeth smiled, bright and amused - an expression that was so strikingly new to Stephen that he darted forwards and called her name.

She looked up and her face fell into a cold, polite expression as she and her maid curtseyed. “Your Grace.”

“Come now, surely we are less formal than this by now, Elizabeth,” Stephen said. He felt disappointed to see her smile go and illogically angry at her for making him feel something so absurd. Did he really want her to smile at him so badly? “Good morrow to you. I have come to ask why you did not attend breakfast with the family.”

She flushed a little and he was pleased to see it. He knew exactly what she was thinking about, the moment on the bed where his hand was placed across her breast and his mouth on her neck and she writhed beneath him for more.

It was good to see that he could affect her as much as she was affecting him.

“Forgive me,” she said, frowning a little. “I did not know I was allowed to attend.”

It was so strange an answer that Stephen did not immediately reply and she hurried to fill the silence, her cheeks darkening in color as she avoided his gaze.

“I have not been abed all morning, however. I spoke to your housekeeper, Mrs. Pugh, and she has shown me about the estate so I can better understand my new home since I did not receive a tour yesterday.”

This was clearly a reproval aimed at himself and Stephen frowned at her. He had barely had time to deal with all the matter pertaining to the wedding, let alone showing her around the estate. He had meant to do it today, and would be having words with Mrs. Pugh about taking on the duties in his stead. “I trust you are satisfied with the place? Apart from the peacocks apparently?”

She blinked in surprise, then seemed to realize he had heard at least part of her conversation with her maid. “I cannot imagine becoming fond of the creatures, they seem angry and loud and extraordinarily tuneless, like a child trying to play the trumpet.”

“It’s not a bad comparison,” he allowed. “I expect that you have not yet seen them display their beautiful tails. The male peacocks do so to tell the lady of their desire that they are interested in them.”

Their eyes met and hers slid away from his.

“The rest of the estate is very beautiful,” she said simply, and he was a little disappointed at the lack of fire in her tone. “I am sure I will get lost for a while to come, there are so many rooms.”

“You will get used to it,” he said briskly. “And in future if you have any questions about it you are to come to me, do you understand?”

“Is that an order, Your Grace?” she asked, a little of the fire reentering her gaze.

“If you follow orders,” he said. “I have seen little evidence to the fact.”

She huffed crossly and folded her hands. “I can understand simple instructions, I’m sure.”

“Then understand this,” he said, stepping a little closer to her and watching her eyes swing up to fix on his face. There was a color now on her cheeks, color that reminded him of how she flushed in pleasure, how she moved beneath him. “I will have you at breakfast with the family every morning from now on starting with tomorrow. It is not optional.”

She blinked, her eyes big with surprise. “If that is what you want.”

“It is,” he said. He wanted many things from her, but he walked on before he could be tempted to tell her them.