Chapter Three

Dearest Hethersett,

I have arrived at Lyndhurst Grove, and I do believe I am about to face the greatest challenge of my organizational career. Lord Alden Godwin is one of the most charming, agreeable, and beautiful men I have ever met, if you do not mind my saying so, he has a fortune and comes from a fine, reputable family, but I truly am not certain whether he is remotely marriageable.

There are snakes involved.

I do not simply mean a snake or two that has slithered into the house from the garden either. Lord Alden is a herpetologist, and he has converted his entire ballroom into what he calls a terrarium. It houses hundreds of species of reptiles, amphibians, and birds from South America and the Caribbean. He has removed the floors so that he could plant trees and other native plants in Wessex soil, he has constructed a fountain that feeds a stream which runs through the room, and he has enclosed the entire thing in glass, like a hothouse.

I must confess, after my initial shock when one of his lizard specimens crawled up my arm to perch around my neck – I was terrified at first, but no harm came to me, and the thing was a rather pretty shade of green – I forced myself to have courage and to assess the surroundings for the event I have been called upon to orchestrate. I do believe I can make a magnificent weekend for Lord Alden and give the ton a ball it will talk about for years.

Whether I can find a woman willing to live in a house of snakes for the rest of her life is a different question entirely.

I do so hope the weather in Christiana has cleared up. You seemed so despondent in your last letter. All will be well and the sun will shine once more, I am certain. Please do tell me more about your voyage to Stockholm in your next letter. Is the situation still as volatile now as when the Norwegian independence movement was at its height? I do so wish you could come to Britannia, but I understand the delicacy of your current position. Perhaps someday soon.

Yours, Bernadette.

" I am certain if anyone can accomplish this monumental task, it will be you, my dear," Muriel told her as she and Lord Cedric prepared to depart the next morning. "My husband's cousin is a good man, and you will be entirely safe here within his care."

"Are you quite certain about that?" Lord Cedric muttered as he carried the last of their traveling bags out the front door to the carriage.

"Cedric," Muriel scolded him, smiling as she did.

"I merely wish to keep Lady Bernadette on her guard," Lord Cedric said as he handed the traveling bags over to the footmen by the carriage. He turned to Bernadette and said, "I am quite certain you can work miracles for my wayward cousin, but do have a care for the alligators."

Muriel laughed and shook her head. "There are no alligators."

Lord Cedric looked deadly serious, though his eyes sparkled with mirth, as he answered her, "Oh, yes, there are."

Bernadette could not tell if he was teasing her or if Lord Alden truly did keep alligators, along with all his other specimens, as he'd called them, somewhere in his house. She was determined to find out as soon as possible, though, and once she'd waved her dear friends away, watching until their carriage was out of sight at the end of the drive, she headed back into the house to discover for herself.

Part of Bernadette thought she should wait for Lord Alden to explore the terrarium again. Lord Alden had been called away on a matter of great importance by one of his tenant farmers shortly after breakfast, though. Bernadette suspected that had something to do with the rats he'd mentioned those farmers' sons catching for him. She had taken the time to write to Norway, then to hand her letter over to Mr. Smythe to be posted. Now she was eager to see precisely what the terrarium contained and whether it could be used in some small way as part of the days-long festivities Lord Alden wanted for his ball.

Of course, the other reason Bernadette slowly pushed open the door to the vast and incredible room, slipped inside, and firmly shut the door behind her was a deep belief that if she was going to be of any use to Lord Alden at all, and if she was to reside under his roof and under his employment for any length of time, she would need to overcome her fear of anything scaley or slimy.

"This is beautiful," she told herself, one hand pressed to her stomach, as she took a few more tentative steps into the terrarium. "Lord Alden has created something unique and extraordinary, and I should marvel at it."

She breathed in the humid, fragrant air and took a few more steps along the path. There really were a myriad of things to be impressed with. How Lord Alden had managed to grow so many plants and trees that were not native to Britannia was a mystery to her. The greenery was lush and exotic, and the flowers that appeared on several of the plants were unlike anything Bernadette had ever seen before. Even the birds were –

Bernadette screamed and dropped into a half crouch as a brilliant red, green, and blue parrot swooped close to her as it flew from one perch to another, calling out. As soon as she determined that it was not intent on attacking her, she laughed anxiously and stood straight again.

"I dare say Lord Alden rescued you from the shoulder of some dread pirate," she told the parrot, following it deeper into the remarkable room.

Everything around her was alive and wonderful. The stream that flowed from the fountain in one corner of the room was astounding in its clarity and the precision of the course it flowed. It was as if Lord Alden had mapped exactly where it needed to run to both water all of the flora and provide a home for the fauna. Bernadette leaned over the pond where much of the water gathered before flowing on to the other side of the room and observed several varieties of fish, quite a few frogs and tortoises, and even a set of large, beady eyes staring out from –

"Good God!" she exclaimed, jumping back and clapping a hand to her chest. "There really are alligators!"

She swallowed, breathing rapidly, and forced herself to look harder, so that she might make out the beast in question. It was smaller than she had thought at first, only a yard long. It must not have been fully grown. That did not mean she wished to wade into the pond to play with it, however.

She inched away from the pond slowly, walking on and glancing up at the glass ceiling and the canopy of leaves and vines from the trees instead. Lord Alden had not been exaggerating when he said that the terrarium housed hundreds of species. The more Bernadette looked, the more she saw. There were small lizards and brightly colored frogs, a dozen kinds of birds, and even buzzing insects of a sort she'd never seen before. It was as if Lord Alden had carved a slice out of the Amazon and plunked it down in Wessex.

Once she reached the center of the terrarium, she drew in a breath to steel her courage and turned in a circle, gazing around at the whole. It was possible to see hints of the ballroom the room had once been, but Lord Alden had made a great many adjustments and additions, as he'd said. It would have been spectacular to hold a ball in the room now, although there would have been very little space for dancing, as the path wasn't wide enough for most dance forms.

Bernadette turned to the tall, glass wall that made up one side of the room, separating it from the garden beyond. The garden would be the best location for the ball itself, but it would be lovely if there were a way to allow for guests to move freely in and out of the terrarium during the event.

She started along the path that ran beside the glass wall, but was arrested when she came face to face with a thick, green bush of some sort that seemed to be the home for the most magnificent collection of frogs she'd ever seen. They were tucked into the joints of branches or partially hidden under leaves, but their bright colors made them obvious.

"How extraordinary," she said, smiling at the blue, yellow, green, and red frogs. "I've never seen anything like you in all of Britannia," she said, reaching out for one of the blue frogs.

Her intention was to bravely pet the frog, as if it were a cat or a dog. But just before her fingertips made contact with the curious, vibrant thing, Lord Alden cried out, "Don't touch it!"

Bernadette yelped and leapt back, heart racing. She hadn't heard her employer enter the terrarium, and the ferocity of his shout had her shaking in her now-damp shoes.

"I – I'm so sorry," she stammered, reeling a few more steps back as Lord Alden strode hurriedly along the path towards her, his expression full of alarm. "I should have asked you before entering."

"That is a poison dart frog," Lord Alden said, marching right up to her and grasping her wrist. He turned it up, as if to check her fingertips to be certain she was unharmed. "They are highly poisonous," he went on. "Some species have enough toxins in their skin to kill ten men."

"Oh!" Bernadette gasped, belatedly terrified of what might have happened.

"I doubt the individuals I have here could have done that much harm," Lord Alden went on, relaxing a bit. "Frogs have a short life-span, and these ones were spawned here in Wessex. It is not the frogs themselves so much as the native insects that they consume that give them their toxicity. But I have taken great care to import South American insects as well, and it is enough to render the frogs just poisonous enough to make you miserable should you touch them."

"I will not touch them, then," Bernadette said, her voice shaking a little. She was grateful that Lord Alden continued to hold her wrist. His grip was reassuring, and his presence made her feel far more confident about the strange world around her.

Lord Alden seemed to become aware that he was still holding onto Bernadette. He blinked, drew in a breath, then let her wrist go with a soft, "I am terribly sorry. I did not mean to accost your person in such a way."

"I do not mind," Bernadette said, forcing some strength back into her voice. "I should have waited for you before entering the terrarium. It is just that I know I must grow used to your specimens, as you called them, if I am to stay here for any length of time with you and oversee improvements, and I – oh!"

Bernadette gasped as the same, green lizard that had crawled up her arm the day before appeared from the sleeve of Lord Alden's jacket. Not only that, the creature leapt across to Bernadette, catching onto her skirts before scurrying up to perch on her shoulder.

"It appears as though Egbert has a new favorite," Lord Alden said with a broad smile.

Bernadette turned her head and craned her neck to look gingerly at the lizard. As soon as she blinked at it, the green thing flickered its long tongue at her.

"Yes, he definitely likes you," Lord Alden laughed. "Here. Allow me."

He reached forward, as if he would remove Egbert from her neck.

"No," Bernadette said, more than a little breathlessly. "If I am to stay here and help you, I cannot flinch every time a reptile comes near."

Lord Alden pulled his hands back. "I'm sure Egbert would appreciate that sentiment," he said. He smiled at Bernadette, who did her best to smile back as she stood, stiff as a board, with Egbert on her shoulder. After a prolonged pause, he seemed to shake himself out of his thoughts before saying, "Perhaps it would put your mind at ease if I gave you a more extensive tour of the terrarium than was possible yesterday and introduced you to some of the family."

Bernadette swallowed and peeked at Egbert again. "Yes, that would be useful," she said.

"Good." Lord Alden nodded, then offered her his arm. "What you see around you is more than two years of work, Lady Bernadette," he said as Bernadette took his arm and they began a slow circuit around the terrarium. "More than that, really, if you consider the time I spent in South America collecting everything."

"How did you manage to bring it all back at once?" Bernadette asked.

"I didn't," Lord Alden said. "Not precisely. I shipped certain plants and some of the hardier species back over time. Mr. Smythe is something of an amateur zoologist himself, and he received them all and kept them for me in various aquariums and cages. He was merely a footman back then, of course, but when Mr. Guthrie had had enough and resigned his post, I advanced Smythe to the position of butler." He paused, then added, "Partially because no one else would take the job, once I returned home and work began on the terrarium."

"I see," Bernadette said.

Indeed, as Lord Alden escorted her around the room, remarking on the efforts that had gone into creating the water system, the difficulties they had in importing soil from southern climes, and the few failures of both plants and animals to thrive in the last few years, particularly during the difficult to manage winter months, Bernadette began to understand the odd nature of the servants of Lyndhurst Grove. What they all lacked in training, they made up for in their willingness to tolerate and celebrate Lord Alden's eccentricities.

And as Bernadette learned in greater detail as they walked around the terrarium, reaching a grassy area near the glass wall where a table and chairs had been set up and calling for tea, despite his heroic appearance and confident mien, Lord Alden was as eccentric as it was possible for a man to be.

"After a certain … event many, many years ago, I never thought I would have any desire to wed," he explained to Bernadette as they sipped their tea to the gurgling of the fountain and the song of Amazonian birds. "Under the influence of a broken heart, a silly thing, really, I had long ago dedicated my life to the study of science and the advancement of theories which would explain the vast variety of life on this earth."

"Did you never long for companionship of any kind?" Bernadette asked, worried her question was too forward. Then again, with a lizard sunning itself on her shoulder, flickering its tongue near her ear now and then, she felt she had earned the right to ask whatever she wished. "Broken hearts can be mended."

Lord Alden winced. "I would be lying if I said I had not enjoyed the company of several fine women over the years. I had a particular … friend on the island of Cuba during my stay there. And there was a lovely local woman who came with us on our trip up the Amazon."

Lord Alden smiled fondly … which made Bernadette's whole body heat with regret that she had asked. Or perhaps that was merely the effect of the sun shining down through the glass around them.

"I forbade myself from forming any deeper connections back then," Lord Alden said, pulling himself out of his thoughts with a sigh. "It seems so silly now. Young men too often make rash decisions when they are spurned. Now I feel as though I have wasted the prime of my life."

"You do?" Bernadette asked, blinking.

"Well, in some ways," Lord Alden admitted, lowering his head and scratching at a spot on the tabletop between them. "Her name was Lady Gladys Foyle. She was my everything. And then she went and married one of my university friends instead of me. I was so wounded that I wanted to get as far away from them and their happiness as I could. Now, however, I can see that I let a momentary injury prevent me from another chance at happiness."

"I am so sorry," Bernadette said. Strangely, the sad, romantic tale made her heart beat faster for her employer.

She could not go developing romantic notions about the man, however. She was there to perform a distinct service for him, and to do that, she needed to remain as impartial as possible. For so many reasons.

She cleared her throat and inched closer to the table. "What sort of ball would you like to throw?" she asked, turning to the business at hand. "What are you looking for in the renovations to your house, and more importantly, what are you searching for in a wife?"

"Gosh, that's a lot to think about," Lord Alden said, smiling and amiable once more.

"It is why I am here, my lord," Bernadette said.

"Again, I do wish you would call me Alden," he said. "Is there anything I can do to coax you into using my given name?"

Bernadette grinned. "Not as long as you are employing me," she said. "And as I understand it, a great deal of importance rests on you finding a wife."

Lord Alden made a dire sound and shook his head. "I've no wish to inherit Godwin Castle," he said. "I do not believe in the curse quite as much as my cousin Cedric, but what would I do with a castle all the way down on the Isle of Portland? I have enough on my plate with Lyndhurst Grove." He paused, then said, "And it has occurred to me that it would be useful to have a wife, both to manage the household, and, perhaps, for the sake of children. I do not mind children at all," he added with a smile. "I should quite like to have a few to pass on my love of all things herpetological to."

Bernadette smiled. It was easy for her to imagine the terrarium crawling with children who would splash in the pond, climb the trees, and, well, perhaps not play with the alligators.

"So it is a younger woman you are in search of," she said, already forming a list of likely ladies in her mind.

"She does not have to be that young," Lord Alden said, gazing at her with a twinkle in his eyes. "The human female is capable of reproducing well into her thirties, or so I am told."

A rush of heat pulsed through Bernadette. At five-and-thirty, and in her current situation, she had long given up any hope of having children of her own. To hear Lord Alden reassure her that such a thing was still possible kept her hope alive.

She cleared her throat to push aside the sorrow that gripped her. Age was not the only reason she would never have children of her own.

"What do you think of presenting an exotic theme for your ball?" she asked, keeping her focus on her work, where it needed to be.

"Do you mean with wild animals and native music?" Lord Alden asked.

Bernadette nearly laughed, mostly because she could imagine such a ball all too readily. "I was thinking of the color theme, masks made up to look like parrots, and encouraging your guests to dress in bright colors," she said.

"Yes, I like that," Lord Alden said, his smile even brighter. "And perhaps we could renovate the guestrooms to have jungle themes."

Bernadette tilted her head to the side, ideas already forming. "I believe that would be possible," she said. "Most of the rooms Muriel and I toured yesterday had very little in the way of decoration to distinguish them. I know of an art dealer in London who might be able to provide us with paintings of a jungle theme, and several of the upholsterers of my acquaintance in Oxford Street have sent me fabric samples in the past that I think would do well for this."

"Lady Bernadette, you are a woman of enterprise and surprise," Lord Alden said, looking deeply satisfied with her. "If I had known you existed and that you were so accomplished at these things, I would have hired you much sooner."

Bernadette laughed. "Neither of us will know if I am accomplished at household renovations until they are completed," she said. "I have only ever planned parties in the past, though those duties have sometimes involved remaking entire rooms. I've never set out on a task quite this big before."

"I shall give you all the assistance you need," Lord Alden said, going so far as to reach across the table to take Bernadette's hand. "I shall be your servant in – "

He stopped short, and both he and Bernadette turned to glance out the window as a female figure approached the glass.

"What in Heaven's name," Lord Alden murmured, pulling his hand back and standing. His expression turned mystified, as he said, "What is she doing here?"