Chapter 11

11

“Welcome to Roxburgh,”said Nathaniel, supporting Calliope’s hand as she climbed down from the carriage later that day.

A gasp escaped her throat. It was a grand property indeed. Calliope could imagine how fine carriages must have once lined up, bringing elegant ladies and gentlemen to a ball.

Yet now, the mansion, as well as the grounds, were in a pitiful state.

The walls around the property were crumbling in a few spots, with the odd missing brick and speckled with bird droppings. The gravel driveway had weeds growing through it, and the garden resembled an overgrown forest.

The house itself was majestic, with gorgeous stonework around large windows though some of those stones were crumbling, too. One of the two stone lions flanking the grand entry stairs looked like it was missing a tooth and the other one an ear. And the double doors had chipping paint, the knocker hanging from a single nail. Above the door, the Kelford coat of arms had rain-damaged wood peering through the faded paint.

“I know this place!” Calliope exclaimed, unable to take her eyes off the facade. “I’ve passed by this building countless times. This is such a great location in Mayfair, and detached houses are so rare and valuable in London.”

She didn’t say that she’d always thought what a pity it was that no one took the time and effort to repair such a gorgeous place.

Nathaniel helped his sisters to climb down from the carriage after her.

“It is rare and valuable. It’s the only property from my papa’s vast fortune that we are allowed to use,” said Nathaniel quietly as he came closer to Calliope while Hazel, Poppy, and Violet hurried towards the grand stairs. “But not because it’s detached or big or has a fashionable Mayfair address. It’s because it’s the only home my sisters know. And I’ve been fighting tooth and nail to keep it for them.”

Calliope’s heart squeezed for him. What he’d told everyone at their wedding had crushed her heart, that his papa had punished him so cruelly by withholding the means to their survival. She wondered what Nathaniel had to do to keep it…

“Why didn’t you marry in all those years, Nathaniel?” she asked carefully. “Eight years is plenty of time to have fathered an heir.”

The ache in his turquoise eyes broke her heart all over again. “For the first few years I simply didn’t think much of it, I admit. Then when I knew I was slowly running out of time, I hired a solicitor to find a legal way for me to claim my inheritance. But a few days ago, I was informed there is no hope. That my father won, and I had to obey him. Even from beyond his grave, he got what he wanted.” He looked at the girls, who were already at the top of the stairs.

“Come on, sister!” cried Poppy, the cheerful twin. “Come in! We must show you your new house!”

“I just hope this won’t be a disappointment,” Nathaniel said.

Calliope nodded, picked up the cage with Miss Furrington from the carriage, and walked after Nathaniel to enter Roxburgh Place. Miss Furrington watched everything with wide, dilated eyes, her ears perked and flicking around as different sounds reached her, her whiskers erect.

Abigail, Calliope’s maid, who had traveled on the back of the carriage, approached her with a light piece of luggage in her hands.

“Shall I take Miss Furrington, my lady?” Abigail asked, throwing uncertain glances at Roxburgh Place.

“No, I can take her, thank you, Abigail. Well, here we are, our new home… I’m glad I have you with me. Let’s go.”

Her home for the rest of Calliope’s life. Calliope swallowed what felt like a stone in her throat as she walked towards the house, her stomach in knots. What had she gotten herself into?

As she entered, a vast but empty entry hall met her. Patches of bare plaster peeked through the chipped and worn-out dark red paint.

Underfoot, the marble floor had a faint, intricate pattern that wove its way across the stone like a fading memory. The worn spots were evidence of the countless ladies and gentlemen who had walked and danced over these floors during grand soirées and balls.

A sweeping staircase showed signs of wear, the hand-carved balustrades in need of polish. On either side of the staircase, ornately carved niches stood empty, their intended occupants—probably statues and vases—long gone, leaving behind only vague outlines on the dusty shelves.

In the middle of the ceiling, a worn circular mark on the white wood suggested the previous existence of a huge chandelier. A lonely sconce now clung to the wall, its glass cover cracked and sooty.

There were no paintings, no sideboards, no statues, no vases with flowers, no chairs, and no tables where one could sit and calmly put on a bonnet.

There were, however, two servants who stood looking at Calliope with wide eyes.

Nathaniel looked at the woman in her fifties with a sturdy frame and gray hair tied in a knot behind her head. She looked at Calliope with sharp small brown eyes, two deep wrinkles around her mouth curving downward. “Let me introduce my wife, Calliope, the new Duchess of Kelford. This is Mrs. Nicholson, our housekeeper, cook, and lady’s maid.”

For such a large house, this woman was doing all that alone? No wonder she had a bitter expression.

Nathaniel looked at the blond man, who couldn’t be older than twenty-one. Tall and with a big nose and large hands, he was dressed like a footman but had blotches of dirt on his clothes as well as seams and square patches. “And this is Joshua Martin, our butler, footman, and groom.”

“All at once?” gasped Abigail behind Calliope.

Everyone stared at her, and she closed her mouth, looking down, her cheeks reddening. “Beg your pardon.”

“Between Mrs. Nicholson and us three, we manage,” said Hazel with a sharp edge in her voice.

Calliope smiled politely. “I’m sure you do.”

Unease washed through her. Only two servants managed this giant house that could be a respectable royal residence…

Yes, this was quite different from what she was used to: a proper butler, housekeeper, well-trained footmen, carefully selected maids, and a small army of the lowest rank of servants—scullery maids and hall boys. Not to mention that their kitchens always had the best cook they could find and several undercooks.

But, it seemed, this was all Nathaniel could afford without the income from his inheritance.

Well, she and Abigail would just have to make do with this. And, thankfully, Calliope had her own dowry and income she could do with as she pleased. So, perhaps, she could help.

“Pleased to meet you both.” She beamed. “Mrs. Nicholson…Joshua…forgive me, is it Martin?”

Normally, the butler was addressed by his last name, but since this man did several jobs, she wasn’t sure.

“Joshua is fine, my lady,” the young man said with a huge, disarming smile, showing his crooked yellow teeth. “I’m more of a footman than a butler, but I can’t complain. With my experience, I’d never have been a butler had His Grace not given me a chance.”

Calliope nodded and smiled warmly. She imagined there weren’t many butlers who would want to take on the jobs of a footman and a groom at the same time, and that for, no doubt, less than modest wages. She couldn’t imagine Nathaniel being able to pay much.

“Joshua it is,” she said.

“Please, follow me,” Nathaniel said, his face tense.

The rest of the house was the same as the entrance hall. The grandeur of this place was breathtaking, and yet the state of it was sad. The interior was clearly old but clean. In some rooms, paper hangings peeled in places. The sparse furniture that remained was dated, perhaps fifty or so years old. The shaded silhouettes of now-absent chests of drawers, paintings, and sideboards haunted the walls like strange ghosts.

Calliope opened Miss Furrington’s cage and held her in her arms, her body warm and fluffy. They went up the stairs and saw two long, wide hallways with many doors to bedchambers. Even higher up the stairs, on the second floor, was more of the same. Miss Furrington watched everything with large eyes.

In her mind, Calliope had already started making a list of urgent repairs, followed by a list of beautiful things she’d like to see. The more she saw, the more she itched to lay her hands on this place, order paint, new floors, paper hangings, new furniture and draping. She would ask Penelope to do the paintings—she had such a pretty style… Paintings of flowers would be gorgeous in the bedrooms and hallways. Landscapes and seascapes downstairs in the reception rooms, the study, and the library. And, of course, family portraits.

“Let’s go out the back,” suggested Hazel. “There are also household buildings.”

Nathaniel tensed. “Hazel, I am sure Calliope never saw the household buildings in her home as the daughter and sister of a duke. Why should she as a duchess?”

Hazel stared coldly at her brother. “The girls and I are a duke’s daughters and sisters, and yet we go there multiple times per day.”

Calliope’s throat clenched tightly. “I’d love very much to see the mews.”

“There’s not much to see,” said Violet sadly as they walked down the creaking stairs. Calliope made an internal note to get Mrs. Nicholson to hire someone to repair them.

“Roxburgh is beautiful,” she said. “It certainly has great bones. Just look at the size of the rooms. The windows are gorgeous, and the ceilings are so high.”

The twins beamed back at her. Hazel pursed her lips in a thin line.

Nathaniel winced as they walked through the servants’ door under the grand stairs. “Please, there’s no need to say things you do not mean, Calliope.”

The servants’ quarters were so quiet and as dated as the rest of the place, but they smelled clean, and there was not a spot of dust.

“No, no, Nathaniel,” she said enthusiastically. “I do mean it. You may see chipped paint, creaky stairs, and holes in the walls. I see potential. I see how glorious it can be. I see the gorgeous light that will flood these rooms once the windows are replaced or cleaned. I see how much space there was in the drawing room to put a pianoforte for the girls and a large table for games and how beautiful the fireplace moldings will be decorated with branches of holly for Christmas. I see how grand the dining room will be with crystal chandeliers hanging over a large table to receive friends and family.”

They reached the end of the hallway and what must be the door to the backyard, but something was wrong. The more she talked the more the frown on Nathaniel’s gorgeous face deepened, the sharper the angles of his square jaw became. And his turquoise eyes turned stormy, a dark navy blue.

“And who, pray tell, will pay for all that potential?” He spat the last word out like a curse.

Calliope laid her hand on the door handle. “I will. This is my home now, and I have my dowry. Also, your sisters will need new gowns, and I’ll be happy to—”

“No,” Nathaniel barked out. “I will not have a penny from you.”

The words hit her like a slap, Calliope jerking briefly. “Nathaniel, clearly that’s what your house needs. What your sisters need. Let me help.”

“Brother, this is Calliope’s home, too, now,” Poppy said.

“I will not accept charity. Your brothers didn’t want me to touch your money, and I will not.”

Charity? The disdain in his voice wrenched Calliope’s insides.

With that, Nathaniel opened the door and stepped outside.

“Nathaniel!” Calliope said, walking out after him.

She had taken only a few steps across the landing when loud barking burst through the air, and three beasts ran towards her across the cobblestones several feet below, growling, barking, flashing their sharp white teeth. One of them was so tremendous, it looked like a short-haired bear on long legs. One was a little beagle, though it was barking just as fiercely. The third, probably a mutt, looked the most vicious. Sharp pain sliced Calliope’s arm and breast. White fur flashed against her face as a panicked, loud yowl burst through the air and the cat flew from her arms.

Terror raced through her like a war chariot, and Calliope gasped and mindlessly hurried backward on the landing. She’d never liked dogs, and these three had murder in their eyes, clearly ready to tear her apart…and her poor cat.

Closer and closer they came, almost at the stairs now, closer to her throat with those giant jaws and sharp fangs, especially that humongous one.

She took a few more quick steps, and her back bumped against something hard—the railing—then there was a wooden crack, and she was falling backward.

She flailed her arms, trying to grab on to something, but finding only empty air.

She could already anticipate the long fall, the way her bones would twist, her skull cracking against the cobblestones.

But the impact never came. Two strong arms wrapped around her, and she was yanked back to the surface in Nathaniel’s solid embrace. His scent enveloped her—a delicious blend of his skin and his clean clothes and his cologne. She clutched at the material of his coat like he was her lifeline.

His eyes were on hers, and she was sinking, sinking. She couldn’t catch another breath, her chest feeling too tight, her heart drumming. Why was she not afraid? Why was she not pushing him away, eager to let go of him and put as much distance between them as possible?

Instead, she felt quite safe, quite protected, despite the dogs still barking.

“Thank you…” she murmured.

“Sit!” cried Violet, and the barking stopped. “You scared the poor cat and your poor new mistress.”

Without breaking eye contact with her, Nathaniel nodded, then gently let go of her.

To Calliope’s surprise, all three beasts sat at the bottom of the stairs calmly, looking between Hazel, Calliope, the girls, and Nathaniel. The smallest one looked up at the house. Poor Miss Furrington sat on the triangular portico, her tail slicing through the air, her terrified eyes on the dogs.

“Brother, but you must admit that we do need some repairs now,” demanded Violet, looking pointedly at the broken wooden railing so weatherworn it looked quite fragile. “Calliope almost broke her neck.”

Nathaniel’s gaze hardened as he stared at the sharp edges of the railing. “Indeed. I will repair this myself. There is some wood in the shed. I will fix everything else in the house once my inheritance is returned to me…” His hot gaze dropped to her stomach, and Calliope’s insides clenched in delicious anticipation and cold dread.

And then something she hadn’t thought about became very, very clear.

Tonight was their wedding night, and he was eager to impregnate her.