Chapter 12

The journey to Castleton was not a particularly long one.

Edward told Mariana that it usually took but a half day, although with the weighted-down wagons, travel was slower and took closer to a full day. Castleton was visible in the distance, just beside the lowering sun, however Edward stopped them, shaking his head.

“Before we go home, we will see that the treasure is stashed away,” he said, climbing down from the wagon he was driving and going back to speak to Rodrigo. When he returned, he led them off the well-trodden road onto a side path, taking them deeper into what appeared to be a forest.

“Are those ruins?” Mariana asked, looking at the remnants of brick and stone next to the crossing as they continued on.

Edward nodded. “They are. That was where the original house stood before the current one was built. We played in there quite often as children, although I don’t suppose anyone else has entered them in years.”

“Perhaps no one will until the next generation of children are playing among them,” she murmured, and his eye caught hers, a telling gleam in it.

“Perhaps.”

They continued down the path until Mariana swore she could hear water lapping against a shore.

“Am I hearing things, already missing home and the sea?” she asked, looking to Edward, “Or is there water nearby?”

He smiled, although a bit sadly. “I hope you do not miss it so much that you do not wish to remain here with me,” he said. “But you are right. There is a lake behind us. We are following the river it is attached to. We found this treasure in a cave, and we are going to put it back into a cave of sorts.”

He led them around a few twisting turns, until they passed a narrow river stretching out in front of them, pouring into a tiny waterfall, allowing water to trickle downward.

“This is beautiful,” Mariana breathed, and Edward smiled proudly.

“It is my favorite part of the estate,” he said as they continued on, past a grove of trees into a clearing. “It has always brought me a sense of peace. We shall have to return when we have more time to enjoy it.” He looked behind him and laughed. “And not so many other men to enjoy it with.”

She smiled as Rodrigo entered the clearing with them.

“Where are we going?” he asked, looking around them.

“Over here,” Edward said, ducking underneath a tall tree, and Mariana’s mouth opened in surprise when she saw what was within.

There was a cave – although not a cave as she would have called it where anyone could fit in, but rather a crawl space that, while they wouldn’t be able to stand tall in, would give them enough room to push the chests inside.

“How far back does it go?” Mariana asked, and Edward rubbed his chin, which was now covered with stubble that looked rather dapper on him. She would have liked to reach out and feel it beneath her fingers, but she would wait until they were alone again – whenever that might be.

“Far enough that this will be well hidden, especially if we move rocks and brush in front of it. No one else knows of this space, except my brother.”

Mariana nodded, even as his words reminded her that this was the easy part. Now she had to go meet his family. It was not that she was nervous of what they would think of her. Mariana didn’t overly care what anyone thought of her anymore at this point in her life. No, her worry was what would happen if they didn’t accept her, if she didn’t get along with them – how would she ever create a life here in England if she was basically alone? Even if she had Edward, if everyone else was against them…

But perhaps that would all come to naught, she reminded herself, squaring her shoulders. Best to see how this meeting would go first.

“Are you going to tell your family about the treasure?” she asked him as they climbed back upon the wagon. Once they made it to Castleton, Rodrigo would return the vehicles to Newfield Manor.

“I will tell my brother,” he said. “I trust him with my life. My mother doesn’t need to know. She would only develop ideas as to just what we should do with it, ideas that I do not need nor desire to entertain.”

“Very well,” she said, and now when Castleton came into view, she knew there would be no detours, nothing to keep her from the next leg of this journey.

“This is impressive,” she said as they drove through the grounds. The gardens were beautiful, well-kept with ornamental statues and a fountain in the middle.

“Thank you,” he said. “My family is very proud of Castleton.”

She caught the way he said it. “And you?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t build this. I didn’t do anything to earn this. Perhaps in due time I will prove that I have added to its value, but for now, I simply enjoy it.”

“That is an interesting way to look at it,” she murmured, but they were at the front doors before he could respond.

He held out a hand to help her down from the wagon seat just as the front doors of the mansion opened and a tall, studious-looking man stepped out, followed by servants she guessed to be the butler and housekeeper.

“My brother, Arthur,” Edward murmured as they climbed up the steps, Arthur saying nothing until they approached and Edward introduced Mariana as his future bride.

“I’m sorry,” Arthur said, peering down over his glasses, “but did you just say that you will be married?”

“I did.”

“Oh,” Arthur said, looking back and forth from one of them to the other. “Oh, dear. You should have written.”

“Why—”

“Edward!” A woman who looked very much like an older, feminine version of Arthur stood on the other side of the doors. Edward must look like his father had. His mother stepped out into the early evening, her hands cupping Edward’s shoulders as she kissed him lightly on one cheek and then the other. “You are finally home. What wonderful timing. I have a surprise for you.”

“Edward has a surprise for you, too, Mother,” Arthur said softly, but she waved him away, apparently still not recognizing Mariana’s presence or perhaps not, at least, the significance of her presence.

“You must come greet Lady Jane,” she said.

Edward suddenly looked pained, his expression matching the twisting in Mariana’s belly as she recalled just who Lady Jane was. “Lord Melton’s daughter?”

“Yes,” his mother said, clapping her hands together in delight. “She is here!”

“Here?”

“At Castleton. Yes.”

“Why?”

“Why?” his mother repeated, looking at Edward askance. “For you, my dear.”

“Mother,” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, “I really wish you hadn’t done that. All you have done is set the woman up for disappointment.”

“Edward, I know you have no wish to marry, but it is time. You promised that?—”

“Mother,” he interrupted her. “This is Mariana. Do?a Palencia. And I am incredibly pleased that she has agreed to be my wife.”

The familiar strainhad crossed Edward’s shoulders the moment he had stepped through Castleton’s doors. It was as though just being here added the weight of responsibility that he so enjoyed shrugging off when he took on another adventure. Suddenly he realized, in a moment of clarity, that it wasn’t so much the adventure that he sought, but rather, being free from here.

Despite all of that, however, this time was different than it had ever been before.

For this time, he didn’t have to do it alone.

He reached out, taking Mariana’s hand as his mother stared at him in shock until finally, the politeness of her breeding – icy though it was – took over.

“Lady Palencia,” she said, “It is lovely to meet you.”

She took a step back in the foyer, before motioning to the housekeeper. “I’m sure you are tired after your journey. Mrs. Cooper will prepare a chamber for you and show you to it. In the meantime, Edward, perhaps we could have a word – alone?”

He leaned down, murmuring in Mariana’s ear. “I’ll handle her, not to worry.”

She nodded, stiffly following Mrs. Cooper, and he could only hope to put a quick finish to this, for he had a fairly good idea of just what Mariana was thinking – that this was exactly what she had feared, that his mother wouldn’t accept her, that she would be fighting for her position here in England after leaving behind everything she knew.

He watched her go, wanting nothing more than to follow her, to lose himself in what they shared.

But then his brother elbowed him, leaning in to speak quietly to him. “Sometimes, Edward, you must live in the life you were born to.”

He nodded, remembering, knowing that he should be grateful for what he had been given and all that his brother had done for him – and that wishing things were different was not going to help anything.

“Let us go to my study,” he said to his mother, already walking toward it.

“I was thinking the drawing room,” she said.

He shook his head, wanting to be in his own space. “The study.”

His brother accompanied them, taking one of the seats before the desk while their mother arranged herself as best she could on the opposing chair, the volume of her skirts making it difficult for her to do so. Perhaps that would prevent her from prolonging this conversation.

“Edward,” she began in that voice of hers that told him she was trying to compliment him so that he would see her side of things, “Lady Palencia is a beautiful woman, and I know how much the exotic appeals to you.”

He lifted his brows at her description. “I would stop there, Mother.”

She didn’t listen. “However, you are an English duke. And an English duke should marry a well-bred Englishwoman. A Protestant Englishwoman. Do you understand me? Lady Jane is here, awaiting your arrival, and what am I supposed to tell her and her mother now?”

“That you made a mistake? That you invited her here without my knowledge and I am marrying someone else?”

She scoffed in horror. “I could never say that.”

“This is not my mess. It is yours,” he said simply. “I have something I must make clear.”

“Yes?” she said warily.

“I expect you to be welcoming to Mariana. She was already apprehensive about coming here and agreeing to my marriage proposal. It will be all the worse if she feels she is not wanted.”

“But—”

“She is the woman I am going to marry. If you want grandchildren, this is your only option.”

“They must be raised Protestant, in English traditions.”

“Mariana and I have not discussed that yet.”

“She has been married before?”

“She has.”

“And she did not have any children?”

Edward paused. He saw where she was going, and truthfully, he hadn’t considered it before. But then, he realized, he didn’t overly care.

“If she cannot have children, then Arthur can have them.”

Arthur began to sputter.

“Perhaps Arthur should marry Lady Jane,” he said, immediately warming to the idea. “They could have the English children you so desire.”

“Oh, for goodness’ sake,” his mother snapped, pushing herself out of the chair in which she had been struggling to sit and rearranging her skirts around her. “You are the duke, Edward. It is a privilege to be born to such a role, and it is about time you began to appreciate it, do you understand me? Now, this nonsense with the Spanish woman. Keep her as a mistress if you’d like, but you will marry Lady Jane.”

Iciness began to climb up Edward’s spine. He loved his mother, he did, but sometimes she forgot that he was no longer a young man who had to do as his parents told him.

“Mariana will be no one’s mistress,” he said, his voice even but firm. “She will be my wife. The sooner you realize that, the better. Now, I am going to go speak with her so she doesn’t think she has been cast aside the moment she walked through the doors. Arthur…” He turned to his brother, ignoring his mother’s attempts to argue with him. “Will you please make the arrangements with the church for the banns to be read? I shall marry her in three weeks’ time.”

“Of course,” Arthur murmured, although his face was slightly green. “But Edward, I cannot marry Lady Jane.”

“Why not? She seems agreeable.”

Arthur looked over at his mother, then back at him. “We will speak of this later,” he said meaningfully, and Edward nodded. “Very well.”

He strode toward the door, opening it up just in time to see a flurry of red skirts whisking around the corner. Damn it all. Mariana had been listening.

He started after her, practically chasing her down the hall, not caring of what the servants would think or even Lady Jane and her mother if they were to see him.

“Mariana,” he called out, closing in on her as she rounded the corner. “Mariana!” he called again, but before he could reach her, she was slipping through the terrace doors of the library, pushing out into the garden, where night had already begun to settle.

He caught her just before she reached the fountain, and she whirled around, batting his arm away.

“Let me go, Edward, please,” she said, desperation in her voice.

“Never,” he said, meaning it with all of his heart.

“I should not have been eavesdropping, I know that,” she said, setting her shoulders back, and he knew she was likely trying to be strong. “I am sorry Edward, but this was foolish. I never should have come here.”

His heart began to drop as he knew what she was about to say before she even said it.

“I am going to go home.”