The Temptation of Lady Serena (14 page)

“Thank you, for everything,” Robert said, stunned by her generosity.

“You still need lodging arrangements.” Phoebe went to the desk. “I’ll take care of it now.”

Robert was amazed that Phoebe had planned the entire journey with the ease of a minor outing.

“Robert, you may escort me to my room,” his grandmother commanded. “I wish to rest.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He helped her from her chair, then met Serena’s gaze. “I’ll return shortly.”

Once they’d ascended the stairs, his grandmother stopped. “I am very pleased to see you finally acting like a man of sense. That was a good idea you had, inviting Serena to Haythrope Hall, for I will tell you, she was not going to accept you.”

“I know. I could see it in her face yesterday.”

“When you get her to Yorkshire, give Lady Serena her head. Don’t try to rein her in. She will make you an excellent wife,
if
you can bring her up to scratch. Go on back down to her now. I can make my way from here.”

“No, Grandmama, I’ll escort you to your door and ring for Skinner,” Robert said. “I have some questions.”

“Harrumph.”

Once she was settled on a sofa, Robert asked, “What do you know of Vere Castle?”

“Only what I’ve been told. Lady Ware said it was a great sprawling place, a large acreage, herds of animals, and several hundred dependants.”

Much larger than the Hall. “Do you know how long Lady Serena managed it?”

“Since before her father’s death. That brother of hers displaced her pretty quickly when he returned, although I think it had more to do with his wife. In my opinion, he managed it badly. You are not the only one to have treated the girl ill.”

On the one hand, Robert would like to plant her brother a facer. On the other, if Vere hadn’t made Serena leave, Robert would never have met her. “Do you think she’ll like Haythrope Hall?”

“Robert, Lady Serena is country bred. I think you’ll find a very different lady there than you’ve seen thus far. Now go, I need my rest.”

He returned to the morning room and took his leave of Serena and the rest of the company. Marcus and St. Eth walked him to the door.

St. Eth slapped his back. “Beaumont, I hope to hear of a satisfactory resolution.”

Robert flushed under St. Eth’s penetrating stare. Robert knew he was being given a second chance to prove he was worthy of Serena, and that her uncle expected him to succeed. “Thank you, sir. It has taken me some time, but I think I can see my way through now.”

“If your plans prosper, send me a message at St. Eth House. Lady St. Eth and I will take our leave from here in a few days.”

“I will, sir. Everything will be in order for you to review.” Marriage settlements were the last thing on his mind. First Serena had to agree to marry him.

S
erena, more cheerful than she’d been in weeks, practically flew to her room. If Robert wanted her to see his home—a place he hardly spoke of—perhaps they still had a chance to work things out. It could still turn out badly, but at least she would have tried.

Serena rang for Mary and told her to begin packing.

“Lor’, my lady, we’ve never been so many places in all our lives as we’ve been in the past few months. Where’re we going this time?”

“Yorkshire. We are visiting Lord Beaumont’s estate.”

Her maid stared at the wardrobe. “I’ll start packing, but don’t you have a gown with the modiste still?”

“I do, and that is not all I must fetch.” Serena left the room.

Less than an hour later, Serena and Freddy sallied forth to do the last of their Paris shopping, collecting items previously ordered and added to their wardrobes.

“We’d best shop now,” Freddy advised. “Who knows when we’ll be back in Paris again?”

They paused for tea in one of the cafés lining the street.

“Freddy,” Serena asked, “will I like Haythrope Hall?”

“Lord, dear, I can’t tell you. I enjoyed it as a child. My mother never liked Yorkshire. She did her duty, but was always happier in London or in Bath, which was the fashionable resort at the time.” Freddy patted Serena’s hand. “You’ll have to see for yourself if Haythrope Hall is the right place for you.”

 

Robert arrived at the Hôtel Charteries early the next morning to find the coaches being loaded.

He walked in the house and discovered Serena in the breakfast room, munching François’s croissants. He wanted her to always be as merry as she was now, but what if he was making another mistake? Or worse, making the same mistake his father had made in bringing home a wife who was never happy. The only time there’d been peace was when one or the other of his parents was gone.

Serena waved Robert to a chair. “Help yourself. I’ll ring for more tea.”

“Thank you.” He sat next to her. “When will you be ready to leave?”

“Oh, probably in about a half an hour. It depends on how quickly the coach can be readied. Phoebe told us whatever did not fit she’d have sent by courier.”

“Where are Aunt Freddy and Lady Ware?”

“Breakfasting in their rooms.”

It was more than half an hour before they departed. They made good time through Paris and on to the road to Dieppe. Other than a stop for luncheon, they continued until it was dark. Three days after leaving Paris, the carriages pulled up outside the inn, Coq d’Or.

Once their rooms were arranged, Robert took Serena for a walk. She showed him some of the town and pointed out the schooner,
Lady Phoebe
. When they returned to the inn, she went to her chamber and he to the private parlor. Their aunts lambasted him when he entered.

“If this mad pace is the one you mean to set all the way to Yorkshire, Robert,” Freddy said acerbically, “I shall take leave to tell you, it will not do! In two days, we’ve accomplished what would normally take four or five.”

Robert gave her his most amiable smile. “Aunt Freddy . . .”

“No,” Freddy snapped. “Use your considerable charms on someone else.”

Robert turned to Lady Ware, who held up her hands. “Oh, no, I quite agree with your aunt. You’ve pushed us as fast as we can go. I insist on a more decorous pace for the rest of the trip.”

He kept himself from scowling. Getting on their bad side would not help his cause. “We shall discuss the rest of the journey this evening. First, I must speak to the captain of the
Lady Phoebe
regarding our passage.”

Robert had no trouble locating the ship. Captain Benedict greeted Robert, informing him Lord Evesham had sent a message, and the ship was standing ready to ferry Lord Beaumont’s party across to Newhaven.

“How soon can we sail?” Robert asked.

“We can load your trunks to-day, but it looks like a squall will be coming through either tonight or to-morrow,” Benedict said. “I won’t know until later if it is possible to sail with the morning tide.”

“I’ll await word from you then and have the baggage brought round.” Robert thanked him and returned to the inn, trying to think of a way to convince the aunts to maintain their current traveling pace.

Serena, wisely, he thought, chose to stay out of the conversation.

Freddy was uncompromising. “My dear Robert, it may do very well for
you
to travel in such a rough and ready fashion. But it will not do for us. Count yourself well served that we have agreed to travel directly from Newhaven to London and spend only two nights on the road to Yorkshire.”

The only good news he received was that they’d be able to sail with the morning tide. The passage was rough but swift. They arrived in Newhaven in time to enjoy luncheon at the inn. Robert had arranged for his coaches to meet them. After eating, he excused himself to supervise the packing.

Freddy raised her brows as he reentered the private parlor. “That was fast. Are the trunks loaded?”

He shook his head. “Pitchley called me
Master Robert
and asked me if I didn’t have somewhere else to be. Apparently, he thought my ‘suggestions’ were hindering progress.”

Freddy laughed. “That is the problem with servants who have known one since childhood. Every time Nurse became irritated with me, she’d call me
Miss Freddy
—even long after I had married.”

Catherine and Serena entered the room to find them both chuckling and demanded to be let in on the joke. Catherine, Robert, and Freddy exchanged funny and exasperating stories, while Serena looked on bemused.

“Serena, have you nothing to share?” Freddy asked.

“No, none of my old servants tried to put me in my place since I took over the castle.”

“Ah, a formidable woman. Count yourself fortunate,” Robert said. “Shall we look around the town while they’re packing?” He glanced at their aunts. “Would you like to accompany us?”

“No, you two go on ahead,” Catherine said.

Freddy made shooing motions and Robert and Serena left the room.

They walked out of the inn and crossed the street to the dock area. Newhaven was the cleanest port he’d ever seen. He took Serena to the end of a pier for a better look at the lighthouse.

“It’s a magnificent view,” she said. “The last time I was here, it was too dark to see anything.”

Robert thought now might be a good time to ask the questions that had plagued him after his discussion with his grandmother. “How old were you when you took over Castle Vere?”

“Seventeen when I took over the management of the estate,” Serena replied. “My father had a stroke and died less than a year later. But I became responsible for the castle proper at fourteen.”

“Fourteen?”
Robert could not imagine anyone being responsible for such a large property at that age. Now he knew where the steel in her came from.

To both of their detriments, he had greatly underestimated her. “Serena, why you?”

She shrugged. “My aunt, my father’s youngest sister, had been responsible for castle management, when she left to marry, I took over.”

Robert walked Serena back to the main dock area and down to the empty beach, where seagulls dove for fish.

“What of your mother?”

Serena shook her head. “Mama died when I was twelve, but she had not been herself for a few years before then.” Serena shivered and pulled her cloak around her. “Come now, my life is not that interesting, and I will probably never see Vere Castle again. Tell me about Haythrope Hall.”

Robert stared out at the Channel before glancing at her. He wanted to know more, such as why she was left alone for so long, but her lips were set in a thin line, so he acquiesced. “I’d rather tell you about the people and the town.”

Her amber gaze sparked with curiosity. “Very well.”

“Most of the senior staff has been with me since I was born, and the rest are either from the area or are relatives of other servants. Haythrope is a busy market town that lies just beyond the western border of the estate.”

The wind whipped up and he turned her back toward the docks. “The Hall owns many of the town’s stores and the church is within my living. When the old rector retired, I brought in a friend, John Stedman. He and I were at Eton and Oxford together. He’s very modern and has a number of reformist ideas, which took some people aback.”

Robert grinned wryly. “Of course, it’s always hard, particularly in the country, to make changes. John is making steady progress. He married about a year ago to a lady from his home county . . .”

Robert heard his groom call and turned to see Pitchley hailing him. “I think we’re ready to leave.”

Robert, Serena, and their aunts arrived in London at his grandmother’s residence, on Upper Brook Street, in the early evening.

Freddy descended from the coach. “Catherine and Serena shall spend the night here, Robert. You do not have to tell me you want an early start in the morning. We will be ready.”

“Aunt Freddy?”

“What is it?”

“May I dine with you this evening?”

Freddy heaved an exasperated sigh. “Robert, I don’t know what we have to eat. I assume there’s something in the larder, but as neither Mama nor I wrote the staff, it may be bread and cheese.”

Robert grinned. “I took the liberty of sending a message from Newhaven.”

Freddy glanced at the sky. “Yes, all right then. You may dine with us. We’ll keep an early evening, and I do not plan to dress.”

He kissed her cheek. “Thank you. I’ll see you in an hour.”

Shaking her head, she went inside, while he took his leave of Serena.

Needing to stretch his legs from being cramped in the coach, Robert walked the few blocks to his house. A junior footman opened the door.

Robert handed him his hat and greatcoat. “I take it this means Finster has posted north?”

“Yes, my lord, he left as soon as we received your instructions to make Haythrope Hall ready, and he took most of the rest of the staff with him.”

“Good. I’m dining at Upper Brook Street and shall leave for the Hall first thing in the morning.”

His aunt hadn’t misspoken when she’d said they’d have an early evening, by nine o’clock he was in his room. Robert thought back to his conversation with Serena before they’d left Newhaven. For at least the twentieth time, he berated himself for what he’d done. How brave she was for standing up to him after Merton and in Paris.

Robert grimaced. No lady, other than his grandmother, had ever done so. Nor had another woman captured him. If Serena but knew it, she’d trapped him quite effectively. More than he’d trapped her. Serena had a way out, thanks to his grandmother, whereas he wanted no other and was caught forever.

 

That night, though tired by the travel, Serena lay awake. She looked forward to being in the country. She closed her eyes but his unique male scent lingered in her consciousness. Her body tingled. She had no resistance to Robert, none whatsoever. For the brief moment they were alone tonight, his gaze had dropped to her lips. Even now, they throbbed for him. If Freddy and her aunt hadn’t been there this evening, Serena would have gone to him. She didn’t know how she would keep her distance once they arrived in Yorkshire, yet she must.

 

Dawn was barely breaking over the streets of London as their carriages arrived at the first toll on the Great North Road. Robert had the coachman spring the horses, intending to make as many changes as necessary to get Serena to Yorkshire as quickly as he could.

Freddy quizzed Robert during a halt at one of the busy posting houses. “Robert, you’re making good time. The roads are clear and dry. There’s no reason for you to be prowling like a caged animal. You won’t get home any faster.”

It didn’t matter. He wanted Serena in his home, and he wouldn’t be satisfied until they’d reached Haythrope.

On the third day, Robert hired a horse and rode ahead only to meet Serena’s coach three hours later in his curricle at a crossing several miles from Haythrope.

He smiled broadly. “Serena, come with me. You’ll have a better view of the Hall than in a coach.”

“What he means,” Freddy said in an undertone, “is he wants to show you his estate without us around.”

Serena laughed. “I’ll come with you.”

Robert helped her transfer from the coach to the carriage and gave the horses their office. “We shall approach through the town if you’d like.”

“Let’s do.” She’d heard so much about it, she felt as if she’d know the town on sight, but its size still surprised her.

Haythrope was impressive. It boasted several shops, a blacksmith, bakery, and two inns. More than a few good-sized houses were situated around a common green and smaller, picturesque cottages lined the road. A large church and rectory stood at the other end.

As they passed, Robert was hailed by a man in his early thirties walking with a pretty, fair-haired woman.

“Robert,” the man said, “it’s good to see you back.”

“It’s good to be back, John. My dear, allow me to present the Right Reverend John Stedman and his lovely bride, Lora. John, Lora, Lady Serena Weir.”

Serena smiled. “I am so pleased to meet you. Robert has told me about you both.”

There was a quizzical look in Mr. Stedman’s eye as if he was wondering what exactly was going on. Was he wondering where their chaperones were?

Robert must have seen the rector’s look as well for he added, “My aunt and Lady Serena’s aunt are following in the coach. I wanted to bring Lady Serena on ahead to show her Haythrope.”

Mr. Stedman bowed. “I see.”

“Lady Serena,” his wife said, “we look forward to a longer visit with you once you’ve recovered from your journey.”

“Thank you. I shall look forward to furthering our acquaintance,” Serena replied.