Surely, he couldn’tstillbe thinking of selling the Grange?
“I see.” She held her hand against her ribs, just beneath her gathered bodice, caught between the impulse to rail and the sheer strangeness of her new position.
How would a wife respond?
Her hurt bubbled up. “Mightn’t you have brought me along…or at least provided some occupation?”
His gaze blanked. “I thought you needed rest.”
Well, he’d been thinking of her, at least. “I was worried.” She twisted a curl around her finger. “I hadn’t considered how much there would be to do.”
“Hadn’t considered?” He cocked his head. “I’ve been away for almost two years. YouknewClarissa closed the house. She also sold the horses. Gave references to all but the most essential staff.”
“I—I suppose I did.” She’d thought the house had been closed the way Bromton closed the Castle for the London season. But it sounded as if the Grange had been completely emptied…and was possibly, even now, uninhabitable.
She worried her lip. Rayne had the look of a gamekeeper with his eye on a pacing fox.
“Is there something you would like to ask?” he queried.
She searched his face.
He was waiting. No, not just waiting…heexpectedher to balk. What on earth had she gotten herself into?
She shook her head no. “Not at present.”
“Well, then.” He exhaled. “Your carriage awaits.”
Before they left, Rayne went out of his way to pass an extra vail to Atkinson and thank Sarah for her kind attention. Then he settled Julia into the carriage, pulling her close in his usual manner as the carriage rattled away.
But the closer they came to the Grange, the more uneasy he became. And the more uneasy he became, the colder the carriage felt.
She crossed her hands over her chest and rubbed her upper arms as the traveling chariot made the final turn onto the main drive of the Grange.
“Cold, I know.” Rayne frowned out the window. “Looks like a possible storm. I hope you weren’t planning on returning to London any time soon.”
She studied him beneath her lashes. His choice of words had not been accidental.
“I planned to be with you,” she replied as the carriage jerked to a stop.
Wherever he was.
Wherever he wished to be.
“I’ll need to open the stables.” He glanced over his shoulder. “You may stay beneath the blanket until I return, if you wish.”
“I’m quite warm,” she lied. “I’d like to stand…if you don’t mind.”
“Of course not.” He opened the door, positioned the stair, and handed her down. With a brief bow, he disappeared.
She cast her gaze to the west, facing a sea of endless gray stone marked by the occasional copse of bare trees and patches of ice and snow. Where were the sheep? Didn’t every manor home have sheep?
She lifted her brows. Apparently not.
In fact, were it not for a column of distant smoke, there’d be no sign of life at all…hard to believe bustling Bromton Castle was only a few miles away.
She braced her courage and turned around to face the house.
Her eyes fell on the centuries-old square tower. She counted four stories from the windowless base floor to the flat, battlemented roof. A three-story hall and wing had been added to the east of the fortification.
